Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s decision to move away from the pure lockstep model that has defined the firm for decades marks a pivotal moment in Big Law and an indirect admittance of one of the biggest trends in the past few years: pure lockstep firms are losing favor in the war for top talent.

For decades, America’s white-shoe law firms seemed to have impenetrable armor, unscathed by what happened in the broader legal industry. But the last few years have revealed weaknesses that would once have been considered unthinkable, as rising powers like Kirkland & Ellis and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison have begun luring talent away from storied firms like Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]