What every CEO can learn from the collapse of law firm giant Weil Gotshal

In today’s CEO Daily: Things go south when you have a botched succession and no Plan B.

The big leadership story: Alphabet’s $500 billion rout.

The markets: U.S. futures sink as massive AI spending spooks investors.

Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

Good morning. There are a lot of lessons coming out of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the storied law firm that’s winding down after 95 years in business. How AI will disrupt law is not one of them. Nor is this a tale about crime, scandal, financial malfeasance, reckless accounting or any of the other perils that can fell a firm at this speed. Instead, this is a story about what happens when the departure of some key leaders sparks an outflow of talent that undermines the foundation of a business based on expertise, relationships, and trust. Some of the plot points that drove this sad narrative:

A botched succession. Law firms are partnerships, which means the partners typically vote on who will serve as executive partner and establish the firm’s new direction in the process. As one leader at a rival firm told me yesterday: “Anyone who has an ownership in the firm normally gets to vote on key management decisions.” That didn’t happen here. Barry Wolf, who’s led the firm for 16 years, instead appointed corporate practice chair Michael Aiello to lead a committee tasked with identifying a successor and managing the transition. They picked Ramona Nee in March. By September, she told partners that she no longer planned to take the role. It was kept largely quiet and there was no Plan B. Then Aiello announced he and a team were leaving for Cravath, Swaine &........

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