In the latest skirmish in the battle for legal talent, law firm Gibson Dunn said it had hired one of the co-chairmen of rival Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, as well as five other partners in its legal department.
Gibson Dunn’s hiring of William Savitt, who has served as Wachtell’s co-chairman since 2023, highlights the fierce competition for top lawyers at a time when deals, the lifeblood of the big law industry, are booming and the business is becoming more legally complex. That competition puts pressure on long-term loyalties, although it is unusual for a high-profile company chairman to leave another company.
This week, law firms Simpson Thacher, Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss announced a flurry of hires they had made from rival firms as they look to consolidate in capital markets and restructuring. The Financial Times previously reported the news of Mr. Savitt’s move.
For decades, Wachtell has stood out on Wall Street for its simple model: a close-knit shop with a single office in New York with intellectual firepower and expertise in mergers and acquisitions and corporate litigation in the Delaware Chancery Court, considered the premier destination for adjudicating corporate disputes.
Mr. Savitt, who joined Wachtell in 2000, led many of the more recent lawsuits, including successfully defending Twitter in its lawsuit that forced Elon Musk to close his $44 billion purchase of the company.
This spring, he served as lead counsel for OpenAI during a high-profile lawsuit in which the company successfully defended itself against Mr. Musk’s allegations of breach of contract. Mr. Savitt gained attention for his sometimes combative cross-examination of Mr. Musk on the witness stand.
Wachtell continues his work on other high-profile cases, including representing Jefferies in bankruptcy proceedings for auto parts maker First Brands.
“Wachtell Lipton is performing at its highest level across all measures,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement.
The prospect of hiring Mr. Savitt was “a dream hatched” when Barbara Becker became chairman of Gibson Dunn five years ago, she said in an interview Tuesday. Mr. Savitt was “No. 1 on that list,” Ms. Becker, “never thought in a million years that would happen.”
Since taking over as chairman in 2021, Ms. Becker has made a number of other major hires to expand the company’s reach. This year, the firm hired a group of appellate lawyers from Sullivan & Cromwell, including Jeff Wall, a former acting U.S. attorney, and in 2024 it hired a group led by Barry Berke, a prominent defense attorney.
Gibson Dunn’s focus on hiring skilled litigators is also notable because other firms, such as Paul Weiss, have experienced a breakdown in their corporate and litigation departments.
“You can’t do an M&A deal of any scale without fundamentally understanding the litigation space,” said Orin Snyder, co-chairman of Gibson Dunn’s trial practice group, who has known Mr. Savitt for years.
With Mr. Joining Gibson Dunn’s New York office are five other Wachtell attorneys: Sarah Eddy, Randall Jackson, Ryan McLeod, Anitha Reddy and Brad Wilson.
