Weil, Gotshal & Manges Plans Wind-Down; Palantir's CFO Courts Its Summer Associates

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a Wall Street law firm with more than 90 years of history, is planning an orderly wind-down pending a partner vote — and Palantir's CFO is already recruiting its stranded summer associates.

David Glazer, CFO of Palantir Technologies, posted the invitation on LinkedIn on Thursday, one day after Weil's leadership recommended closing the firm. "If you were going to be a Weil summer associate but now want to put your experience to work at Palantir, want to work a real summer job (with way less lunches) but way more fun. Reach out!" Glazer wrote.

The timing was deliberate. Weil announced on Wednesday that its management committee had recommended dissolution after what it described as a review of strategic alternatives.

"Following a careful review of strategic alternatives, the firm's management committee has recommended to the partnership that the firm pursue an orderly wind-down," Weil said in a statement. Partners are expected to vote in the coming days.

Why is Glazer recruiting lawyers?

Glazer knows the unconventional route firsthand. He joined Palantir in 2013 as legal counsel for corporate and securities, moved through several leadership roles, and became CFO in July 2020. Before that, he was a corporate securities attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, advising technology companies and founders on IPOs, equity and debt financings, M&A, and corporate governance.

He now runs Palantir's finance organization at a company whose market cap exceeds $450 billion. In Q2, Palantir's revenue surged 93% year over year to $1.94 billion.

His post doesn't specify what the students would actually do at Palantir. But his own move from law to finance suggests a pitch: legal training need not lead exclusively to a legal career. In the AI era, the invitation raises a broader question — how companies can put analytical judgment to work beyond conventional career tracks.

How did Weil collapse?

The wind-down caps a rapid reversal for a firm that handled major matters for Lehman Brothers, Enron and General Motors. The planned dissolution follows an exodus of partners and unsuccessful merger talks, and it leaves roughly 1,200 lawyers worldwide facing uncertainty.

The fall was dizzying in its speed. As recently as Sept. 30, Weil was still announcing industry recognition. The firm said it had been named "Competition Team of the Year" at the Legal Business Awards 2026 for advising Boeing as global antitrust counsel outside the U.S. on its acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems.

The departures never stopped. On Oct. 22, Law.com reported that Caroline Hickey Zalka — head of Weil's securities litigation practice and a member of its management committee — was in advanced talks to join Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Within a week, Weil's leadership had recommended winding the firm down.

What happens to the students?

For students who expected to launch their careers at a near-century-old institution, Glazer's invitation points somewhere unexpected — toward a path that mirrors his own climb from corporate securities attorney to the CFO's office of one of the market's most valuable software companies. Whether Palantir's Legal-adjacent bench absorbs them remains to be seen, but the offer itself signals how aggressively tech companies are willing to poice talent the moment traditional employers stumble.