Goldman Simpson?

In the world of M&A, you need a financial adviser (an investment bank) and you need a legal adviser (a law firm). Legal advisers make lots of money. Financial advisors make much, much more – despite the fact that senior partners at law firms are often much wiser, and taken more seriously, than their opposite numbers on Wall Street.

Larry Ribstein today draws the obvious conclusion: Goldman Sachs should buy Simpson Thacher!

This would require some legislation – but given the clout of Goldman Sachs in the government, that should hardly be insurmountable. And just think of what would result – a one-stop corporate-advisory shop, without lawyers and bankers squabbling and blaming each other for delays and problems. Lawyers would make much more money, while bankers would no longer be at the mercy of their outside counsel. Everyone wins!

The problem, of course, is that lawyers' paramount duty is to the law, not to their employer or even to their clients. There's also a natural conflict between the transparency required by regulators of investment banks, on the one hand, and attorney-client privilege, on the other. In any case, lawyers are free to go work for investment banks if they like: they're well aware that what they gain in salary they lose in job security.

But from a client's point of view, I think this idea does make a tiny amount of sense.