The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.
Chairman of Paul, Weiss since 2008, Brad S. Karp is one of the country’s leading litigators and corporate advisers. Brad has successfully guided numerous Fortune 100 companies, financial institutions, sports leagues, and others through bet-the-company litigations, regulatory matters, internal investigations, and crises. He has received dozens of industry recognitions for his legal achievements and for his leadership within the legal profession. Brad is active in the community, serving on numerous public interest, educational, cultural, and charitable boards. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has spent his entire professional career at Paul, Weiss.
Describe your practice area and what it entails.
Clients turn to me to help them navigate their business-critical challenges, including bet-the-company litigation, significant regulatory enforcement matters, and sensitive internal investigations. I help them avert, manage, and mitigate legal risk in complex crises that could fundamentally impact their businesses, from devastating court rulings and regulatory actions to damaging media coverage and congressional scrutiny. As Chairman of Paul, Weiss, I guide our firm’s overall strategy, and I spearhead high-impact pro bono and community initiatives.
What types of clients do you represent?
I regularly represent global financial institutions, sports leagues, and Fortune 50 companies. My client roster includes major sports organizations like the NFL, MLB and the NHL; banks like Citigroup, TD, UBS, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan; and alternative asset managers like Apollo, Blackstone, and KKR. I also work with major tech companies like Meta and Nikola, as well as real estate firms, industrial manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and more.
What types of cases/deals do you work on?
I serve as lead counsel for the NFL in the league’s most consequential legal challenges, including in several discrimination lawsuits brought by former NFL coaches and employees that have recently been making headlines. I previously represented the league in landmark multidistrict concussion litigation. Recently, I secured a favorable outcome for the independent directors of CBS in multiple lawsuits stemming from its merger with Viacom; won a key appellate victory for Blackstone blocking a state attorney general’s attempt to intervene in a $50 billion lawsuit; and won the dismissals of multiple lawsuits against Nikola over alleged misstatements about the company’s technological capabilities.
How did you choose this practice area?
Growing up in a family of attorneys, I always knew that I wanted to be a litigator. I was drawn to Paul, Weiss’ reputation for handling the most challenging and important cases, as well as for its deep and very public commitment to impactful pro bono work. I joined the firm as a summer associate and never looked back. The opportunity to learn from legendary trial lawyers Judge Simon Rifkind and Arthur Liman helped mold me into the lawyer I am today.
What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?
One constant is that every day presents new and interesting challenges. At Paul, Weiss, we handle our clients’ most complex matters and strive to exceed their expectations every day by finding novel, creative solutions to their issues, and that means that opportunities for growth are endless.
What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?
Our litigators come from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, but the through line is a track record of academic excellence, which is the baseline for future success in the law. Once you are at a firm, so much of what you learn in litigation is via on-the-job training, working alongside talented, committed lawyers, listening and watching and learning how they do what they do. I always encourage law students to prioritize firms like Paul, Weiss that offer superior training, professional development opportunities, and the chance to work with and be mentored by the world’s best trial lawyers.
What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?
Our practice is always evolving, and our work involves a great deal of complexity. Because many clients turn to us once a situation has hit a crisis point, our cases often attract intense public, government, and media scrutiny.
These days, a major challenge is addressing the legal implications for our clients of the staggering growth in AI. It’s absolutely imperative that we as litigators keep abreast of developments in the tech space so that we can provide our clients with unparalleled guidance on emerging, first-impression issues, as well as on how to take advantage of important business opportunities presented by the technologies.
What do you like best about your practice area?
There is nothing I find more fulfilling than finding innovative solutions to my clients’ complex challenges. It’s incredibly rewarding for me personally, and it means that our clients can focus on their business and strategic objectives.
What is unique about your practice area at your firm?
Paul, Weiss’ litigation department handles a remarkably broad variety of matters. This means that we are focused on making sure our litigators have strong foundational skills like writing briefs, taking depositions and the like, as well as the confidence to take on any type of litigation or to jump into a case right before trial. Because nearly all of our litigation partners have worked on a wide range of cases, our junior lawyers also have many people to turn to for advice.
We are also, first and foremost, trial lawyers; every case is prepared as if it will go to trial. So litigation associates at the firm have ample opportunities for hands-on courtroom experience, working alongside the best trial lawyers in the country.