Morgan Lewis OKs 'mass lateral move' of 227 Bingham partners, but not a merger
Despite earlier news that a Morgan Lewis & Bockius had approved a merger with struggling Bingham McCutchen, the firm has stopped short of doing so.
In a Friday announcement, Morgan Lewis said its partners voted earlier in the day to admit 227 partners from Bingham into the Morgan Lewis partnership.
The Bingham firm listed 307 partners on its website as of Friday and it’s not clear from the Morgan Lewis announcement what will happen to the rest of the Bingham partners and the firm’s associates and counsel, who number 195 and 174, respectively, or whether the Bingham firm can continue without the bulk of its partners. A number of lawyers have left Bingham in recent months or announced they will do so, and some of those listed on the Bingham website may have already made other plans.
What the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) terms a “mass lateral move” of the 227 Bingham partners to Morgan Lewis is set to take place by the end of the month. At that point, the global firm will have some 2,000 lawyers in 28 offices.
An undetermined number of Bingham associates and staff members are expected to join Morgan Lewis along with the Bingham partners, according to the Am Law Daily.
Morgan Lewis declined to elaborate beyond the information provided in the announcement, when contacted by the ABA Journal, and Bingham declined the Am Law Daily’s request for comment.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Are key partners on board for merger of Bingham and Morgan Lewis?”
ABAJournal.com: “More lawyers exit Bingham and Dickstein; Switching firms no longer carries stigma, says WSJ”
ABAJournal.com: “Bingham managing partner says firm is exploring options, including remote possibility of bankruptcy”
ABAJournal.com: “Bingham and Edwards Wildman shed lawyers ahead of potential mergers”
See also:
Am Law Daily (sub. req.): “Bingham Malpractice Accord Smoothed Way for Morgan Lewis Talks”
