The law firm of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP has been able to pry Ray Schrock from rival firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Schrock will join the firm as a partner and will hold a position of leadership. He quite possibly could be in line to take over as the co-head of the restructuring group. The group is headed by Marcia Goldstein and co-chair Gary Holtzer right now.
“We thank Ray for his service to the firm. We wish him well,” a Kirkland spokeswoman said.
Schrock has represented Residential Capital LLC’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Charter Communications Inc. and Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co during his career.
Weil has had a difficult year, seeing its revenue drop by 7.4 percent in 2013. Some 170 junior lawyers and staff members were laid off at the firm last June. Dozens of partners saw their pay drop too.
Weil is currently representing DirecTV in its sale to AT&T Inc. for $48.5 billion.
The United States saw the lowest level of commercial bankruptcy filings last year since before the recession when the numbers dropped by 24 percent. This past July, bankruptcy filings dropped by 21 percent compared to the previous year, according to data released by Epiq Systems Inc. and sent to the American Bankruptcy Institute.