Paul Weiss Chair Says Deal With Trump Adheres to Firm’s Principles
March 21, 2025
In an email message, the law firm’s chairman, Brad Karp, reassured employees that its deal with President Trump was in keeping with its principles.
The chairman of Paul Weiss sought to reassure employees at the giant law firm that the deal it reached with President Trump was consistent with principles that the 150-year-old firm has long stood by.
On Thursday evening, Brad Karp sent a firm-wide email, detailing the agreement he had reached with Mr. Trump, which allowed the firm to escape an executive order that could have cost it significant business.
The order, part of a broader retribution campaign against law firms, threatened to suspend the law firm’s security clearances, which would have made it virtually impossible for Paul Weiss to represent clients in cases involving the federal government.
In the email to the firm, which was viewed by The New York Times, Mr. Karp said that in reaching an agreement with Mr. Trump, he really just “reaffirmed” the firm’s statement of principles outlined in 1963 by one of Paul Weiss’s original named partners, Judge Simon H. Rifkind.
“The commitments reaffirmed today are consistent with Judge Simon H. Rifkind’s 1963 Statement of Firm Principles,” which states, among other things, that “we believe in maintaining, by affirmative efforts, a membership of partners and associates reflecting a wide variety of religious, political, ethnic and social backgrounds,” Mr. Karp wrote in the email.
Despite Mr. Karp’s assurances, the deal between Paul Weiss and the White House was causing concern among the broader legal community that large law firms were capitulating to Mr. Trump’s demands instead of fighting them in court.
At a meeting at the White House, Mr. Karp reached a deal with Mr. Trump in which the firm agreed to do $40 million worth of pro bono work on causes supported by the Trump administration, such as working with veterans and fighting antisemitism.
“Thank you all for your patience during this time,” Mr. Karp told the roughly 2,000 lawyers and support staff at the firm. “With this behind us, we can devote our complete focus — as we always do — to our clients, our work, our colleagues and our firm.”
By Matthew Goldstein, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess
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What to Know About Paul Weiss, the Law Firm Bowing to Trump’s Demands
March 21, 2025
The 150-year-old firm has employed many Democrats, including Manhattan’s former U.S. attorney. Its revenue was more than $2.6 billion last year.
Paul Weiss, the New York law firm that this week struck a deal to escape President Trump’s wrath, is one of the nation’s largest, with more than 1,000 lawyers representing some of the world’s wealthiest and most profitable companies.
The firm, formally called Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, has offices around the world. Its work involves mergers and acquisitions, private equity, white-collar and regulatory defense and litigation. Clients have included corporations like ExxonMobil, Citigroup, Imagine Entertainment and Lucasfilm.
Paul Weiss’s revenue was more than $2.6 billion last year, according to Law360. The firm also has a large pro bono practice of public service work, some of which will now be performed for causes championed by President Trump, according to the deal.
The president had issued an executive order, part of a broader campaign against law firms, which would have suspended Paul Weiss’s security clearances and barred its lawyers from federal buildings. To persuade the president to lift the order, the firm agreed to do $40 million worth of pro bono work on causes, such as working with veterans and fighting antisemitism, over the course of Mr. Trump’s term.
But the deal with Mr. Trump has led some critics to charge that Paul Weiss betrayed its principles by giving in to the president rather than fighting him in court.
The firm is known for giving a home to prominent Democrats, like Theodore C. Sorensen, who was an adviser to President John F. Kennedy.
Among its current partners are Loretta E. Lynch, who served as attorney general under President Barack Obama; Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York under President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; and Jeh C. Johnson, a former secretary of homeland security under Mr. Obama.
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Paul Weiss Deal With Trump Faces Backlash From Legal Profession
March 21, 2025
Paul Weiss, a law firm targeted by President Trump, reached a deal to settle a conflict. Many in the legal field are condemning the agreement.
Some lawyers said the deal was driven by profit. Others said it was enabling autocracy. One said the move had prompted her to quit her legal job in disgust.
All over the legal world, lawyers on Friday were talking about the deal that Paul Weiss, one of the nation’s most prominent law firms, had made with President Trump to escape an onerous executive order that would have prevented it from representing many clients before the federal government. To avoid the hit to its business, the firm agreed to do $40 million worth of pro bono work for causes favored by the White House.
It was a striking development in the White House’s broad retribution campaign against big law firms that represented lawyers or prosecutors in the criminal cases against Mr. Trump before the 2024 election.
Paul Weiss’s move was a particular point of contention because of the firm’s standing in the legal community. The firm has long been dominated by Democrats and prided itself on being at the forefront of fights against the government for civil rights.
“They have all the resources they need to fight an unlawful order,” said John Moscow, who was a top prosecutor at the Manhattan district attorney’s office under Robert Morgenthau. “The example they are setting is to surrender to unlawful orders rather than fight them in court.”
By Danielle Kaye, Lauren Hirsch and Maureen Farrell
