Gibson Dunn just landed a homerun lateral haul this week, snatching six litigation partners out of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, including executive committee co-chair and litigation co-chair William Savitt, reportedly set in motion by a coffee meeting with Gibson Dunn trials co-chair Orin Snyder. Savitt brings Sarah Eddy, Randall Jackson, Ryan McLeod, Anitha Reddy, and Bradley Wilson with him. He’ll co-chair Gibson Dunn’s litigation practice.
Wachtell generally doesn’t lose partners. Something about the per partner profits figure running north of $12 million keeps people in the fold. So it takes a lot to get these lawyers to cross the road and Gibson Dunn was apparently willing to pay it.
But the Financial Times tucked a more interesting little tidbit into the story — which we saw in David Lat’s roundup — about how this deal was SUPPOSED to include seven partners:
The group of defectors would have included Wachtell partner Nathaniel Cullerton, but his hiring was scrapped after he was filmed in a viral TikTok video in an apparent romantic embrace with a colleague last week, the people said. Cullerton had been placed on a leave of absence from Wachtell pending further investigation, some of the people added.
So… we might know what Cullerton and his associate friend were celebrating last week. One wonders if the original deal included bringing her over as an associate.
To be clear, that video is deeply problematic. Antagonizing strangers and putting it on social media for profit is despicable behavior and the fact that it seems to work is a damning indictment of modernity. We said when it was still a blind item that nobody involved covered themselves in glory. After everyone else un-blinded it, we noted that content creators who ambush people shouldn’t be handed an audience for it. All of that still holds.
Unfortunately, it is newsworthy that a partner got sliced out of a mega deal over this.
Wachtell is having a rough year. Kirkland pried loose Wachtell’s top restructuring lawyer in April with an $80 million package. A former associate also surfaced in May as “CC-2” in the Biglaw insider trading indictments. Then Kissgate and a hefty litigation exodus.
Though Wachtell’s version of “rough,” still involves basically printing money over there, so maybe don’t shed too many tears for them.
Gibson Dunn hires six Wachtell litigation partners [Financial Times]Judicial Notice (07.26.26): Cooked [Original Jurisdiction]
Earlier: Biglaw Partner-Associate Public Makeout Sesh Posted On Social Media
Makeout Video Elevates Wachtell To The Internet’s Main Character
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.
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