2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

For 150 years, Paul, Weiss has been a leader in the legal industry and a mainstay in the New York City legal market. Today, the firm has more than 1,200 lawyers working across 10 global offices and is known for representing some of the world’s largest companies, private equity firms, and financial institutions.

Groundbreaking Start

Founded in 1875, Paul, Weiss was the first major firm in New York where Jews and Gentiles practiced together, as well as the first to hire a Black associate and elect a woman to the partnership. With early roots in litigation, the firm has grown to become a market leader in M&A, private equity, litigation, white collar and regulatory defense, and restructuring.

One of the Greats 

Paul, Weiss is home to a panoply of preeminent practice groups. Its M&A team advises on matters that have defined core principles in the field and has experience working across industries. The team has secured deals for companies such as Amazon, Chevron, General Electric, General Mills, IBM, Rocket Companies, and Qualcomm. Since 2020, the firm has advised on over 210 billion-dollar-plus M&A transactions and over $1.7 trillion in total M&A. 

The firm’s private equity group is a pioneer in the area of leveraged buyouts and regularly represents buyout and investment firms. Its fund formation group leads the charge for all types of asset managers, from private equity funds to open-ended funds. In the past three years, the firm has handled more than 500 private equity/private equity portfolio co-deals for clients such as Apollo, Ares, Bain Capital, Brookfield, Clearlake, EQT, General Atlantic, Kohlberg, KPS, Oak Hill, Roark, Warburg Pincus, and 3G Capital. 

Its renowned litigation department is known for its trial experience and advises on some of the highest-profile litigations. The firm has recently won cases for Amazon, Blackstone, IBM, Mastercard, Uber, and Goldman Sachs—the latter one before the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorneys in the firm’s white collar and regulatory defense practice represent Fortune 50 clients, boards, and key executives in major government investigations and enforcement actions, Congressional hearings, and internal investigations. 

Members of Paul, Weiss’ restructuring department handle the biggest restructuring matters, from both the company and creditor side. They recently represented Diamond Sports Group, HPS Partners, KKR, Party City, and Revlon, among others, in complex restructuring matters and handled three of the five largest restructurings of 2023.

Well-Trained Lawyers

Associates at Paul, Weiss enjoy high-quality training in addition to high-level work. The firm hosts hundreds of internal training programs annually, including bootcamp trainings for junior litigation and corporate associates. Annual conferences for new, mid-level, and senior associates help associates successfully transition to new roles within the firm. The firm’s unique “mock pitch” workshop helps fifth-year associates understand client development and the firm’s capabilities across practice groups. The firm also offers professional skills and individual career coaching for attorneys of all levels, career development planning tools for associates, and coaching for summer associates during both the summer program and the third year of law school.

• Paul, Weiss advised World Wrestling Entertainment in its $21 billion combination with the UFC, forming a new sports and entertainment giant.
• The firm represented iconic beauty company Revlon in its successful bankruptcy, one of the largest Chapter 11 filings in recent years.
• The firm advised Clearlake Capital, a leading member of an investor group, in its $5.3 billion acquisition of the Chelsea Football Club, the largest amount for a football club at the time.
• The firm won a defense verdict for Citigroup in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit by failed Italian dairy giant Parmalat and won a $1 billion counterclaim.

• 24 Dealmaker of the Year recognitions in the past 22 years, including five in 2025—The American Lawyer
• White Collar Crime/Investigations Firm of the Year, 2025—Benchmark Litigation
• Law Firm of the Year, 2024—The American Lawyer and the New York Law Journal
• Private Equity Team of the Year, 2024—IFLR Americas
• Bankruptcy Law Firm of the Year, 2023—Chambers USA