华尔街大型律所韦尔、戈特沙尔与曼奇斯（Weil, Gotshal & Manges）迅速解散，导致其近700名律师助理争相寻找新职位，其中包括上周才刚入职的新助理。
The rapid dissolution of major Wall Street law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges has left its nearly 700 associates scrambling to find new positions, including some who started as new associates just last week.
法律招聘人员和顾问表示，韦尔的强大声誉以及健康的招聘市场，可能会提升在公司业务部门拥有经验的助理的前景。竞争对手吉布森·邓恩（Gibson Dunn）已预计将从韦尔伦敦私募基金团队招聘20名助理，作为一次40名律师的调入计划的一部分。
Weil's strong reputation and a healthy hiring market could bolster prospects for experienced associates in corporate practices, legal recruiters and consultants said. Rival firm Gibson Dunn is already expected to hire 20 associates from Weil's London private funds team as part of a 40-lawyer move.
与拥有客户业务书、能够被争相挖掘的律所合伙人不同，支持他们的助理被视为更具可替代性，合伙人和导师找到新去处时，他们不一定能随同前往。招聘人员称，韦尔的初级助理，尤其是诉讼业务部门的助理，选择可能尤为有限。
Unlike law firm partners with a book of client business who can count on being courted, the associates who support them are seen as more fungible and can't necessarily tag along when their bosses and mentors find new homes. The options may be especially limited for Weil's junior associates, particularly in litigation practices, recruiters said.
“诉讼领域的流动性较低，我担心可能没有足够的空缺岗位容纳所有人，”Long Ridge Partners的招聘顾问埃文·福克斯（Evan Fox）说。
“Litigation sees less movement, and my concern is that there simply may not be enough open seats for everyone,” said Evan Fox, a recruiter with Long Ridge Partners.
韦尔的领导层于周三告知合伙人，这家拥有1,200名律师的公司计划在合伙人大规模离职后结束运营，正式投票预计将在近日进行。此次解散标志着这家美国最具声望且盈利最高的律所之一的突然终结。
Weil’s leadership told partners on Wednesday that the 1,200-lawyer firm plans to wind down its operations following an exodus of partners, with a formal vote expected in the coming days. The dissolution marks an abrupt end for one of the most prominent and profitable US law firms.
据知情人士透露，律所的助理和员工被告知将在90天内继续领取工资，并将在2026年底获得奖金。
The firm’s associates and staff were told they will continue to receive pay for 90 days and receive bonuses at the end of 2026, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
韦尔在宣布解散后向助理表示，将“尽力帮助你们在职业生涯的下一步”，该信息首次由法律在线出版物《Above the Law》报道。其他律所的助理们已在Reddit等线上平台大量发帖，提供与加入其公司的韦尔助理分摊招聘费用的机会。
Weil told associates after the dissolution announcement that it would "do what we can to help you take the next step in your careers," in a message that was first reported by legal online publication Above the Law. Associates elsewhere have flooded Reddit and other online platforms with offers to split recruiting fees for Weil associates who join their firms.
在线法律职位公告板Lateral Hub专门为Weil的律师设立了一个页面，供他们向有意向的律所提交申请。截至周五上午，该页面列出了33家参与律所，包括库利、Fried Frank和威尔逊·桑西尼。
Online legal job board Lateral Hub created a dedicated page for Weil associates to submit applications to interested firms. It listed 33 participating firms as of Friday morning, including Cooley; Fried Frank; and Wilson Sonsini.
根据Weil的网站，其律师人数最多的业务组是私募股权业务，有134人，其次是复杂商业诉讼89人，银行与金融76人，重组75人。
According to Weil's website, its largest cohort of associates are in its private equity practice, at 134, followed by complex commercial litigation at 89, banking and finance at 76, and restructuring at 75.
Weil的在职律师可以从德威特律师事务所倒闭的后续中略得安慰。Vertex Advisors的律所顾问罗伯特·卡明斯表示，在那家律所2012年破产后，许多律师都重新站稳了脚跟。
Current Weil associates can take some solace from the aftermath of Dewey & LeBoeuf's collapse. Many associates landed on their feet following that firm’s 2012 bankruptcy, said Robert Kamins, a law firm consultant with Vertex Advisors.
“我们以前见过这种情形，”卡明斯在谈到德威特的倒闭时说。“你看到大批人因为完全出乎意料且不受自己控制的事情而争先恐后地寻找新东家。”得克萨斯大学法学教授安德鲁·格拉纳托2023年的一项研究发现，德威特约50%的律师很快在其他Am Law 100律所找到了工作，而80%的德威特合伙人在那些高盈利律所成为了合伙人或高级顾问。
“We’ve seen this movie before,” Kamins said of Dewey’s demise. “You saw a mass scramble of people needing to find new homes due to something totally unexpected and out of their control.”A 2023 study by University of Texas law professor Andrew Granato found that about 50% of Dewey’s associates quickly landed jobs at other Am Law 100 firms, while 80% of Dewey partners became either partner or senior counsel at those highly profitable firms.
