Barshay
(via
Paul,
Weiss;
©
Matt
Greenslade)
Last
year,
when
news
broke
that
Paul,
Weiss,
Rifkind,
Wharton
&
Garrison
was
inking
a
deal
with
the
Trump
administration
—
and,
more
to
the
point,
capitulating
—
it
landed
like
a
thunderclap.
Not
just
because
a
major
law
firm’s
whole
deal
is
supposed
to
be
defending
the
rule
of
law,
and
not
folding
like
a
wet
napkin
the
second
things
get
uncomfortable,
but
because
it
was
Paul,
Weiss.
This
is
a
firm
with
a
reputation
for
elite
litigators
who
didn’t
just
talk
a
big
game
about
standing
up
to
power,
they
actually
did
it
during
the
first
Trump
administration.
Hell,
for
decades
Paul,
Weiss
was
thought
of
as
the
Biglaw
firm
where
someone
with
progressive
politics
could
find
a
home.
And
now,
with
the
benefit
of
hindsight,
that
capitulation
looks
less
like
a
one-off
misstep
and
more
like
the
first
visible
crack
in
a
much
deeper
internal
transformation.
Now
there’s
a
new
chair
at
the
once-venerable
Biglaw
shop.
And
though
the
Trumpian
deal
was
widely
panned
by
those
in
the
legal
industry,
that
was
not
the
undoing
of
former
chair
Brad
Karp.
No,
it
was
his
repeated
appearances
in
the
Epstein
files
which
revealed
a
much
cozier
relationship
with
the
infamous
pedophile
than
previously
known.
Now
at
the
helm
of
Paul,
Weiss
is
mergers
&
acquisitions
partner
Scott
Barshay,
who
Karp
crowed
about
wooing
over
from
Cravath
in
2016.
Barshay
was
reportedly
a
major
internal
cheerleader
of
the
Trump
deal,
dressing
up
the
cowardice
as
pragmatism.
But
as
Above
the
Law
readers
know,
that
decision
ruffled
feathers
and
sent
litigators
packing.
And
more
may
be
headed
for
the
exits.
As
the
Wall
Street
Journal
reports,
additional
litigation
partners
are
currently
in
talks
to
leave,
while
Barshay
has
been
crisscrossing
the
country
trying
to
reassure
the
troops
that
everything
is
totally
fine,
nothing
to
see
here,
please
stop
updating
your
LinkedIn.
Barshay
has
been
steadily
reshaping
Paul,
Weiss
(pushing
for
the
changes
even
before
he
took
over
as
Chair)
into
something
that
looks
a
lot
more
like
a
hyper-corporatized
profit
machine
than
the
legacy
institution
many
of
the
partners
thought
they
signed
up
for.
The
partner
compensation
system
has
been
revamped
to
throw
eye-watering
sums
at
rainmakers.
Associate
staffing
is
now
more
tightly
controlled,
ending
the
firm’s
generalist
model
and
limiting
who
gets
to
work
with
whom
in
the
name
of
client
consistency.
The
firm’s
partner
meetings
are
reportedly
more
“subdued,”
which
is
a
nice
way
of
saying
the
personality
has
been
sanded
down
to
corporate
beige.
And
Barshay’s
push
to
make
the
firm
apolitical
has
sealed
the
transition
from
“litigation
powerhouse
with
a
conscience”
to
“M&A
juggernaut
with
a
carefully
managed
personality.”
But
here’s
the
part
that
makes
all
of
this
deliciously
complicated
—
the
numbers
are
good.
Like,
really
good.
Revenue
is
up
(23.8%
to
$3.26
billion)
and
profits
per
equity
partner
are
up
(14.5%).
The
money
is
flowing,
and
in
Biglaw,
that
tends
to
function
as
the
ultimate
sedative.
Barshay’s
changes
are
working
in
a
purely
financial
sense,
but
at
some
point,
the
people
who
came
for
something
more
than
just
a
paycheck
are
going
to
look
around
and
realize
they’re
working
at
a
place
they
barely
recognize.
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
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].