Paul, Weiss Chair Scott Barshay Continues Poaching Winning Streak, Partner Brad Karp in Position of Strength

 The metric which is being watched in assessing how Paul, Weiss chair Scott Barshay is navigating the law firm out of crisis is this: ability to poach top talent. That, of course, is along with preventing star partners from exiting.

Recently Barshay has been having a winning streak. From PE at Weil, it had been leaked, he snatched a group headed by Christopher Machera. PE is where the action is in a corporate department. Barshay has been building corporate. As yet, Machera is not up on the Paul, Weiss website. Leaks tend to be strategic ...

Now, as Reuters Legal reports:

 "Law firm Paul Weiss has hired William Jay to lead its Supreme ​Court and appellate litigation practice, filling the ‌role after the group's prominent head Kannon Shanmugam left for another firm earlier this year."

Willy, as he is known, had been at Goodwin for 14 years.

This is quite a catch. As Paul, Weiss details in the Jay profile on its website:

"Willy has delivered more than 100 oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state courts of appeals, and has authored over 400 briefs across federal and state appellate courts."

So far, there hasn't been partner flight from Paul, Weiss corporate.

Meanwhile, former chair Brad Karp is operating from a position of strength in his return to full-time lawyering. Even with his leadership duties he kept the lawyering piece hands-on and focused on new business development.

That key metric for watchers of Karp to watch is the size of his book of business. That's estimated to be nine-figures. In addition, factor in something else that counts for plenty. That's this: His anchor clients include Apollo, NFL and Citi. 

It's not premature to declare: Paul, Weiss is on the way back. Sure, there's still residue of the reputational crises. But perspective (and Karp has always hammered the importance of perspective) is needed.

See, there's a long-time belief that only one entity can occupy space at one time. In the mental institution there can only be one Jesus Christ. Others will have to be Michael the Archangel or Alexander the Great.

Now that Wachtell has taken on both reputational and partner-flight issues, you can assume the penalty box space currently totally belongs to that distressed law firm. Paul, Weiss has been sprung loose from that negative news cycle.

Expect major news releases about what both Barshay and Karp are accomplishing in their respective orbits.

In coaching, I ease the angst of clients in crisis with this simple reality: Someone else will soon be screwing up.

Careers. Forget all that. It’s about earning a good living, no matter what.

Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova, StreetSmart Coaching (janegenova374@gmail.com)



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