In the world of law firms, Brad Karp was his own brand. He was the face of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison—a man with charisma and charm, credited with transforming his firm into a dominant player among the global legal elite.
He represented powerful CEOs and the titans of international business, such as Citigroup, the National Football League and private equity giant Apollo Global Management. He was also recognized as a backer of progressive causes, raising money for U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidates and working with organizations fighting discrimination.
His high profile and near-celebrity status were key to the firm’s growth: He was instrumental in bringing in top talent, including his newly named successor
Scott Barshay
, in New York, and
Neel Sachdev
in the U.K.
His very public persona worked well for the firm—until it didn’t.
Karp was forced to step down as Paul Weiss chairman after the trove of recently released documents involving the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein showed that the relationship between the two men
went deeper than was previously known
. He had survived controversy that went well beyond the legal community last year when he brokered a deal that made Paul Weiss the first of several big law firms to capitulate to President Donald Trump to avoid threatening executive orders. But this time, even the firm’s top partners would not stand behind him.
As Karp himself stated in the firm’s official announcement of his resignation, “Recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm.”
The dethroning of Karp demonstrates that the star culture found at some U.S.-based firms comes with risks. Leaders are held to a higher standard, and when they misstep, their actions reflect on the entire firm.
We’ve seen it before. In 2018, Latham & Watkins chairman William Voge was forced to resign after he was caught in a sexting scandal. In 2019, the co-chair of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Gordon Caplan, was charged in the U.S. “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal and was promptly suspended from the firm.
Superstar litigator David Boies, co-founder and chair of Boies Schiller Flexner and one of the most prominent lawyers in the U.S., was badly tainted and his firm suffered when his longtime client Harvey Weinstein was branded a sexual predator, and another high-profile client, Theranos, was exposed as a fraud. The firm saw a steady stream of exits, including some prominent partners, and many in the industry predicted the firm’s demise.
Scandals have tripped up law firms elsewhere. Allens, one of Australia’s leading firms, has faced sexual harassment scandals resulting in embarrassment for the firm and at least one partner resigning. Baker McKenzie has dealt with multiple incidents of partner misconduct, ranging from bullying, homophobia, racism and sexual harassment, resulting in the departures of regional managing partners in
South Africa
,
Brussels
, the
UAE
and the
U.K.
But star culture in law firms is predominantly an American phenomenon. U.S.-headquartered firms in Big Law have promoted and embraced a culture of personality, celebrating individual partners and leaders as much, or more than, the firm. Whether by accident or design, a handful of law firm leaders, in addition to Karp, have attained a star-like status: John Quinn, David Boies, Marty Lipton, and Rodge Cohen are all big names in Big Law, tightly and forever intertwined with their respective firms.
At U.K. and European firms, in contrast, law firm leaders frequently emphasize their egalitarian cultures and the strength of their respective brands. To be sure, when reputable legal industry directories rank individual lawyers and practices highly, the firms happily promote their achievements. But the cult of personality is noticeably absent.
The difference is not surprising. Americans have long celebrated the success of the individual. As a nation, it has long valued the individual over the group. In the legal world, that translates into efforts by top law firms to lure rainmakers from other firms, paying them handsomely with the expectation that they will increase the firm’s overall profits, sometimes without considering the costs.
But there are costs. For international firms, this can create chaos. We’ve especially witnessed this of late amid the merger mania engulfing the legal industry. A culture that rewards rainmakers at the expense of others risks upsetting a firm’s overall culture, prompting departures and internal strife. Star partners can also be lured away, such as when legacy Shearman & Sterling’s global co-managing partner, George Casey, left the firm with a team ahead of the merger to join Linklaters in New York. A&O Shearman has seen close to 200 partner departures since it announced its merger in 2023.
Of course, law firms lacking in star power can also lose out when competing for mandates, especially on bet-the-company litigation or megadeals. It can also create challenges on the merger front. When news broke that
U.S.-based Perkins Coie and Anglo-Australian firm Ashurst plan to merge
, partners at several major U.S. firms asked me what I knew about Ashurst, which they said had practically zero name recognition in the U.S. They were not aware that the two firms stood very close in the 2025 Global 200 rankings by both revenue and profits.
And there are highly successful law firm leaders who do not seek out or encourage personal recognition, despite their achievements. Jon Ballis, chairman of Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s highest-grossing and most profitable firm, is said to prefer that credit be given to other firm partners. Barbara Becker, chair and managing partner of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, tends to shy away from the limelight but is always keen to have other partners recognized for their successes.
Somewhere, there is probably a happy medium. Charismatic leaders and partners are important, as long as they don’t become the central focus of the firm. It’s a hard balancing act, as history has shown that they can help a firm’s reputation and bottom line, but that one day they may make a costly mistake that will require the firm to take immediate and drastic action.
Brad Karp is still a partner at Paul Weiss. Perhaps he’ll now be able to focus more on the work he previously did for social justice, humanitarian causes, and in support of the rule of law—actions that got lost after he struck a deal with Trump. He may yet recover from this scar on his legacy.
It’s too early to say, but it is possible. After all, Boies, the litigator who not many years ago was written off as someone who had permanently ruined his legacy, seems to have recovered. At 84, he continues to practice as a partner at the firm after having stepped down as chair in 2024. That year, he was honored by The American Lawyer with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. His industry peers attending the event gave him a standing ovation.
Feb 8
Deal Summary
