At Paul Weiss, Panic, Poachers and a Fight for the Bottom Line

The executive order of President Trump who attacked Paul Weiss and seriously limit the ability of the law firm to represent his customers was widely seen by lawyers as a dangerous affront to the nation’s legal system.

At the rivals of Paul Weiss, it was an opportunity.

In a few days by Mr. Trump Order of 14 MarchSome of the major competitors were calling the best lawyers of the besieged law firm – one of the most prestigious of the nation – asking if they wanted to skip the ship together with their profitable customers.

Several companies, including Sullivan and Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis, were trying to exploit the moment, according to five lawyers with the direct knowledge of the poaching. All the lawyers interviewed for this article spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about discussions that should have remained private.

The competitors adopted a soft approach with Paul Weiss’ crops, saying that they sympathized with the difficult situation of the lawyers, but that if they wanted to get out of the turmoil, they could have appointed their price. Even the lawyers of another great law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz, have broken down whether to try to attract partners from Paul Weiss, said four people.

The dissemination by other companies accentuated the panic that had enhanced Paul Weiss after Trump issued the executive order, which prevented the company’s lawyers from facing the government, including federal buildings. The order also stated that companies that do business with Paul Weiss, who have deep ties with the Democratic Party and its causes, could lose their government contracts.

Another law firm, Perkins Coie, received a similar order, but decided to challenge him to court. Initially, Paul Weiss hoped to create a unified front with other great law firms to also challenge the order issued against it. But the threat of losing his best lawyers aggravated the concerns that customers would have fled.

Some partners were particularly worried that Scott Barshay, the head of the corporate practice, could leave and that other lawyers would follow him, according to four of the people informed about the company’s deliberations. Although the company had successfully fought the order in court, an enemy of Mr. Trump would be labeled and fighting to obtain the approval of the government for the agreements.

So Paul Weiss Quickly cuts an agreement With Mr. Trump who requires the company to do $ 40 million in pro bono works for reasons supported by the White House.

“We waited for companies to support us in the wake of the president’s executive order”, the president of Paul Weiss, Brad Karp, wrote in one and -mail to the company on Sunday. “Disappointly, far from the support, we learned that some other companies were trying to exploit our vulnerabilities by raising our customers aggressively and recruiting our lawyers.”

Jon Ballis, president of Kirkland & Ellis, said in a statement that his company had not tried to recruit Paul Weiss’ lawyers. In the same way, a spokesman for Sullivan & Cromwell denied having attempted to recruit the company’s lawyers. A representative of Wachtell Lipton said that the company has never approached any lawyer from Paul Weiss.

The executive order of Mr. Trump exposed a vulnerability to Paul Weiss. Formally called Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the company is known for its Pugnace quarrels, which appear in court. But the lawyers of the dispute in recent years have taken a seat for company agreements producers. The company is now increasingly based to keep business happy and involve.

The great law firms are blocked in a growing battle for legal talents. Large companies are regularly Braccon the best lawyers to strengthen their practices and bring customers able to generate more commissions. The best artists of large companies can take home More than $ 20 million per year. In Paul Weiss, which operates all over the world and uses more than 2,000 people, corporate practice is now the main source of revenue. The company has taken about $ 2.6 billion total revenue in 2024, compared to about $ 2 billion of the previous year, According to Law.com.

This year he started slowly for many great law firms as uncertainty on federal rates and working cuts have cooled the business merger activity, generally a large money producer.

Losing the best lawyers when business is scarce would be particularly difficult. When lawyers leave a company for another, they usually carry their customers with them and this means less revenue for a fee.

In recent years, Paul Weiss has made its own stake, attracting business lawyers away from rivals with huge salary packages.

One of the greatest hires was Mr. Barshay, a rain producer in Cravath, Swaine & Moore who went to Paul Weiss in 2016 and is now president of his corporate department, who recommends companies on mergers and other transactions. Barshay customers include IBM, Qualcomm, General Electric and Chevron.

While the best lawyers, including Mr. Barshay, assured Mr. Karp and others who had no intention of leaving, the leadership was still worried that there could be an exodus, three of the people informed about the conversations said.

While Paul Weiss discussed how to respond to the executive order, Mr. Karp regularly gathered a small group of his best brass, including Mr. Barshay; Paul Basta, a blanket of the renovation department; Matthew Abbott, global co -resident of the group of mergers and acquisitions; and Angelo Bonvino, the global co-thest of that group.

