End of an Era: Brad Karp Steps Down as Chair at Paul Weiss (2008 -2026), Returns to Lawyering

 Some of us who follow the legal sector remember this anecdote: When partner at elite law firm Paul, Weiss Brad Karp was voted in as chair in 2008, he and his mother cried together. Although his mother had operated a law firm with her late husband this kind of success in the practice of law was probably never envisioned.

Immediately Karp rolled up his sleeves - and disrupted. That included expanding the firm from Wall Street litigation to broad-scope transactional. He was so confident in his growth vision that he didn't, as did many other law firms in The Great Recession, lay off first-year associates. More recently he transformed the London office into a powerhouse by multiple talent raids on global Goliath Kirkland & Ellis. From 2008 until 2024 during his leadership Profits Per Equity Partner increased 183%. 

Today the era of his leadership ends. As this press release from Paul, Weiss announces, Karp is stepping down from being the chair. Scott Barshay, who had headed M&A, has accepted that role and starts in it immediately. Karp will remain at the firm serving clients. For years, even after he became chair, he kept active in hands-on litigation and transactional assignments. Only recently he had cut back and restricted direct service to closed-door arbitration.

Karp could resume making his mark as a lawyer in trenches. That circles back to his early experience, even though a junior at the firm, assisting Arthur Liman with major cases such as the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert.

The journalist in me (isn't that how so many of us who were curious and wanted to make a difference started out) will follow Karp The Lawyer. I bet there will be big stories in that.

Success is a mental game. Failure comes from being done in by the “committee” in your head.

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