Weil Gotshal & Manges' lucrative role on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy has been cited as a potential contributing factor to the news this week that the firm is embarking on a major round of layoffs set to affect as many as 170 lawyers and support staff.

From Lehman's fall in 2008 to its emergence from Chapter 11 protection in March last year, Weil racked up more than $400m (£260m) in fees advising on the collapse – the largest bankruptcy in history.

In his all-staff email announcing the redundancies earlier this week, executive partner Barry Wolf said the "balance of the firm… most notably as a result of Lehman" had helped avoid a restructuring to date, but that this restructuring and litigation work was now drying up.

The wind-down of Weil's involvement in Lehman has contributed to the elite US firm's decision to cut associate headcount at its US offices by around 60, with roughly 110 support staff positions also set to go.

"Once [Lehman] concluded it was always going to leave some sort of gap behind it," said one senior restructuring partner at a US firm. "These big cases always throw you out of shape; it hurts, but it's pain worth taking."

"It's similar to when Slaughter and May did all the Government privatisations in the 1980s and 90s," added another senior partner. "It made them a lot of money, but left them very exposed. This news will only accelerate the trend towards hiring lawyers on shorter contracts."

Weil confirmed that although the cuts will predominantly affect its US offices, the redundancies are being made firmwide. It is not clear to what extent London will be affected.

For more, see Weil to cut 170 jobs across firm with both lawyers and support staff to go.