News Flash: Paul Weiss Chair Brad Karp Is Meeting with Trump Officials
How far will the firm bend to appease Trump?
Rumors have been swirling that the esteemed law firm Paul Weiss, the most recent target of Donald Trump’s executive order against Big Law, has been trying to make nice with the administration to get off its blacklist. Now, Semafor is reporting that the firm’s chair is personally taking charge of that effort:
Brad Karp, the chairman of Paul Weiss and one of the most powerful lawyers in New York, has been in Washington this week meeting with officials in President Donald Trump’s orbit, people familiar with the matter said, days after the White House issued an executive order revoking the security clearance of attorneys working at the firm.
Karp, people familiar with the matter said, is discussing a particular path back into the administration’s good graces: helping the White House respond to alleged instances of antisemitism that came out of the wave of campus protests last year.
We don’t know what that “path” for getting back “into the administration’s good graces” entails. The Semafor report suggests it involves “helping” the administration to curb “antisemitism.” Does that mean the firm will adopt Sullivan & Cromwell’s draconian hiring policy that vets recruits for “undesirable” (e.g., lefty) political leanings? Or does the “path” entail something else, like disavowing DEI entirely? (Just a few days ago, the website for Paul, Weiss's Center to Combat Hate was taken down). And will the administration expect an additional olive branch, say a $1 million pledge to the Trump Library?
No doubt, the firm is already feeling the repercussions of Trump’s attack. Just yesterday Steven Schwartz, a former senior executive of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., dumped Paul Weiss as his defense counsel because of Trump’s executive order. And insiders have described Trump’s attack on the firm as “devastating” and potentially “ruinous.”
We don’t know how many pounds of flesh Trump will extract out of Paul Weiss but I expect it will be painful. And humiliating for this proud firm that’s long championed civil rights.
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Most people are not in a position to negotiate with a President at all, so, while I see your point, it's not exactly a heartbreaking story of an underdog trying to defend themselves.
It was a timely post. Where's the follow-up? What do you think of their "deal?"
One more step toward totalitarianism