When the American Lawyer reported last week on the lateral hiring of a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the magazine also mentioned in passing that Michael Katzke, an executive-compensation partner, had left the firm at the end of last year to start a career in social work.
Huh? Leaving Wachtell for social work?
It’s certainly not every day that a law-firm partner, who had counted private-equity firm Apollo Management, the NYSE, and IAC/InterActiveCorp as clients, leaves a big firm to become a social worker, especially when that firm is Wachtell, where, according to the American Lawyer, profits-per-partner in 2005 averaged about $3.8 million.