Throughout the company, there was a mix of opinions on how to respond, four people said within Paul Weiss. Some partners wanted to fight the executive order of Mr. Trump in court. Even some members, lawyers in general at the beginning of their career, wanted to resist.

But among the leadership, there was a profound concern for how many lawyers of the company would have been able to continue doing their job. Federal agencies must often sign company mergers and share offers.

Even if a judge had remained the executive order, Paul Weiss would have been upset as on the negative side of Mr. Trump. The customers, they supported these senior partners, in the end they would try to take a law firm with a more favorable position in Washington.

Mr. Barshay was among those who supported an agreement with Mr. Trump and, ultimately, the lawyers at the head of the other business lines of the company were in support of a resolution, three people informed about the decision -making process.

But some lawyers, led by Kannon Shanmugam, one of the best quarrels of the company, had prepared a legal challenge in the event that Paul Weiss could not make an agreement, people said.

Mr. Karp climbed on a private jet on March 18 for his meeting at the White House at the beginning of the following day. He went to the oval office alone. Mr. Trump was accompanied by his head of the staff, Susie Wiles; his councilor Steve Witkoff; And his personal legal consultant, Boris Epshteyn.

And there was another person that Mr. Trump told to the group who wanted to compose the meeting: Robert Giuffra, a Sullivan & Cromwell cover, according to two people who were familiar with what happened.

Mr. Giuffra, who meets Mr. Trump for many years, recently agreed to manage the appeal of Mr. Trump for his sentence for the charge of having covered a coin agreement with Porn Stormy Daniels in a State Court of New York.

Initially the conversation between the president and the two legal rivals focused on golf, people said. So the discussion turned to the concerns of Mr. Trump on the long association of Paul Weiss with democratic policy.

Law firms are sometimes aligned with a political party. But Paul Weiss’ involvement in disputes against Trump’s first administration on issues such as immigration policy has distinguished itself. Furthermore, when the office of the Manhattan District Prosecutor investigated some commercial reports of Mr. Trump, Paul Weiss lent two members to the office to help build a potential case.

Giuffra was taken by Mr. Trump to work with Mr. Epshteyn, Mr. Karp and Bill Burck, a lawyer who was advising Mr. Karp, on the details of the agreement. The involvement of Mr. Giuffra was an embarrassing touch, given the competitiveness between his company and Paul Weiss.

Also behind the scenes, the councilor of President Stephen Miller was involved, a polarizing figure of the first Trump administration, said two people informed on the matter.

To the question about the meeting and involvement of Mr. Miller, A spokesman for the White House did not face the question and instead praised Trump for his pressure on the main law firms to work with his government.

The meeting led to an agreement and Thursday evening Mr. Trump announced that he was raising the executive order. Karp tried to ensure to his company that the agreement was consistent with the values ​​of Paul Weiss.

But he faced a Barrature of the public The sentence for having made the agreement and many critics said that he would encourage the president only to seek a punishment against multiple law firms. Some of the criticisms came from a group of about 140 pupils by Paul Weiss who signed a letter to Mr. Karp, calling the decision to establish “Codardo”.

“It is a permanent stain on the face of a large company that has tried to obtain a profit by losing its soul”, the lawyers wrote in the letter, which was publicly released by the common cause, a non -partisan government guard dog.

So far, Paul Weiss seems to have not lost partners or great customers.

A customer who wanted to leave was Steven Schwartz, a lawyer who is facing federal accusations of foreign corruption in New Jersey. Mr. Schwartz quickly assumed the lawyers of Sullivan & Cromwell defense to represent him for concern that the executive order of Mr. Trump would have made it impossible for Paul Weiss to represent him.

But since the executive order was revoked last week, Mr. Schwartz indicated that he can have second thoughts On the change of the legal consultant, according to the court documents if necessary.

Sunday, Mr. Karp insisted in his and -mail to the company that the agreement was necessary for the survival of Paul Weiss.

“Nobody in the largest world can appreciate how stressful it is to confront an executive order like this until one is directed to you,” he wrote.

Tuesday, another law firm was in the president’s crossed hair.

Mr. Trump an executive order issued Against Jenner & Block, who had employed a lawyer who worked with the special consultant Robert Mueller during the investigations on the fact that Trump had invited Russian interference to the 2016 presidential elections.

In a statement that announces the order, the White House has said that “President Trump is keeping his promise to end the government weapon”.

Maggie Haberman AND Maureen Farrell Contributed relationships.