--- title: "Kirkland Lures Wachtell’s Top Restructuring Lawyer With An $80M Incentive To Jump Ship" author: "Kathryn Rubino" published_at: "2026-04-15T18:32:00+00:00" link: "https://abovethelaw.com/2026/04/kirkland-lures-wachtells-top-restructuring-lawyer-with-an-80m-incentive-to-jump-ship/" feed: "https://abovethelaw.com/feed/" clawfeed: "https://agent.clawfeeds.com/feed/6l2j-zrhq-h4rr.md" feed_url: "https://agent.clawfeeds.com/feed/6l2j-zrhq-h4rr.md" categories: ["Biglaw","Bonus News Alerts","David Nemecek","Joshua Feltman","Kirkland & Ellis","Lateral Moves","Partner Issues","Restructuring","Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz"] --- # Kirkland Lures Wachtell’s Top Restructuring Lawyer With An $80M Incentive To Jump Ship Money talks. And apparently, when Kirkland & Ellis is doing the talking, even the fortress of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz can’t hold. The Financial Times is [reporting](https://www.ft.com/content/81588cbf-cde8-4572-a13e-ad9aa5bafba0) that Kirkland & Ellis has landed themselves quite the lateral bounty: Joshua Feltman, the Chair of Wachtell’s Restructuring and Finance Department, dangling a guaranteed pay package of $80 million over three years to lure him away from his longtime home. Let that number sink in for a moment. Eighty. Million. Dollars. Guaranteed. Feltman joined Wachtell as an associate back in 2002, made partner in 2010, and rose to chair the firm’s elite Restructuring and Finance group. [](https://www.wlrk.com/attorney/jafeltman/)Over that time, he helped lead some of the most consequential restructurings of the last two decades, including Toys “R” Us, AMC, Expedia, and Express. He’s not just a rainmaker; he’s the kind of lawyer whose name is synonymous with an entire practice area. He’s a recognized leader in the burgeoning field of “liability management,” having advised on some of the largest and most novel transactions in the area, from Envision Healthcare to AMC Theatres. So why would someone at that perch leave? Well, let me count the reasons… and they basically all come in the shape of dollar signs. The timing of this hire is no coincidence. David Nemecek, who rose to legal industry prominence advising distressed companies on using liability management exercises to avoid restructuring and bankruptcy, left Kirkland & Ellis in February to [join Simpson Thacher](https://www.nonbillable.co.uk/news/simpson-thacher-hires-david-nemecek) (along with fellow partners Christine Bae and Jacob Ruby). Nemecek is considered the architect of modern liability management exercises, creative out-of-court restructurings that have become an important revenue stream for elite firms and redefined how private equity sponsors manage stressed portfolio companies. The move positions Simpson Thacher to directly challenge Kirkland’s long-held dominance in that space. Bloomberg Law [reports](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/nemeceks-simpson-move-refuels-the-bankruptcy-hiring-super-cycle) that at least nine partners with leadership roles in restructuring or liability management have moved law firms since late 2024, shuffling practices at firms including Fried Frank, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher, Ropes & Gray, and Debevoise. It’s being describes as a “super cycle” of lateral moves across restructuring practices. With an economy teetering on the edge (tariff chaos, market volatility, corporate debt maturities piling up), a top-flight restructuring practice its essential countercyclical planning. Feltman [noted earlier this year](https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2026/02/12/wachtell-lipton-discusses-the-year-ahead-in-corporate-bankruptcy-and-restructuring/) that an uptick in Chapter 11 activity seems inevitable, both to address unsuccessful liability management transactions and in the face of upcoming maturities for substantial debts incurred between late 2020 and 2022. So, the work is coming, but who is going to get to bill for it remains unanswered. Kirkland, stung by the Nemecek defection, clearly decided it needed to swing big for a replacement. When a firm that already pays its average equity partner $11 million offers an individual attorney a *guaranteed* $80 million over three years — roughly $26.7 million annually — it says everything about how valuable top restructuring talent is right now and how much Kirkland wanted to plug the gap left by Nemecek’s departure. Wachtell is undeniably a remarkable institution, and has long been regarded as the crown jewel of Biglaw profitability. It operates with fewer than 90 equity partners, zero offices outside Manhattan, the highest profit margin in the Am Law 100, and revenue per lawyer reported at over $5 million, the [highest in the industry.](https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2026/04/14/the-2026-am-law-100-by-the-numbers/) But as we keep seeing, there is something that even the most elite partnership culture cannot fully inoculate against: enough guaranteed money, deployed by a firm with $10.56 billion in annual revenue that genuinely has room to spend it. --- ***![](https://abovethelaw.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/06/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568.jpg)Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of [The Jabot podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/1XC11QhFCWxWr4NQrk2sEA), and co-host of [Thinking Like A Lawyer](https://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/thinking-like-a-lawyer/). AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email [her](mailto:kathryn@abovethelaw.com?subject=Your%20Column) with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter [@Kathryn1](https://abovethelaw.com/2026/04/kirkland-lures-wachtells-top-restructuring-lawyer-with-an-80m-incentive-to-jump-ship/%E2%80%9C//twitter.com/Kathryn1%22%E2%80%9D) or Mastodon [@Kathryn1@mastodon.social.](https://abovethelaw.com/2026/04/kirkland-lures-wachtells-top-restructuring-lawyer-with-an-80m-incentive-to-jump-ship/)*** The post [Kirkland Lures Wachtell’s Top Restructuring Lawyer With An $80M Incentive To Jump Ship](https://abovethelaw.com/2026/04/kirkland-lures-wachtells-top-restructuring-lawyer-with-an-80m-incentive-to-jump-ship/) appeared first on [Above the Law](https://abovethelaw.com/).