Long hailed as the archetype within the world of Biglaw, Cravath is experiencing shifts that are rapidly reshaping the firm’s traditional model. Elsewhere, this iconic law firm has been famed for its control of Biglaw salary scale, and its nurturing life-long culture of bringing lawyers from the associate rank right up to partner. The depth of loyalty has been such that attorneys were known to remain at the firm for their entire professional life and even undertook the mourning of partners collaboratively, as illustrated by the so called “Cravath walk”.
Yet Cravath’s fortress of tradition seems to be coming under strain. The firm broke away from the equity partner tier exclusively model in 2023, to integrate a salary partner tier, which was swiftly succeeded by a substantial shift in hiring lateral partners — an act that was once a very infrequent occurrence. In addition, the steady departure of partners, previously unthinkable, is indicative of the changing norms.
These changes being experienced within Cravath are undoubtedly part of a larger trend across law firms, with departures of partners becoming increasingly frequent, as competitors introduce premium salary offers to attract top talent. As reported by Reuters, Cravath has recently suffered the loss of two of its partners to rival firms.
Notably, Davis, Polk & Wardwell announced recently the hiring of civil litigator Rory Leraris from Cravath, placing him as the fourth Cravath partner to make this move since 2021. On the same note, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer announced the hiring of M&A lawyer Sanjay Murti, another former Cravath partner. This follows the 2021 departure of Damien Zoubek, the co-head of U.S. M&A at Freshfields, who himself had previously moved from Cravath to the London-based firm. In addition, other firms such as Latham & Watkins and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison also recruited former Cravath partners into their folds in 2023.
The trend raises multiple questions, such as how much rival firms are willing to pay to attract Cravath partners and who from Cravath will be next to seize such opportunities. Whilst it remains to be seen, Cravath meanwhile carries on by wishing its departing partners well.
For more on the departures, including details on factors contributing to these changes, see the full article at Above the Law.