Final 12 months, when information broke that Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison was inking a cope with the Trump administration — and, extra to the purpose, capitulating — IT landed like a thunderclap. Not simply because a significant legislation agency’s complete deal is meant to be defending the rule of legislation, not folding like a moist serviette the second issues get uncomfortable, however as a result of IT was Paul, Weiss. This can be a agency with a status for elite litigators who didn’t simply speak a giant sport about standing as much as energy, they really did IT in the course of the first Trump administration. Hell, for many years Paul, Weiss was considered the Biglaw agency the place somebody with progressive politics may discover a residence. And now, with the advantage of hindsight, that capitulation appears to be like much less like a one-off misstep and extra like the primary seen crack in a a lot deeper inside transformation.
Now there’s a brand new chair on the once-venerable Biglaw store. And although the Trumpian deal was broadly panned by these within the authorized business that was not the undoing of former chair Brad Karp. No, IT was his repeated appearances within the Epstein information which revealed a a lot cozier relationship with the notorious pedophile than beforehand identified. Now on the helm of Paul, Weiss is mergers & acquisitions associate Scott Barshay, who Karp crowed about wooing over from Cravath in 2016.
Barshay was reportedly a significant inside cheerleader of the Trump deal, dressing up the cowardice as pragmatism. However as Above the Legislation readers know, that call ruffled feathers and despatched litigators packing. And extra could also be headed for the exits. Because the Wall Road Journal reports, further litigation companions are at present in talks to depart, whereas Barshay has been crisscrossing the nation attempting to reassure the troops that every thing is completely positive, nothing to see right here, please cease updating your LinkedIn.
Barshay has been steadily reshaping Paul, Weiss (pushing for the modifications even earlier than he took over as Chair) into one thing that appears much more like a hyper-corporatized revenue machine than the legacy establishment most of the companions thought they signed up for. The associate compensation system has been revamped to throw eye-watering sums at rainmakers. Affiliate staffing is now extra tightly managed, ending the agency’s generalist mannequin and limiting who will get to work with whom within the identify of shopper consistency. The agency’s associate conferences are reportedly extra “subdued,” which is a pleasant manner of claiming the persona has been sanded right down to company beige. And Barshay’s push to make the agency apolitical has sealed the transition from “litigation powerhouse with a conscience” to “M&A juggernaut with a rigorously managed persona.”
However right here’s the half that makes all of this deliciously difficult — the numbers are good. Like, really good. Income is up (23.8% to $3.26 billion) and earnings per fairness associate are up (14.5%). The cash is flowing, and in Biglaw, that tends to perform as the final word sedative. Barshay’s modifications are working in a purely monetary sense, however in some unspecified time in the future, the individuals who got here for one thing greater than only a paycheck are going to go searching and notice they’re working at a spot they barely acknowledge.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Legislation, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the most effective, so please join along with her. Be at liberty to e-mail her with any suggestions, questions, or feedback and comply with her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
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