It's not just Kirkland & Ellis. Contractual 'hold' provisions have recently delayed lateral moves in Texas to Gibson Dunn, Sidley Austin and Shearman & Sterling.
Dallas lawyer Kevin Crews, held up in moving to Kirkland & Ellis‘ new Dallas office because of a six-month notice provision in his employment contract with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, is far from the only Texas lawyer who has faced that sticky situation—and Kirkland isn’t the only firm to face delays in lateral hiring as a result.
"We can t assume that clients will give us considered feedback, in fact we can probably assume they won t, at least until something goes wron..."
The move significantly expands the Texas firm in New York, but it's a blow to the Kasowitz team, whose head count has shrunk by more than 100 attorneys in the last five years.
Turo CLO Michelle Fang says giving more work to diverse lawyers doesn't have to mean firing existing, trusted advisers. It's about building new trusted relationships.
The firm tracked at least $10 million in new work that resulted from the April 2018 merger.