Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy doesn’t lose too many partners to rival firms. But for Paul Wessel, the former head of Milbank’s compensation and benefits group, the opportunity to lead a similar practice at Weil, Gotshal & Mangesand rejoin several former colleagues from Dewey Ballantine in the processwas too good to pass up.
With multiple partners shuttling between the two firms,
which are frequently adverse to one another in bankruptcy cases, it might appear that Weil and Milbank are locked in a lateral tug-of-war. (If not
Hatfields and McCoys, perhaps Hadleys and McCloys, if you will.) Not so, says Wessel, noting that the two lateral moves are nothing more than coincidence. He cites two main factors as driving his decision to leave Milbank for Weil.
The first, Wessel says, was the opportunity to lead Weil’s robust transactional-based executive compensation practice. While he has high praise for Milbank’s M&A expertise, Wessel says the size of Weil’s group allows it to handle more corporate and private equity work. "The scope of the practice is just larger," adds Wessel, who did not use a legal recruiter for the lateral move.
The other factor luring Wessel to Weil was the opportunity to work with some of his former Dewey colleagues, specifically corporate department chair Michael Aiello.
"I have nothing but the highest regard for Dewey, and I appreciate that I was associated with the firm for so long," says Wessel, who joined the firm in 1986 and worked at Dewey through its transactional heyday in the 1990s.
"I thought highly of LeBoeuf Lamb as well, and while some mergers work, I was sad to see that one didn’t work out," adds Wessel. "But that’s life in the big city."
According to filings made in Dewey’s Chapter 11 case, Wessel has agreed to chip in $10,396 to a partner contribution plan that is expected to bring in some $70 million to help pay back creditors owed a staggering $600 million. The settlement deal, which will see roughly 444 former partners contribute between $5,000 and $3.37 million each as a means of protecting themselves from future Dewey-related liabilities, still needs to be approved as part of a final Chapter 11 plan.