Paul, Weiss: Hail, Hail, The Gang Is Not All Here ...
Cultural/branding shifts are happening all the time in this crazy economy driven by political issues, cost-efficiency, AI and offshoring. ESG (remember that movement) shoe maker Allbirds became an AI business called New Birds AI. Job search platform LinkedIn is terminating the jobs of more than 600. Aggressive financial player Apollo has taken on the role of reformer of higher education, allegedly on company time (intel via Freedom of Information Act). So, it should seem just more of the same that law firm Paul, Weiss has been mutating from a progressive change-agent with deep litigation roots to a business focused on corporate, that is, transactional practices. Way back in September 2022 journalist David Enrich summed up that evolution in "Servants of the Damned" as the prevailing ethos in Big Law. In the rush to boost the monetary metric of Profits Per Equity Partner large law firms were no longer serving the public interest. The game was all-business. Max those...