Top Paul Weiss lawyer defects from firm after its capitulation to Donald Trump

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One of New York’s best known lawyers is leaving Paul Weiss, just months after the law firm’s surrender to attacks by US President Donald Trump.

Damian Williams, a former top federal prosecutor in New York who joined Paul Weiss in January, is moving to rival Jenner & Block, which was also targeted by the president but challenged the administration in court — and won. 

“I’ve seen first-hand how this firm expertly tackles the toughest cases and lives its values,” said Williams. “I’m excited to join a team with an extraordinary depth of legal talent that doesn’t shy away from hard fights.”

The departure of Williams will reverberate across New York’s corporate legal scene, underscoring the sector’s turmoil after the decision by nine law firms to buckle under pressure from the Trump administration earlier this year.

The firms collectively agreed to provide nearly $1bn in free legal services rather than fight executive orders that would have imposed punitive restrictions on their business, suspending security clearances and blocking them from courthouses and other federal buildings. 

Paul Weiss was the first firm to capitulate and faces a growing exodus of lawyers that could upend its business. Four senior lawyers, including Karen Dunn, a corporate litigator who also served the campaigns of former Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, left last month to launch their own firm.

“We thank Damian for his contributions and wish him well,” a Paul Weiss spokesperson said.

Williams was a securities fraud prosecutor who rose through the ranks to ultimately lead the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office, the most elite outpost of the US justice department, which handles high-stakes terrorism, public corruption and white-collar crime cases.

Nominated by former president Joe Biden, he oversaw the prosecutions of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and former US senator Bob Menendez. Williams, who was the first Black person to lead the office, began his legal career at Paul Weiss and had deep relationships with some of the firm’s most senior partners.

He joins Jenner as co-chair of its litigation department and white-collar investigations and defence practice in New York. Tom Perrelli, Jenner’s chair, said Williams fit the firm’s tradition of “hiring former public servants who are zealous and effective advocates”.

In one of his earliest acts after retaking the White House, Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting law firms he suspected of attacking him during his first administration, many with Democratic ties. The orders suspended lawyers’ security clearances, requested a review of government contracts and sought to block their access to federal government buildings.

In announcing measures targeting Paul Weiss in March, the president cited a lawsuit the firm filed against participants in the January 6 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, as well as a former firm partner’s involvement in the Manhattan prosecution of Trump on fraud charges.

A judge in May struck down Trump’s executive order against Jenner, declaring it unconstitutional. WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey and Perkins Coie have also successfully challenged the orders in court.