Karp
(Photo
by
John
Lamparski/Getty
Images)
Brad
Karp’s
18-year
run
atop
Paul,
Weiss
ended
yesterday
evening
with
a
carefully
worded
statement
about
“distractions.”
After
days
of
increasingly
uncomfortable
headlines
stemming
from
the
latest
tranche
of
Jeffrey
Epstein
documents,
Karp
announced
he’s
stepping
down
as
chair
of
the
firm
he’s
led
for
nearly
two
decades.
“Leading
Paul,
Weiss
for
the
past
18
years
has
been
the
honor
of
my
professional
life,”
Karp
said.
“Recent
reporting
has
created
a
distraction
and
has
placed
a
focus
on
me
that
is
not
in
the
best
interests
of
the
firm.”
TL;DR
version:
the
firm
would
very
much
like
the
story
to
stop
being
about
its
chair
and
his
emails
with
one
of
the
most
infamous
sex
traffickers
in
modern
history…
but
not
enough
to
cut
ties
with
him
entirely
because
Karp
will
remain
at
the
firm
as
a
partner.
Over
the
last
several
days
Karp
(and
Paul,
Weiss)
have
played
whack-a-mole
with
Epstein-related
fallout:
watching
fawning
emails
with
Epstein
and
favor
requests
get
splashed
out
on
mainstream
media;
hedging
about
regrets;
and
bailing
on
a
speaking
engagement
as
the
documents
dropped.
One
industry
source
summed
up
the
firm’s
mood
bluntly,
saying,
“The
firm
is
circling
the
wagons.
There
are
people
in
the
firm
saying
that
they
think
he’s
been
in
the
headlines
too
much.
They
think
it
may
be
a
good
thing
to
move
on.”
And
there’s
even
more
buried
in
the
3+
million
pages.
Bloomberg
Law
reports
on
emails
from
2019
in
which
Karp
reviewed
and
offered
advice
on
a
draft
filing
related
to
Epstein’s
plea
deal
fight,
a
detail
that
undermines
the
firm’s
longstanding
position
that
Paul,
Weiss
and
Karp
never
represented
Epstein.
“The
draft
motion
is
in
great
shape.
It’s
overwhelmingly
persuasive.
Truly,”
Karp
wrote
to
Epstein
on
March
3,
2019.
He
went
on
to
praise
an
argument
suggesting
that
the
“‘victims’
lied
in
wait
and
sat
on
their
rights
for
their
strategic
advantage,”
a
line
that
is…
a
choice.
And
then
he
goes
on
to
make
a
middling
joke
about
the
sexual
assault
the
victims
allege.
Citing
U.S.
v.
Fokker
Services
to
argue
courts
couldn’t
reject
a
non-prosecution
agreement,
Karp
added,
“Wish
there
was
a
different
case
name
than
‘Fokker,’
but
we
can’t
have
everything.
In
all
seriousness,
I
don’t
see
a
credible
counter
to
our
arguments.
The
case
law
is
totally
stacked
in
favor
of
our
position.”
Those
emails
don’t
read
like
distant,
incidental
contact.
They
read
like
lawyering.
Scott
Barshay
will
step
into
the
chair
role,
offering
the
kind
of
fulsome
praise
that’s
customary
at
moments
like
this.
“Brad
has
made
immense
contributions
to
Paul,
Weiss
over
his
more
than
four
decades
with
the
firm,”
Barshay
said,
crediting
Karp
with
transforming
the
firm
“in
an
unprecedented
way.”
All
of
which
can
be
true
while
also
acknowledging
that
Karp’s
final
chapter
as
chair
is
being
written
by
Epstein
documents.
It’s
also
worth
noting
that
Barshay
was
reportedly
a
leading
voice
behind
last
year’s
deeply
controversial
decision
to
cut
a
deal
with
Donald
Trump,
promising
$40
million
in
pro
bono
services
to
escape
an
onerous
and
likely
unconstitutional
executive
order
targeting
the
firm.
And
thus
the
era
of
Brad
Karp
as
chair
is
over,
even
if
the
fallout
from
the
Epstein
files
very
much
is
not.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
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on
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@Kathryn1 or
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@[email protected].