When the financial crisis hit, Charlotte’s two hometown banking giants, Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp., took a mighty fall and the associated legal work dove with it. Wachovia was forced into the arms of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. and the government bailed out Bank of America; it has been downsizing ever since. Among the consequences: Now shuttered Dewey & LeBoeuf closed its Charlotte office in 2008 and Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal did the same in 2009. Other firms laid off staff and attorneys.
Business stabilized during the past year, however, and now is beginning to grow again, according to Michael Nedzbala, managing partner of Hunton & Williams’ 24-lawyer Charlotte office (which has half the attorneys it did in early 2008). The lateral market is heating up, firms are restoring their summer-associate programs and corporate transaction lawyers who were forced to try their hand at litigation or bankruptcy work during the downturn are structuring deals again.
