Paul, Weiss' Scott Barshay Gets Win in M&A - As the World Turns in Big Law

 The three top players in M&A recently have been Kirkland & Ellis, Latham and Wachtell. 

That means that Paul, Weiss' Scott Barshay, whose signature is M&A transactions, needed a win. Yes, a high-profile one. Ever since he took over the chairmanship job in a February 2026 coup, Barshay has been closely watched. Can this guy lead that major law firm in this disruptive time in the legal sector? Sure, he can lawyer. Sure, he can manage. But leadership is a whole different job function.

Well, the win came. Along with Paul, Weiss partners Laura Turano and Cristina Barshay handled the sell-side legal issues associated with US software company PTC. It is being acquired by French engineering Schneider Electric SE. The transaction is all-cash: $22.6 billion. Driviing the transaciton is the need to bulk up with AI capability. Major competitor Siemens is already immersed in AI. Debevoise is the legal advisor for Schneider. 

A risk for Schneider is that the strategy for the synergies is to boost revenue. As FT notes, that's not as probable as, for example, the focus on cost-efficiency. Also, overall, AI has not delivered on ROI for the majority of players. As the prospectus for Anthropic's IPO screamed, the expenses are massive. 

Meanwhile, at Paul, Weiss former chair and current partner Brad Karp successfully has reset his brand back to his earlier days: brilliant rainmaker lawyer. In his nine-figure book of business are clients Apollo, NFL and Citi. 

In terms of the big picture in law firms, it's interesting to note that Karp's career might be among the last shaped by comprehensive mentorship. In The Wall Street Journal interview, Karp recounted:

" ... he learned by sitting next to senior lawyers during conference calls; they’d mute themselves so they could discuss strategy."

Both new entries and even midlevels in large law firms complain about the lack of professional development. That gap can increase as the kinds of assignments new lawyers learned on are being taken over by AI. 

In addition, those who are expected to provide guidance - the equity partners - are themselves experiencing ramped-up demands. They gotta look out for themselves. The job is no longer forever. Almost 30% expect de-equitization at their law firms. That could entail being bumped down to counsel or Non-equity partner or being actually forced out of the firm.

In coaching, I guide clients to get their heads around (and resume updated) that there no longer is job security. The new objective is sustained marketability. That might entail a pivot to another way to earn a good living. 

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

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


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

America Not Hiring in 2026: Back to Golden Age of Solopreneurs?

 For hiring, 2025 was a brutal year to search for a job. The Wall Street Journal reports that 2026 could be worse: "At a gathering of CEOs in Midtown Manhattan this month organized by the Yale School of Management, 66% of leaders surveyed said they planned to either fire workers or maintain the size of their existing teams next year. Only a third indicated they planned to hire." The WSJ adds that pullback from adding manpower could be temporary. But given shareholders' demand for cost-efficiency and the continual improvements in AI, chronic unemployment could become standard. However, there is a solution. An old-fashioned one. That's becoming a solopreneur, that is setting up your own business without partners or employees. The model dates back to ancient times.  The golden age of the solo business owner in America had been from the late 1800s to about the mid 1920s.  There had been a wave of immigrants, discrimination against them and few jobs. They drove pushcarts ...
Read more

Scott Barshay's Leadership at Paul, Weiss Torpedoed, PR Nothing But a Joke, Sympathy for Brad Karp

  Last week was a bad, gone worse and worse, one for law firm Wachtell.   This week starts out as what could upend the new leadership of Scott Barshay (The Decider) at Paul, Weiss.  Today's very long-form article in The New York Times  by Michael Schmidt and Jessica Silver-Greenberg depicts Barshay negatively. Understatement. He is rolled out as one-dimensionally power-driven, abrasive, divisive and downright naive about the power of the media. About the latter, he blew off any concern about the media's response to the law firm's removing from the website the Center to Combat Hate.  An example of the beating delivered Barshay? Here is the NYT coverage of the response by some at Paul, Weiss when Barshay was hired: "But there was unease among some at Paul Weiss. Partners and associates learned from lawyers at Cravath that some people there were not unhappy to see Mr. Barshay go. His ego made him difficult to work with, the Paul Weiss lawyers were told." No ambigu...
Read more

Newly Minted PhDs in Economics Face Unwelcoming Job Market: Of Course, I Left My PhD in Humanities Off the Resume

Monitor postings on Reddit subunits focused on careers and it's no longer news that PhDs, both newly minted and those already in the labor market, generally are finding the credential an obstacle in the search for a job or even contract assignments. No, not an asset.  Let's cut to the chase. The highly educated have to get smart about this, fast. With some exceptions, I advise those I coach to leave the PhD off job-search materials. The negative assumptions among those hiring range from that you expect too much money to you'll be a know-it-all.  When my boutique collapsed post-9/11 and I had to land a survival job I lopped off everything but the BA. At the interview I dumbed-down my vocabulary. Sure Harvard was started in 1636 but America remains anti-intellectual. In addition, the integration of AI into strategy and operations makes knowledge work in general less and less marketable.  That's the narrative of our times: Advanced degrees having low or no ROI. The result,...
Read more