Delusion: Amy and Nina Rifkind Know Exactly How Grandpa Would Size Up Paul Weiss' Dealmaking with Trump Administration

 In family conflicts inevitable is this: One or more members pipe up with "Grandpa/Grandma would be turning in their graves if they found out you made that decision."

That's usually pure staging. But if they really believe that those who had passed over decades ago would object strenuously to a whatever in the present they are delusional.

The raw reality is that everything changes. The world changes. The family changes. The individual members change. And if the deceased were alive today they probably would have undergone many a psychic shift as well as transformations in how they used to behave.

So, it's a stunner that the granddaughters of the late Judge Simon Rifkind - Amy and Nina - are absolutely certain how that revered figure would size up the deal that current Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp made with the Trump administration. 

The two have been busy. They sent a letter to Karp, essentially saying that, yes, Judge Rifkind would be turning over in his grave. That letter had been released by The New York Times, which has been following the Paul Weiss saga and, more specifically, Karp's every move, with myriad long-long-form articles. 

Here's a snippet of that letter, the stylistics full of rhetorical pomp and circumstance:

“It is plain to us, as it would have been to our grandfather, that taking action to stay off an enemies list does not advance the rule of law as embodied in the statement of principles, it undercuts it and emboldens those who seek to dismantle it.”

Is that delusional or simply over-the-top high-handed?

These volatile times have changed many of the leaders and the partners in large law firms. For instance, given the intensification of global competition in the legal sector, Karp himself seems to have transformed from calm-and-charm to a guerrilla warrior. 

There's a strong probability that Judge Kifkind also would be a very different leader in 2025. Might someone send the two a recording of the Bob Dylan song, "The Times They Are a-Changin'"

If I were responding to Amy and Nina I would open with "Dear Nepo Babies." I would end with "Someone Very Proud She Has Changed So Much."

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