The same morning the economy printed 3.4% growth, hotter than expected, with September inflation running ahead of it and the Fed still penciled in for a year-end hike, one of Wall Street’s oldest law firms announced it’s dissolving. Reuters called it a “dizzying fall.” Bloomberg’s headline says lawyers are the new bankers. The Economist went with “the death of corporate loyalty.”

I only have headlines, so I don’t know what broke first. But the shape is familiar. A partnership has almost no hard assets. Its balance sheet is a few hundred people who can walk out the door on a Friday and be at a competitor Monday, taking clients along. Depositors can’t do that to a bank, and even they only get a run when they think others will leave first. Partners at a law firm are in the same position, with the added fact that their departure is the withdrawal. Once the best rainmakers start eyeing the exits, everyone else has to guess whether they’re last in line. Staying becomes the risky choice.

The Economist’s “loyalty” framing feels slightly off to me. Loyalty is a feeling, and this looks more like arithmetic. Nothing in the structure rewards the last person to leave, so the first mover gets paid and the rest hold the lease.

What I can’t tell is why now. Strong growth is supposed to be good for deal lawyers. Maybe the better question is who’s buying the associates and partners in a hot economy that’s also getting more expensive to run.

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