The 2012 bankruptcy of storied law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP illustrates how even wellestablished firms can fail because of ineffective management of their talent. The failure of the firm is attributable to three major issues: a reliance on borrowed money, making large promises about compensation to incoming (called “lateral”) partners, and a lack of transparency about the firm’s financials. Partnership in a major law firm,considered the brass ring in a legal career, once came with lifetime security, prestige, and entry into the 1 percent—and at times, the one-tenth of the 1 percent. However, the collapse of Dewey & LeBoeuf laid bare the increasingly Darwinian competition for lucrative clients that has afflicted even the highest ranks of the profession. Here was a firm that traced its roots to the 19th century and bore the name of a former Republican presidential candidate and New York governor, Thomas E. Dewey. The New York–based law firm once had 1,300 lawyers but filed for bankruptcy amid a huge exodus of talent and mounting debt.