From Trump to Epstein: How Brad Karp Lost His Grip on Paul Weiss

Brad Karp, the long-serving chairman of the elite US law firm Paul Weiss, found himself at the centre of Washington’s Democratic establishment on election night in November 2024, joining other prominent fundraisers in the hope of a Kamala Harris victory over Republican rival Donald Trump.

 

Soon after Harris replaced incumbent President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee in July 2024, Karp had personally contacted hundreds of corporate lawyers to raise funds for her campaign. One of his Paul Weiss partners also helped prepare the former vice-president for her televised debate with Trump.

 

But Trump won the election. His return to the White House last year set in motion a chain of events that first rattled Paul Weiss and later culminated in Karp’s resignation this week as chairman, following the US Justice Department’s release of records relating to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

 

Although Karp has not been accused of wrongdoing, the disclosure of his past contacts with Epstein unravelled, within days, the authority he had exercised over the firm for more than a decade, cementing his reputation as a Wall Street and Washington power broker.

 

“If you were going to write a Greek tragedy about a law firm leader, this is it,” a former senior Paul Weiss lawyer told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

Karp became chairman in 2008 and transformed Paul Weiss from a respected New York litigation boutique into a highly profitable global powerhouse. During the 2024 election cycle, the firm’s lawyers and staff outpaced other major US law firms in donations to Democratic candidates.

 

Under Karp, Paul Weiss devoted substantial pro bono resources to progressive causes and recruited star Wall Street dealmakers alongside litigators who had served in the administration of former president Barack Obama.

 

Trump’s return to power, however, quickly brought turmoil. Karp’s subsequent decision to strike a deal with the president to rescind an executive order punishing the firm made him, in the eyes of some Democratic-aligned lawyers, the face of capitulation. At least a dozen partners left the firm in the aftermath, including the lawyer who had advised Harris for her debate.

 

Congress last year mandated the release of Epstein-related files despite Trump’s objections. A cache of emails made public in late January revealed extensive communications between Karp and Epstein, prompting Karp to step down as chairman.

 

Karp did not respond to requests for comment. The firm declined to comment beyond a statement issued on Wednesday announcing his resignation. In that statement, Karp said that “recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm”. Paul Weiss previously said he regretted his interactions with Epstein and “never witnessed or participated in misconduct”.

 

Karp will remain at the firm serving clients. He has been replaced as chairman by Scott Barshay, whom Karp recruited in 2016 to strengthen the firm’s mergers and acquisitions practice.

 

Founded in 1875 by Samuel William Weiss and Julius Frank, Paul Weiss built a reputation as a defender of civil liberties. In the 1940s, it became the first major New York law firm to appoint a female partner. It also assisted civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall in the landmark 1954 US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools.

 

Karp joined the firm as a summer associate in 1983 and spent his entire career there, rising to lead the litigation department before being elected chairman. Under his leadership, Paul Weiss became a leading defender of the financial industry, representing clients such as Citigroup and JPMorgan while maintaining deep ties to the Democratic establishment.

 

According to Kent Zimmermann, a law firm adviser who interviewed Karp for an upcoming book, Karp’s ability to build consensus and cultivate close relationships helped him attract elite rainmakers and secure loyal institutional clients across litigation and transactional practices.

 

Karp frequently deployed Paul Weiss resources to challenge the first Trump administration, partnering with civil rights and advocacy groups. The firm played a leading role in litigation following the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, pursued lawsuits against the firearms industry and mobilised lawyers in 2018 to oppose Trump’s family separation policy at the US border.

 

Karp also represented Leon Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management. Epstein later became involved in fee disputes with Black, and Karp’s communications with Epstein regarding Black and other matters would ultimately contribute to his resignation.

 

Trump Punishment

 

Paul Weiss lawyers investigated Trump and sued participants in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, which sought to block congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory. On the day of the riot, Karp said he watched in horror as “the disgraceful results of this attempted coup spilled into the hallowed halls of Congress”.

 

That history made the firm a target when Trump returned to office in January 2025. In March, Trump signed an executive order barring Paul Weiss from federal buildings and government contracts, part of a wider campaign against law firms he regarded as adversaries.

 

“The changes he achieved at the firm were precisely what created the vulnerabilities Trump was later able to exploit,” said Scott Cummings, a legal ethics professor at UCLA School of Law.

 

Fearing the order would trigger a client exodus and imperil the 150-year-old firm, Karp sought a settlement. A White House meeting in the Oval Office began with an extended discussion of golf. Sullivan & Cromwell co-chair Robert Giuffra, a Republican and Trump lawyer, joined the meeting by phone and later helped negotiate a deal rescinding the order in exchange for $40 million in free legal work for causes backed by the president.

 

Eight other firms later struck similar agreements, collectively pledging nearly $1 billion in free legal services. Four firms instead challenged the orders in court and succeeded in having them struck down as unconstitutional.

 

A Generational Leader

 

Karp was a generational leader who shaped Paul Weiss into an elite and highly profitable private equity law firm, said Kevin Burke, a professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

 

“What makes this episode a cautionary tale is how even highly successful leadership can falter when institutional independence is compromised by proximity to executive power,” Burke said. “The decision to settle early and visibly engage with the administration created a perception of accommodation rather than resistance, cutting against the firm’s historic identity.”

 

The firm said Karp met Epstein through his representation of Black. Justice Department records show Karp thanking Epstein for a “once in a lifetime” dinner in 2015 with filmmaker Woody Allen and later seeking Epstein’s help in securing a role for his son on one of Allen’s film productions.

 

Other emails reveal discussions about a woman demanding money from Black, as well as Epstein’s 2008 non-prosecution agreement in Florida, where he pleaded guilty to prostitution charges involving an underage girl.

 

The correspondence indicates that Karp and Epstein remained in contact as recently as early 2019, months before Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges and his subsequent death by suicide in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial.

 

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