Brad Karp is stepping down from his leadership role at Paul Weiss after a trove of emails released by the Justice Department detailed the lawyer’s close connections to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Karp, who has led Paul Weiss since 2008, is immediately relinquishing his role as chairman while staying on as a partner, the firm said Wednesday. Scott Barshay, the well-known M&A dealmaker and chair of the firm’s corporate practice, will lead the firm effective immediately.
“I step into this role with great confidence in Paul Weiss’ continued success,” Barshay said in a statement announcing the transition.
The decision marks a dramatic fall from grace for Karp. It comes less than a year after he landed a controversial deal with President Donald Trump, in which Paul Weiss agreed to provide $40 million in free legal services on shared causes in exchange for Trump rescinding an executive order against the firm.
Karp, a litigator who has represented the likes of Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Bank of America, has led Paul Weiss for nearly two-decades, transforming it from a predominantly litigation firm to a $2.6 billion operation and major player in corporate deal work. He also spearheaded the landing of Apollo Global Management, a key client that has boosted the firm’s bottom line.
“Leading Paul Weiss for the past 18 years has been the honor of my professional life,” Karp said in a statement. “Recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm,” he added.
Karp will “continue to focus his full-time attention to client service at the firm,” the firm said on Wednesday.
Karp is longtime outside counsel to Citigroup—ushering it through the WorldCom and Enron collapses—and the National Football League, which he steered in long-running concussion-related litigation. His client list has included JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Deloitte, ING, and Bear Stearns.
Karp also is an active fundraiser for the Democratic Party, who backed Kamala Harris in her White House bid and raised money for Andrew Cuomo’s run for New York City mayor.
The new batch of documents released Jan. 30 showed that Karp helped Epstein protect his plea deal on sex trafficking charges against legal attacks in the months before Epstein died in jail.
The documents also showed Karp exchanging emails on a variety of other subjects, ranging from dinner plans to helping New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft find local counsel after his arrest. He also seemed to act as a sounding board for Epstein and a go-between for certain communications with former Apollo CEO Leon Black.
Karp’s work for Apollo brought Karp into Epstein’s orbit, according to the firm. Karp previously stated that his communications with Epstein were in regard to a multi-year fee dispute between Black and Epstein, who provided estate planning advice to Black’s family office. Karp represented Black in navigating the dispute.
Barshay takes over the firm starting Wednesday. The longtime Cravath Swaine & Moore public company dealmaker jumped to Paul Weiss in 2016. Barshay, who now heads Paul Weiss’ M&A team, has steered major deals for companies including Chevron Corp. and International Business Machines Corp.
