JP Morgan has expelled Weil's secondees after one of them sent confidential documents to a partner.

An associate in the US firm's London office came across JP Morgan's restricted-access business development plans while he was seconded to the bank. Sources said he took it upon himself to send the documents back to a senior partner at Weil.

A source told RollOnFriday that the associate, whom RollOnFriday is not naming, was working with his Weil laptop plugged into JP Morgan's system. It detected the transmission of the plans and the leak was quickly traced back to him. JP Morgan's response was extreme. It banished not just the superspy, but all of Weil's secondees, worldwide.

 

  Clients claim they want lawyers to understand their businesses better, then one takes them at their word and they get put in a cage for naughty advisors.


In the wake of WeilGate, which occurred approximately three months ago, the firm is understood to have placed draconian restrictions on the lawyers embedded with other clients. A source said they were forbidden from having any contact with the firm during any secondment, and do not have access to their work emails. 

It is not known whether the lawyer or the partner realised the plans were confidential. An insider at Weil, whose staff scored it 76% and landed it in 12th place in the RollOnFriday Firm of the Year 2018 survey, said that the issue was more complicated than indicated by the accounts provided to RollOnFriday. However the firm declined to comment, citing client confidentiality. JP Morgan also declined to comment.

Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 15 June 18 11:04

I've seen something similar happening before and it destroyed the firm / client relationship in that case.

Anonymous 15 June 18 14:03

It does slightly sully the relationship between firm and client by doing secondments. It may be better to keep it pure and remote.

Roll On Friday 15 June 18 14:46

Anon at 13:03:

Disagree. Maybe it depends on the nature of the work, but it can add value. The lawyers get to understand a bit more about how the client works, the client gets to know the lawyers a bit more, generally builds up a relationship.
Secondees can be like a force-transmitting particle. A graviton, if you will, bringing the two bodies closer together.

Other bosons are available. Best not to equate with a Higgs-Boson, though, or (as you suggest), your super-luminal, energetic client relationship could get mired in the boring realm of tardyonic matter.

The Secret? Choose good secondees. Not your best, obvs, you want them grinding away on the proper work, but not your worst either. Keep them in the data room.

Anonymous 15 June 18 18:22

Corporate entertainment at its finest!

Secondments, at less than full fee rates, should be regarded as bribery

Anonymous 18 June 18 07:51

Love the irrelevant plug of the Roll on Friday survey. It's like one of the Daily Mail's, "[Celebrity X], whose children attend the exclusive eleventy thousand pounds a term private school" lines.

Anonymous 19 June 18 09:17

Just shows being a keano doesn't pay. Regardless of the firm's wants, secondments are meant to be used as an excuse to completely shut yourself off from the usual 10:00 - 0:00 shift and have the chance to see daylight for a change.

Anonymous 19 June 18 14:03

How long does the SRA take to investigate these matters? Are there any regulatory implications from a US perspective? Is JPMorgan going to sue? How will this impact future banking work for Weil? Why wasn’t the associate fired immediately to save face? So many questions....

Definitely need a follow up or update.

Anonymous 19 June 18 16:46

I love the irony of Weil declining to comment on the basis of "client confidentiality" when they have been caught breaching that exact same ethical obligation they had to JPM...

Anonymous 21 June 18 10:14

anonymous user
15/06/2018 17:22




Rate it
Negitive Rating

5

Positive Rating


Report as offensive

Corporate entertainment at its finest!

Secondments, at less than full fee rates, should be regarded as bribery

--

umm, how? Even if it's as blunt as "give us a free secondee and we will instruct you on our takeover of MegaCorp", you're not providing any improper inducement outside the usual commercial relationship.

Anonymous 22 June 18 09:56

Not just SRA issue, FCA issue as well if sensitive information with regards to JPM’s clients was stolen.