Greed Concedes to Power

Paul Weiss Deserves Our Scorn – Join The Picket Line

By Arthur Schwartz

Brad Karp, chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison LLP, used 1,613 words in his March 23 memo defending his firm’s capitulation to U.S. President Donald Trump.

One would have been enough: greed.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is a premier firm of more than 1,000 lawyers. In 2024 it had a gross revenue of $2,634,166,000. (Yes, that’s $2.6 billion!) As a public interest lawyer, I know them well. They are always on the other side of the public interest and make a lot of money doing it. They represented Mount Sinai Hospital in its 15-month fight with a small band of pro-bono lawyers working to keep Beth Israel open. At times they would have 10 lawyers in the courtroom. Clearly, they raked in millions defending Mount Sinai’s effort to destroy public health in Lower Manhattan. When the Center for the Independence of the Disabled sued in 2016 to address the inaccessibility of the NYC subway system, Paul Weiss fought them tooth and nail, for six years, until a settlement which will result in the installation of hundreds of elevators was reached. I am sure they pocketed $15-20 million fighting New York’s disabled and elderly.

So when Donald Trump issued an executive order accusing the law firm of “undermining the judicial process” and participating “in the destruction of bedrock American principles.” because it employs Mark Pomerantz, who worked with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in the New York hush money trial, Paul Weiss caved immediately. It pledged to do $40 million worth of work for causes favored by Trump, emboldening Trump to attack scores of other law firms, most of whom have fought back. The law firm attacked before Paul Weiss, named Covington and Burling, had filed suit to block Trump’s efforts to control their firm and won.

But Paul Weiss capitulated. Karp said that clients worried about retaining a law firm that was “persona non grata” with the administration—a phrase he used twice in his memo. If that’s true, those clients are as short-sighted as Karp and his colleagues.

Perhaps the firm did not explain to its corporate clients the long-run implications of capitulation. Without the rule of law, the underlying legal certainty necessary for effective commerce disappears. Contracts become unenforceable. Constitutional rights are lost. Chaos reigns.

Even at a practical level, relying on attorneys who give in to Trump’s unlawful demands is risky. What happens when those clients become persona non grata because Trump directs his next arbitrary and illegal attack at them? How will clients feel when the only lawyers who are not persona non grata are the ones whom Trump likes? Should clients worry that its lawyers’ desire to remain “Trump-approved” might tempt their counsel to compromise clients’ interests when challenging his administration’s illegal policies?

Since late March, for several hours nearly every weekday, retired attorney Olga Hartwell has quietly stood outside the UBS building at 1285 Sixth Avenue, headquarters of the law firm Paul Weiss, with signs that say things like “Paul Weiss Lawyers, Please Stand Up for the Rule of Law.” Often she is accompanied by her lawyer husband, Chris Hartwell, who has his own signs. In recent weeks, the Hartwells — she is in her 60s, and he in his 70s — have been joined by several others drawn to their cause. There are 17 among them and they divvy up the week to ensure that someone is more or less always outside. Lawyers, bankers, young Midtown office workers, students, security guards and homeless people have all approached them to ask questions, or argue, or offer support or buy them coffee.

You can join them any day at 1285 Sixth Avenue at 52nd Street. And if you do, bring a sign about Beth Israel Hospital’s demise.