Since the beginning of President Trump’s first term, Brad S. Karp, the leader of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, has positioned himself as a defender against what he perceived to be an erratic and unlawful presidency.
Mr. Karp, known for his extensive fundraising efforts for Democrats, aimed to rally significant law firms in a “call to arms,” advocating for judicial challenges against Mr. Trump’s administration, particularly on contentious policies such as the separation of migrant children from their families. He asserted that lawyers had a duty to uphold the rule of law.
In 2023, he organized a fundraiser for “Lawyers for Biden,” and one of his prominent partners helped prepare Vice President Kamala Harris for her debates with Mr. Trump.
Thus, it was not surprising when Mr. Trump targeted Paul Weiss with an executive order last week, which posed a significant threat to the firm, despite being legally questionable and undermining essential justice system principles. In reaction, Mr. Karp initiated talks with another major firm to present a cohesive and bipartisan response to challenge the order in court.
However, on Wednesday, Mr. Karp entered the Oval Office at approximately 8:30 a.m., departing from his confrontational stance.
Now, he was looking to negotiate a resolution.
The following day, Mr. Trump declared that Mr. Karp had committed to providing $40 million in pro bono legal services for initiatives favored by the president, which included a Justice Department task force aimed at addressing antisemitism “and other mutually agreed projects.”
The White House indicated that the firm would cease implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Additionally, Mr. Trump claimed that Mr. Karp had acknowledged to him that a former partner who had previously served as a Manhattan prosecutor and pushed for criminal charges against Mr. Trump had engaged in “wrongdoing.” These claims seemed at odds with a version of the statement shared by Mr. Karp with his firm.
By capitulating to Mr. Trump, Mr. Karp likely preserved his law firm, which reported $2.63 billion in revenue in the previous year and serves corporate clients such as Exxon Mobil and Apollo Global Management, from losing clients and personnel.
Yet, in doing so, Mr. Karp, who had portrayed himself as a spokesperson and advocate for the legal community, rendered other firms more vulnerable to Mr. Trump’s retaliation by illustrating that his intimidation methods could compel even a prominent firm like Paul Weiss to make public concessions, as indicated by interviews with attorneys from rival firms and legal professionals.
Indeed, a White House official mentioned on Friday that despite the agreement made with Paul Weiss, Mr. Trump would persist in targeting law firms with executive orders, including ones he might issue as early as next week.
In the Oval Office on Friday, Mr. Trump insisted that law firms “did bad things” and had viciously, illegally attacked him. But now, he stated, they “want to make deals.”
Mr. Karp’s choice left many in the legal community, including some within his own firm, shaken and worried that other firms would now face a dilemma of either succumbing to Mr. Trump or forsaking their principles or political beliefs to avert financial disaster.
Prior to finalizing the deal, Mr. Karp, who has been at the helm of Paul Weiss for nearly twenty years, consulted some of the firm’s 200 partners to consider their options, according to three individuals familiar with the discussions. The consensus was to pursue a meeting with Mr. Trump to negotiate a settlement, rather than engage in a potentially protracted legal battle, as noted by sources who spoke under the condition of anonymity regarding conversations meant to remain confidential.
Some corporate partners within the firm were particularly insistent that the firm should refrain from suing the administration, which put them at odds with other partners focused on high-profile litigation who advocated for a fight, and some of whom expressed dissatisfaction internally with Mr. Karp’s decision to settle on Friday, according to four sources who are informed about the situation.
While the majority of the firm’s partners supported the deal, it was met with swift criticism from lawyers outside the firm and from those opposed to Mr. Trump.
Although many of the firm’s clients felt relieved by the arrangement, some senior attorneys at large financial institutions privately conveyed their displeasure, with two sources confirming they suggested they might consider withdrawing business from the firm.
Mr. Trump has increasingly spotlighted law firms in his vendetta against those he perceives as adversaries, particularly anyone involved in efforts to investigate him or hold him accountable legally.
Before zeroing in on Paul Weiss, Mr. Trump had issued executive orders targeting two other firms, Covington & Burling and Perkins Coie. Recently, a federal judge prevented the order against Perkins Coie from being enacted, ruling it would likely be deemed illegal.
Many in the legal community had hoped that Mr. Karp, utilizing his firm’s resources, would challenge Mr. Trump in court just as Perkins Coie did when faced with a nearly identical executive order earlier this month.
Paul Weiss is home to numerous prominent Democrats and has a proud legacy of leading civil rights advocacy. It proudly acknowledges being the first major law firm in New York City to employ Jewish and non-Jewish lawyers together, to hire a Black associate, and to appoint a female partner.
According to two sources familiar with the situation, it initially seemed that Mr. Karp was gearing up to sue Mr. Trump’s administration.
Last week, a federal judge in Washington temporarily halted the enforcement of the executive order directed at Perkins Coie, expressing concern that the argument asserting a president’s ability to punish individuals and companies was deeply troubling.
The judge’s decision was a relief for many in the legal community, suggesting that the courts could act as a check on Mr. Trump and that major firms would not need to confront him directly.
