McDermott Trims Schulte Associate Ranks One Year After Merger

McDermott Will & Schulte has let go of more than a dozen associates nearly a year after it completed its merger, say people familiar with the situation.

The impacted associates, across various practices, have been let go over the past 24 hours. Many were former Schulte Roth & Zabel associates said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Those affected were notified about meetings with human resources on Monday and Tuesday, the people said. In those meetings associates were informed that they would be let go immediately, given three months severance pay and several months website time, a person familiar said.

The people said that the reasons the impacted associates were given were low hours and not enough work in their respective practice groups. The firm has not communicated widely with staff regarding the layoffs, the people said.

A spokesperson for the firm said, “McDermott Will & Schulte has made the difficult decision to separate from a small number of associates across the firm as we continue to align with shifting client needs. We are grateful to the associates who are departing; their work has made a meaningful impact on our clients and the firm. As markets evolve, we remain focused on the areas where we lead, making disciplined decisions about how we invest and grow so we can stay at the forefront and help our clients do the same.”

Chicago-founded McDermott Will & Emery, a firm of roughly 1,300 lawyers, announced plans to merge with the 360-lawyer New York firm Schulte Roth & Zabel in May 2025 and completed their tie-up in August.

The people said that upper management from Schulte told its associates multiple times during the merger process that there were layoff protections within the merger agreement and there would be no layoffs before 2027 without a panel of Schulte partners’ prior approval. The people also said that IT systems between McDermott and Schulte were not fully integrated until February 2026 thus making it difficult to work on joint matters.