By Murray Gottheil | April 2, 2025
Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.
It’s Not a Principle Until it Costs You Money – Bill Bernbach
We have all been reading about the Paul Weiss law firm settling with the Trump Administration to get out from under an executive order, the legality of which is, to say the least, questionable.
Some say Paul Weiss buckled under instead of defending the rule of law. Their managing partner said that they were facing an existential crisis and that they took reasonable steps to survive and protect their clients. He also mentioned that their peers in the legal industry offered little support and, in fact, targeted their clients.
When I read about this fiasco, I was struck by two numbers. First, there are the firm’s reported profits per equity partner of $6,574,000. That is a big number. I myself managed to have a decent career and am having a pleasant retirement, all without ever having earned anything remotely close to that. I personally know a few other individuals in various industries who have managed to scrape by on less.
That got me thinking about what constituted an existential threat for Paul Weiss. Perhaps they feared being forced to close their doors and portals and their partners being forced into bankruptcy. If so, one can perhaps well up a bit of sympathy for them. Or maybe their concern was that their per equity partner profits might get cut in half, and who can survive on just a bit over $3,000,000 a year? (Other than me. I could do that.)
Or possibly their per equity partner profits might have been shredded all the way down to $1,000,000, or even $500,000? Who can manage on that? (Well, I could.)
Students of history romanticize the notion that there is a time in every person’s life when a challenge brings out their greatness. We contrast Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler with his statement about “Peace for our time” to Winston Churchill’s inspiring declaration that, “We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall never surrender.”
It is easy to judge Paul Weiss for caving in. We do not know the extent of the threat that they were facing. I would like to imagine that I would have shown more character and fought harder. But would I have?
This brings me to the second number that I read about. Although I have been unable to confirm it, it does sound right. That number is 77%, which is alleged to be the percentage of German lawyers who joined the Nazi party during World War II. Presumably, they did not want to put their per equity partner profits at risk. Or their lives.
So, should we respect or condemn Paul Weiss? I cannot know for sure, but I do have my suspicions, and they are driven by the numbers.
Murray is a happily retired lawyer who lives in the country, drives a pick-up truck, writes, teaches and mentors. You can reach him at [email protected] or see what he is up to at lawanddisorderinc.com.
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