However, just two days after that ruling, Mr. Trump signed a similar executive order against Paul Weiss, which unsettled large firms by showing that Mr. Trump would not be dissuaded by judicial rulings. It further showed his readiness to target firms with longstanding connections to lawyers on his perceived list of enemies, such as Mark F. Pomerantz, a former partner at Paul Weiss who had previously attempted to build a criminal case against Mr. Trump while working for the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
The executive order against Paul Weiss prohibited the firm from engaging with the government and hinted that its clients risked losing government contracts. Such measures were designed to undermine Paul Weiss, which has over 1,000 lawyers and offices worldwide.
Over the weekend, Mr. Karp began talks with William Burck, co-managing partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, about the possibility of Mr. Burck joining Paul Weiss in mounting a legal challenge against Mr. Trump’s order, as sources familiar with the negotiations reported.
The discussions with Mr. Burck were particularly noteworthy since he is one of the few attorneys at a major firm representing the Trump Organization. He has also assisted certain Trump nominees during their confirmation processes. Collaborating with Quinn Emanuel would indicate to the legal industry that firms across political lines were joining forces to confront what they viewed as a full-scale attack on their business.
Earlier this month, Mr. Burck declined to partner with Perkins Coie, believing it unworthy to provoke Mr. Trump for that firm. However, with Mr. Trump undeterred by the judge’s ruling concerning Perkins Coie and moving against yet another firm, Mr. Burck agreed to support Paul Weiss and lend his firm’s name to the legal action against Mr. Trump.
Concurrently, Mr. Karp considered another option. With assistance from Mr. Burck and other contacts in the business sector aligned with Mr. Trump, Mr. Karp attempted to ascertain whether a deal with Mr. Trump could alleviate his firm’s issues.
Mr. Karp, whose firm has represented the N.F.L., enlisted the help of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a Trump ally, to make contact with the president.
Mr. Burck began reaching out to the White House, signaling to officials that Mr. Karp was open to negotiations. Throughout these discussions, Mr. Burck realized that one of the White House’s primary objections to Paul Weiss and other large firms was their refusal to accept clients from the right, particularly after the events of January 6, 2021.
Mr. Burck conveyed to the White House that Paul Weiss was prepared to publicly affirm its commitment to representing clients regardless of their political affiliations.
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Trump contacted Mr. Karp, extending an invitation to visit the White House. The next day, Mr. Karp met with Mr. Trump for three hours in the Oval Office, accompanied by Mr. Trump’s negotiation adviser, Steve Witkoff. The meeting was amicable, and both parties felt they had established a potential framework for an agreement.
Meanwhile, Mr. Karp faced additional pressure. Attorneys within his firm who were prepping for a lawsuit against Mr. Trump were eager to proceed to court swiftly, as they were concerned that delays might jeopardize their chances of obtaining a temporary restraining order.
In the following days, proposed terms circulated between the White House, Mr. Burck, and Mr. Karp.
Pursuing a settlement marked a significant shift for Mr. Karp, who had recently been rallying support for Perkins Coie. He had previously been instrumental in encouraging other law firms to submit a brief in support of Perkins Coie, as reported by four sources familiar with the matter. It remains uncertain if the brief—crafted by Donald B. Verrilli Jr., a former solicitor general during the Obama administration and now a partner at Munger Tolles & Olson—will be filed.
The encounter with Mr. Trump came at a personally challenging time for Mr. Karp, who had experienced a heart attack a few months prior and was gradually returning to his hectic schedule filled with meetings and client calls.
On Thursday evening, Mr. Karp emailed the entire firm explaining his decision, noting that he had essentially just “reaffirmed” the firm’s core principles articulated in 1963 by one of Paul Weiss’s founding partners, Judge Simon H. Rifkind.
“Thank you all for your patience during this time,” Mr. Karp addressed the firm’s staff. “With this matter resolved, we can concentrate fully—as we always do—on our clients, our work, our colleagues, and our firm.”
However, for many, this was a difficult adjustment as attorneys recognized that the external perception of the agreement would be one of surrender to Mr. Trump, particularly at a juncture when other institutions, such as universities and media companies, have started to settle with him rather than confront him, much to the annoyance and disillusionment of Mr. Trump’s critics.
George Conway, a conservative attorney and frequent critic of Mr. Trump, expressed on social media, “This capitulation by Paul Weiss is the most disgraceful action by a major law firm in my lifetime, so shocking that I could hardly believe it at first.”
By the time Mr. Trump made his announcement on Thursday, indications emerged that Paul Weiss had already faced repercussions from the arrangement with Mr. Trump.
The version of the agreement shared by Mr. Karp with Paul Weiss differed in some respects from Mr. Trump’s portrayal of the deal on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Although Mr. Trump claimed that the law firm had specifically agreed to abandon any diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in its hiring practices, there was no mention of D.E.I. in the agreement distributed by Mr. Karp. Mr. Trump has aggressively opposed diversity initiatives within the federal government, branding them as discriminatory practices.
Additionally, Mr. Pomerantz, the former Paul Weiss partner, was not referenced in the copy of the agreement that Mr. Karp circulated. Five individuals informed of the situation stated that Mr. Karp did not criticize Mr. Pomerantz to the president, contrary to Mr. Trump’s claims.
In a statement released on Thursday evening, Mr. Pomerantz refuted any allegations of wrongdoing.
Jonah E. Bromwich and William K. Rashbaum and Tyler Pager contributed reporting, and Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.
