Gibson Dunn to Add 120-Lawyer Private Funds Group From Weil, Including Co-Managing Partner Soler

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher said Thursday it will take on a private funds group of more than 120 lawyers from Weil, Gotshal & Manges, including Weil co-managing partner Jonathon Soler. The group includes 23 partners and will join Gibson Dunn's New York, Washington, D.C. and London offices. It starts at Gibson Dunn on January 1, 2027.

The announcement follows the breakup of Weil. Weil's partners voted earlier this week to wind down the 95-year-old firm, a decision that followed an Oct. 28 recommendation from leadership.

Who is moving

Gibson Dunn said the group includes Soler and Weil's co-heads of private funds: New York-based partner Andrew Chizzik and London-based partners James Bromley and James Sargent. The other U.S. partners are Sarah Borden, Brittany Burnham, Lana Castor, Menachem Danishefsky, Robert Frastai, David Greene, Cassie Kimmelman, Kristine Koren, Chris Scully, Becki Steinberg and David Wohl. The remaining London partners are Phil Baynes, Fiona Cumming, Aron Joy, Hannah Laurie, Nick Roxburgh, Marc Schubert, Sophie Smith and Jacquelyn Volpe.

The ABA Journal reported that Ramona Nee, co-managing partner alongside Soler, had been in line to lead Weil. Kirkland & Ellis said last week that 40 lawyers will join it, including Nee, a private equity partner.

What Gibson Dunn says the team does

According to the firm's announcement, the group offers integrated capabilities across fund structuring, regulatory, tax and finance. The firm said the team advises alternative asset managers, private capital sponsors and institutional investors on matters including cross-border fund formations, GP-led and LP-led secondaries, fund restructurings, GP-stakes transactions, fund finance, and co-investment and managed account arrangements.

Barbara Becker, Gibson Dunn's chair and managing partner, said the team's expertise and client relationships would expand the firm's ability to support leading fund sponsors, and called the group "a natural fit for our culture" in the firm's statement. Shukie Grossman, global chair of the firm's Investment Funds Practice Group, described the group as "the most sought-after cross-border funds team in the market."

The firm cited rankings for the team. It said the group holds leading rankings from Chambers and The Legal 500, and ranked first globally for infrastructure fund formation by aggregate fund value in Infrastructure Investor's 2025 league table and second in 2026.

A wider scramble for Weil talent

Gibson Dunn is one of several firms absorbing Weil lawyers. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom said Thursday it hired three Weil partners, adding to two it had picked up before the dissolution. Kirkland, Latham & Watkins, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, and Massumi + Consoli have also announced or confirmed Weil partner hires this week.

The London piece of the deal was reported earlier. City AM, citing a source with knowledge of the matter, reported on Oct. 30 that Gibson Dunn had been in talks to acquire Weil's entire private funds team for over a year, before Weil's recent collapse. Gibson Dunn did not address the timing of those talks in its announcement.

What this means for in-house counsel

If your fund sponsor, asset manager or portfolio company relies on Weil for fund formation, secondaries or fund finance, counsel may want to be prepared for a request to move matters to a new firm. Because the group does not start at Gibson Dunn until January 1, 2027, confirm who is responsible for live work between now and then. Ask Weil and the incoming firm for a written plan covering open fundraises, closings scheduled around year-end, and any deal documents with signature pages or consents still in progress.

Counsel may want to treat the move as a new engagement decision, not an automatic transfer. Compare the incoming firm's rates, staffing model and conflict position against your current panel, and check whether Gibson Dunn already acts for counterparties, other sponsors or investors that sit across the table from you in funds work. Engagement letters, advance waivers and confidentiality terms should be reviewed afresh. Also ask who will pay for transition work and how unbilled time and retainers held by Weil will be handled.

Finally, use the moment for a wider panel review. With lawyers from one firm spreading across several others, in-house teams that used Weil for litigation, restructuring or corporate matters outside funds should identify their relationship partners' destinations and decide whether to follow them. Keep a record of file transfer requests, and make sure data-handling and records-retention obligations to your own clients and regulators are met when the files move.