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Brad Karp is stepping down as chairman of US law firm Paul Weiss following revelations about his ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The New York law firm has chosen Scott Barshay, a star deal lawyer who runs its corporate department, to take over the role.
“Leading Paul Weiss for the past 18 years has been the honor of my professional life,” Karp said in a statement on Wednesday evening, when the FT first reported the shake-up.
“Recent reporting has created a distraction and focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm.”
The FT reported this week that according to documents released by the Justice Department, Karp, who has headed the law firm since 2008, told Epstein he was “wonderful” after arranging a dinner with Woody Allen.
Karp also arranged through Epstein’s staff for his children to attend Woody Allen film screenings. In March 2019, four months before Epstein’s arrest, Karp sent a letter written by the disgraced financier’s lawyers to four “editorial people I know best” at The New York Times. The letter was a defense of an earlier petition that had allowed Epstein to escape federal charges.
The law firm said earlier this week that Paul Weiss & Karp never represented Epstein and that the company was appointed by then-Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Leon Black to negotiate long-running fee disputes with Epstein. Black resigned from Apollo in 2021 following revelations about her relationship with Epstein.
Karp “spent his entire 40-year legal career” at Paul Weiss, during which the firm “achieved significant growth,” the statement said late Wednesday. Karp will remain at the firm as a partner, focusing on client work.
Karp is one of the most high-profile Wall Street figures to be embroiled in the Epstein scandal in recent weeks, as new Justice Department revelations reveal that Epstein had ties to powerful figures.
Barshay said that Karp “replaced Paul Weiss in an unprecedented way for the great benefit of our clients” and that he is “grateful to him”.
The decision to replace Karp at the top of the firm was made on Wednesday after hours of deliberations by senior partners over the impact of the Epstein revelations, people familiar with the matter said.
Paul Weiss has said that Epstein was not a client of the firm. On March 2, 2019, when the sex offender tried to block his 2008 plea deal from being reopened, DoJ documents show that Karp emailed Epstein saying “hope you stay cool” and adding “let me know what I can do to help”. Epstein replied: “Your judgment and friendship.”
The next day, Karp told Epstein: “The draft proposal is in good shape.”
“I see no credible answer to our arguments,” Karp wrote. “The case law is completely in favor of our position… I particularly like the argument that ‘victims’ were lying in wait and sitting on your rights for their own strategic advantage, knowing that you were in prison before they came forward.”
In the email, Karp discussed an “amici letter,” a document in which individuals or groups not involved in the case can provide information to the court. “It may be difficult to persuade the amici to take on this issue because of the controversy,” Karp wrote.
Karp and Paul Weiss did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent late Wednesday about the March 2019 email.
Documents released last week by the Justice Department also show that Karp corresponded with Epstein in February 2019 about two high-profile men implicated in a Florida prostitution operation. Karp asked Epstein for help in finding a lawyer for the man.
Since joining Paul Weiss from Cravath in 2016, Barshay has transformed Paul Weiss into one of the leading advisors to corporate America’s largest listed companies, including IBM, Qualcomm and Kraft Heinz.
Barshay had long been seen internally as a potential successor to Carp, people familiar said. Last year, Paul Weiss advised on nearly $400 billion worth of transactions, making it the sixth-best performing law firm by deal volume in the US.
