Shanmugam
(via
YouTube)
Well,
readers,
the
Paul,
Weiss
litigation
exodus
just
claimed
a
major
name.
Kannon
Shanmugam
—
one
of
the
most
prominent
Supreme
Court
litigators
in
private
practice,
a
man
who
has
argued
39
cases
before
the
High
Court
—
is
leaving
Paul,
Weiss
for
Davis
Polk
&
Wardwell.
As
Bloomberg
Law
reported,
he
and
partner
Masha
Hansford
will
launch
the
firm’s
new
Supreme
Court
and
appellate
practice.
If
you’ve
been
following
the
slow-motion
litigation
talent
drain
at
Paul,
Weiss
since
the
firm’s
ignominious
capitulation
to
the
Trump
administration
in
March
2025,
Shanmugam’s
departure
shouldn’t
be
entirely
surprising.
But
it
stings.
This
is
the
crown
jewel
of
the
firm’s
appellate
litigation
practice
walking
out
the
door.
To
briefly
recap,
Paul,
Weiss
became
the
first
major
Biglaw
firm
to
bend
the
knee
to
Donald
Trump,
signing
a
deal
that
included
$40
million
in
pro
bono
services
and
the
elimination
of
all
DEI
programs
in
exchange
for
the
rescission
of
an
executive
order
targeting
the
firm.
The
fallout
has
been
considerable.
Litigation
co-chair
Karen
Dunn,
along
with
partners
Bill
Isaacson
and
Jeannie
Rhee,
bolted
to
start
their
own
boutique
to
practice
free
from
the
constraints
of
the
Trump
deal.
Former
U.S.
Attorney
for
the
Southern
District
of
New
York
Damian
Williams
departed
for
Jenner
&
Block
—
one
of
the
firms
actually
fighting
the
executive
orders
in
court,
adding
a
certain
poetic
quality
to
the
move.
And
that
was
just
the
beginning;
even
more
litigation
partners
followed
them
out
the
door
in
the
weeks
that
followed.
Former
Homeland
Security
Secretary
Jeh
Johnson
retired
after
four
decades
at
the
firm.
Through
all
of
it,
the
firm’s
official
posture
was
essentially
that
everything
was
fine,
actually.
And
now
Shanmugam.
To
his
credit,
Shanmugam
was
one
of
the
only
Biglaw
partners
to
say
anything
publicly
about
the
firm’s
deal
with
Trump,
though
his
comments
were
more
in
the
way
of
explanation
than
full-throated
endorsement.
At
the
Aspen
Ideas
Festival
last
June,
when
asked
directly
to
explain
why
Paul,
Weiss
decided
to
“cave,”
he
acknowledged
the
weight
of
the
decision.
The
executive
orders
targeting
firms,
he
said,
“raise
real
issues
concerning
the
rule
of
law
and
our
legal
system.”
But,
he
added,
“for
the
law
firms
that
are
on
the
receiving
end
of
this,
there
are
very
practical
considerations
concerning
the
implications
for
the
firms’
clients,
and
those
implications
were
very
real.”
He
described
the
firm
as
being
“in
the
vortex”
of
competing
imperatives.
And
at
Pepperdine’s
Caruso
School
of
Law,
Shanmugam
described
the
broader
attacks
on
legal
institutions
as
“regrettable,”
while
also
allowing
that
the
legal
profession
doesn’t
exactly
have
a
viewpoint
diversity
problem
working
in
its
favor.
The
Shanmugam
departure
has
to
be
understood
in
the
context
of
Paul,
Weiss’s
ongoing
identity
crisis.
Following
Brad
Karp’s
resignation
—
itself
coming
after
revelations
about
his
relationship
with
Jeffrey
Epstein,
compounding
the
reputational
damage
from
the
Trump
deal
—
the
firm’s
new
chair
is
M&A
heavyweight
Scott
Barshay.
Barshay
was,
by
insider
accounts,
a
vocal
internal
champion
of
the
Trump
capitulation,
reportedly
framing
the
cave
as
pragmatism.
But
the
message
his
elevation
sends
is
unmistakable:
the
future
of
Paul,
Weiss
is
transactional
work.
Turns
out,
the
lateral
move
may
have
been
telegraphed
in
a
move
we
missed.
Legal
watchers
were
puzzled
earlier
this
week
when,
in
the
Supreme
Court
case
T.M.
v.
University
of
Maryland
Medical
System
Corporation,
Shanmugam,
who
had
been
counsel
of
record
from
the
cert
petition
through
the
merits
briefs,
did
not
argue
the
case.
Former
Solicitor
General
Elizabeth
Prelogar
of
Cooley
LLP
appeared
on
the
docket
and
argued
in
Shanmugam’s
place,
despite
not
appearing
anywhere
on
the
briefs.
(Now,
about
that
Prelogar
angle,
because
it’s
too
good
to
skip
over.
Longtime
Above
the
Law
readers
may
recall
that
Shanmugam
and
Prelogar
have
a…
bit
of
a
history.
Back
in
2023,
we
covered
the
controversy
when
Shanmugam’s
supplemental
brief
in
a
SCOTUS
case
described
Prelogar’s
government
brief
as
—
and
this
is
a
direct
quote
from
the
filing
—
“a
hot
mess.”
Twitter
had
thoughts!
The
legal
world
had
thoughts!
Prelogar
had
thoughts!
Now
Prelogar
stepped
in
to
argue
a
case
he’d
briefed
from
scratch.
The
universe,
apparently,
has
a
sense
of
humor.)
But,
over
on
Bluesky
appellate
litigator
Bob
Loeb
of
Orrick
sussed
out
the
clear
signal
Shanmugam
was
out
at
Paul,
Weiss
:
“I
knew
something
was
up
when
I
saw
Kannon
enter
his
name
into
the
appellate
transfer
portal.”
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
Bluesky @Kathryn1