格拉纳托发现，在进入大型律所的前德威特律师中，有一半是通过“集群聘用”获得新职位的，即一群合伙人一起转投其他律所。
Among the former Dewey associates who landed at large firms, half secured their new positions through “cluster hires” as groups of partners moved together to other firms, Granato found.
格拉纳托在周四的一次采访中表示，他的研究表明，德威特的解散将大型律所通常的人才流失加速了数年。他说，合伙人将计费额高、有望成为合伙人的律师带到他们的新律所，而计费时数较低、可能计划几年后离开大型律所的律师则去了别处。
Granato said in an interview on Thursday that his research suggests Dewey’s dissolution accelerated typical large-firm attrition by several years. Partners brought over high-billing associates on track for partnership to their new firms, he said, while associates with lower hours and potential plans to leave Big Law in several years went elsewhere.
福克斯说，Weil的个别合伙人将成为律师们的关键资源，他们要么把这些律师带到新律所，要么亲自推荐他们。
Individual Weil partners will be a key resource for associates, Fox said, either by bringing them along to new firms or personally recommending them.
法律招聘公司 Voy Legal 的招聘人员 Kevin Cipolli 警告律师助理不要过度依赖合伙人寻找下一份工作，并指出律所可能没有能力容纳更多律师助理，尤其是随着法律 AI 工具的使用日益增加。
But law firm recruiter Kevin Cipolli of Voy Legal cautioned against associates relying too heavily on partners for their next career move, noting that firms might not have capacity for more associates, especially as usage of legal AI tools rises.
根据法学院职业服务部门官员的说法，原本打算前往 Weil 担任暑期律师助理和一年级律师助理的在校法学院学生面临特殊挑战，因为竞争对手律所已经填补了这些空缺职位。
Current law students who were headed to Weil as summer associates and first-year associates face particular challenges, as competitor firms have already filled those available positions, according to law school career services officers.
“这确实是一个非常棘手的处境，他们谁也没想到会陷入这种境地，”乔治城大学法学院职业服务助理院长 Amy Jones Mattock 说，该校有 33 名在校学生和 2026 届毕业生在 Weil 工作或即将前往该所工作。
“It’s a really tough spot that none of them thought they were going to be in,” said Amy Jones Mattock, assistant dean of career services at Georgetown University Law Center, which has 33 current students and 2026 graduates who are at or headed to Weil.
除了乔治城大学，哈佛大学、哥伦比亚大学、纽约大学和西北大学法学院均告诉路透社，他们正在与即将前往 Weil 的学生以及在该所工作的校友取得联系，帮助他们规划下一步职业发展。
In addition to Georgetown, the law schools at Harvard, Columbia, New York University and Northwestern told Reuters they are connecting with students headed to Weil and alumni at the firm to help them navigate their next steps.
乔治城大学的 Mattock 表示，原本打算今年在 Weil 担任暑期律师助理的二年级学生可以选择寻找中型律所或政府部门的机会，因为许多大型律所已经填满了暑期班名额。她补充说，三年级法学院学生可能在大型律所找到更多机会，因为律所希望填补即将入职的律师助理班级中的空缺。
Second-year students poised to be summer associates at Weil this year could opt to seek out opportunities at midsized firms or in government as many large firms have already filled their summer classes, Georgetown's Mattock said. Third-year law students may find more opportunities in large firms as firms look to plug gaps in their incoming associate classes, she said.
西北大学普利兹克法学院职业服务助理院长 David Diamond 表示，该校正在就下一步职业发展向在 Weil 工作的校友律师助理提供建议，并为原本打算前往该所的学生制定个性化求职策略。他还说，该校在其他律所工作的校友也纷纷伸出援手，主动提出提供帮助。
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is advising alumni associates at Weil about their next steps and developing individualized job search strategies for its students who were headed to the firm, said assistant dean for career services David Diamond. The school’s alumni at other firms are also stepping up with offers to help, he said.
Cipolli 表示，竞争对手律所毫不拖延地联系招聘人员（包括他本人），寻找潜在的 Weil 律师助理人选。
Cipolli said rival firms have wasted no time reaching out to recruiters, himself included, looking for potential Weil associate hires.
“在正常的市场环境下，Weil 的合伙人会极具吸引力，也会有多种选择，”他说。“现在只是竞争会更加激烈。”
“In a normal market, a Weil associate is going to be compelling and is going to have options,” he said. “There’s just going to be more competition right now.”
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