From Trump to Epstein, how Brad Karp lost control over the Paul Weiss law firm

Feb 7 (Reuters) – Lace carppresident of the powerful US law firm Paul Weiss, joined other prominent Democratic fundraisers at election night rallies in Washington in November 2024 in hopes of a victory for Kamala Harris over her Republican rival Donald Trump.

carp He had contacted hundreds of corporate lawyers to raise money for Harris shortly after she replaced incumbent Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate in July 2024, and one of his partners, Paul Weiss, helped prepare the former US vice president for her debate with Trump.

But Trump won the election. And his return to the presidency last year set in motion a series of events that first shook Paul Weiss and later, with the Justice Department’s release of records involving the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, led carp resign this week as its president.

Although he has not been charged with a crime, revelations of his contacts with Epstein unraveled in a matter of days. carpThe long-standing control over the company that had established him as a power broker on Wall Street and Washington.

“If you were going to write a Greek tragedy about the leader of a law firm, this is it,” a former senior lawyer for Paul Weiss told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Steven Ferdman via Getty Images

Transforming Paul Weiss

After becoming president of Paul Weiss in 2008, carp transformed it from a respected New York litigation firm to a deep-pocketed global power. And Paul Weiss attorneys and staff outpaced other major law firms in donations to Democrats during the 2024 election cycle.

Paul Weiss devoted pro bono work to progressive causes and recruited star Wall Street negotiators along with litigators who had served in former Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration.

Trump’s return to the White House quickly generated a stir in carp and your signature. carpTrump’s subsequent decision to reach a deal with Trump to rescind an executive order the president had issued punishing the firm made him the face of capitulation for some lawyers aligned with the Democratic Party.

At least a dozen partners, including the one who had advised Harris in her presidential debate, subsequently left the firm.

A bipartisan push in Congress last year, over Trump’s objections, called for the Justice Department to release files related to Epstein. A trove of emails made public in late January revealed extensive communications between carp and Epstein, leading him to resign as president.

carp did not respond to requests for comment. The firm did not respond to a request for comment beyond the statement it issued Wednesday announcing his resignation.

In that statement, carp He said that “the recent reports have created a distraction and put a focus on me that is not in the best interest of the company.” The firm had previously said it regretted its interactions with Epstein and that it “never witnessed or participated in any misconduct.”

carpwhose portfolio of representation has included major Wall Street banks and the National Football League, remains at Paul Weiss serving clients, the firm said in its statement. carp He was replaced as president by Scott Barshay, whom he had hired in 2016 to boost the firm’s M&A practice and other corporate work.

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From litigation to negotiation

Founded in 1875 by Samuel William Weiss and Julius Frank, the company earned a reputation as a defender of civil liberties. In the 1940s, it became the first major New York firm to name a female partner. He assisted civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of the United States Supreme Court of 1954, which declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

carp He joined Paul Weiss as a summer associate in 1983 and spent his entire career at the firm, eventually leading the litigation department before being elected president. Under his leadership, Paul Weiss became the financial industry’s leading advocate, representing clients such as Citigroup and JPMorgan, while maintaining deep ties to the Democratic establishment.

Over time, carp displayed an ability to develop close relationships and build consensus that allowed him to attract star creators, propelling Paul Weiss into a top-tier firm with loyal institutional clients and leaders in litigation and transactional practices, according to Kent Zimmermann, a law firm advisor he interviewed carp for a next book.

By hiring Barshay, carp increased the company’s bargaining power.

carp He frequently used Paul Weiss’ resources to challenge the first Trump administration and partner with civil rights and advocacy groups. The firm helped lead litigation following the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and participated in lawsuits against the firearms industry.

In 2018, carp mobilized lawyers to fight Trump’s family separation policy at the US border.

carp He also represented Leon Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, a large Wall Street investment firm. Epstein became involved in fee disputes with Black. carpEpstein’s communications regarding Black and other matters would ultimately contribute to the law firm leader’s resignation.

Photography by Davidoff Studios via Getty Images

Trump punishment

Paul Weiss employed lawyers who investigated Trump and sued participants in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by the president’s supporters in their failed effort to prevent Congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory. On the day of the riot, carp He said he watched in horror “as the shameful results of this attempted coup spilled into the hallowed halls of Congress.”

That made the company a target when Trump returned to the presidency in January 2025. In March, Trump signed an executive order blacklisting Paul Weiss for federal buildings and government contracts, part of a series of such directives aimed at several law firms the president considered adversaries.

“The changes he was able to make at the firm were precisely what created the vulnerabilities that Trump was able to exploit,” said Scott Cummings, a professor of legal ethics at UCLA School of Law.

Fearing that the order would cause an exodus of customers and destroy the 150-year-old company, carp sought an agreement with Trump.

He arrived at a White House meeting in the Oval Office that began with a lengthy discussion about golf. Sullivan & Cromwell co-chairman Robert Giuffra, a Republican and Trump lawyer, was connected to the meeting by phone and later helped. carp negotiate a deal to rescind the executive order in exchange for $40 million in free legal work for causes the president supported.

Eight other companies subsequently reached similar deals with the administration to avoid Trump’s executive orders, promising jobs worth a combined nearly $1 billion. Four other law firms that Trump targeted with executive orders sued and won court rulings striking down the directives as unconstitutional.

A generational leader

carp was a generational leader who transformed Paul Weiss into a highly profitable elite competitor in the private equity legal market, according to Kevin Burke, a professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law who once ran a law firm.

“What ultimately makes this episode a cautionary tale is how even very successful leadership can falter when institutional independence is compromised by proximity to the executive branch,” Burke said. “In a period marked by aggressive executive actions and regulatory influence, Paul Weiss’s decision to settle early and visibly engage with management created a perception of accommodation rather than resistance, a perception that was in tension with the company’s historic identity.”

carp He met Epstein through his representation of Black, the firm said. Records released by the Department of Justice document carp thanking Epstein for a “once-in-a-lifetime” dinner in 2015 with Woody Allen and then seeking Epstein’s help in landing a role for his son working in one of the director’s film productions.

Other emails displayed carp and Epstein talking about a woman demanding money from Black. The emails also showed them discussing Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement reached in 2008, when the financier pleaded guilty to prostitution charges in Florida, including soliciting services from an underage girl.

The emails indicated the two remained in contact in early 2019, months before Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges and subsequent suicide in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial.

(Reporting by Mike Spector in New York and David Thomas in Chicago; Additional reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Will Dunham)