Four high-profile partners have made a clean break from powerhouse law firm Paul Weiss, following the firm’s controversial March agreement with former President Donald Trump. The pact involved the firm pledging $40 million in pro bono legal work to causes aligned with the Trump administration—an arrangement that sparked internal unease and, ultimately, departures.
Karen Dunn, Bill Isaacson, Jeannie Rhee, and Jessica Phillips quietly announced their exit in an internal email, signaling their intention to launch a fresh legal practice. The message, while respectful and warm, notably sidestepped any direct mention of the Trump deal that seems to have catalyzed their move.
“We regret not being able to share this news personally,” they wrote, expressing appreciation for their colleagues and the firm’s community.
These four are far from ordinary players. Dunn, a key litigation co-chair, boasts deep Washington ties as a former Obama White House lawyer and a strategist for Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign. She’s also leading Google’s defense in a high-stakes DOJ monopoly case. Rhee, joining Paul Weiss in 2019, came from the Robert Mueller team investigating Trump’s 2016 campaign. Isaacson and Phillips, seasoned antitrust veterans, arrived together in 2020 from another elite firm.
Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp acknowledged their contributions with gratitude, but the firm’s Trump deal has overshadowed much else. The pact drew swift parallels as multiple top law firms entered similar arrangements with the White House, some sparking legal challenges and court rulings striking down the Trump executive orders that threatened firms’ access to government contracts and officials.
As the legal landscape shifts, these departures mark a notable fracture in one of Wall Street’s most prominent law firms, underscoring the tensions stirred by the intersection of law, politics, and principle.
