Brad Karp, chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
(Photo by David Handschuh/NYLJ)

Editor's Note: This is the speech Paul, Weiss Chairman Brad Karp gave when he accepted the Attorney of the Year award from the New York Law Journal Wednesday night.

I want to thank the NYLJ for this wonderful honor and tribute.  I am very grateful and humbled.

I work in a town with nearly 200,000 supremely talented lawyers—each of whom, each and every day, makes enormous contributions to their clients, their communities and the institutions that make our city the very best in the world.

We're all so blessed and privileged to be able to do what we do for a living and to be a member of the most talented, sophisticated and committed bar anywhere.

So this honor carries special meaning for me.

I am particularly honored to have been considered for this award along with Stanley Brown of Hogan and Bill Carmody of Susman Godfrey, two of the finest, most formidable, and most decent lawyers I know.

And receiving an award from the New York Law Journal brings back a flood of nostalgic, personal memories.

I grew up in a home in Long Island, where my mom and dad were both litigators and worked together at their own Manhattan-based law firm, Karp & Karp.  To me, Karp & Karp felt like Cravath. I revered my parents and I was fascinated by their cases and viscerally recall the passion and respect they had for the law.

In my house, we subscribed to two daily newspapers, The New York Times and the New York Law Journal.  As a child, I read both the Times and the Law Journal every day.

When I joined Paul, Weiss as an associate on October 21, 1985, I received three assignments my first day—one of which was to write a monthly column for the Law Journal, titled “Second Circuit Review.”  The column, which had not previously existed, would analyze developments in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, where I had just completed a clerkship. I was told that a different Paul, Weiss lawyer would be responsible for drafting each month's column.

Well, that didn't quite turn out to be the case. My first column appeared on November 19, 1985.  My 396^th column will appear on October 24^th—and, God willing, my 500^th column will appear on February 24, 2027.

So the Law Journal holds a special place in my personal and professional life.

I've been blessed professionally to have been mentored by two of the most gifted and committed lawyers of the past century—and, I would argue, the two finest litigators ever.

I'm referring to Judge Simon Rifkind, who created the modern litigation practice when he joined Paul, Weiss in 1950, after having served for more than a decade as an acclaimed federal district judge in the Southern District of New York, and the legendary Arthur Liman, who led Paul, Weiss during the 1970's, '80s and '90s.

The Judge and Arthur were both role models to me and embodied the very best of our profession. They were brilliant litigators, trial lawyers and corporate advisers.

But what truly distinguished them is that they both believed passionately in the concept of public service and pro bono work. They saw the law as a noble “profession,” not as a commercial enterprise.

They viewed community engagement and pro bono service to be indispensable elements of the private practice of law—and every bit as important as work for paying clients.

And they lived these ideals every day. And inculcated everyone at Paul, Weiss with their belief that the law was a noble profession and that giving back to the community is an essential part of what it means to be a lawyer.

Their DNA continues to exist in the hallways of Paul, Weiss and in the heart and soul of every Paul, Weiss lawyer—and continues to define what the Paul, Weiss law firm is all about.

It is such a privilege to lead a law firm whose professionals are wholly committed—reflexively committed—to doing the right thing, the courageous thing.

A law firm that is willing to stand up for the rule of law.

A firm that is willing to fight, tooth and nail, to protect individual liberties.

A law firm that courageously stepped into Brown v. Board of Education, to end segregation in our nation's public schools.

A law firm that courageously established the principle of “one-person, one-vote,” which undoubtedly will be tested once again on November 6^th.

A law firm that courageously represented Edith Windsor in the Supreme Court to establish the constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

Unfortunately, we are confronted today with crises of unimaginable enormity—crises that threaten the rule of law, crises that endanger individual liberties, crises that imperil the very fabric of our society.

I have been able to activate Paul, Weiss at all levels—from our senior-most partner to our junior-most paralegal—to join me in our crucial fight for justice.

I am proud that Paul, Weiss has played a leadership role in addressing the family separation crisis and the continuing assault by government authorities on vulnerable immigrant groups; in seeking to end the gun violence epidemic and responding to the drumbeat of mass shootings at Parkland, Las Vegas and Orlando; in blocking threats to defund the Legal Services Corporation; in fighting efforts to disenfranchise millions of voters; and in resisting attempts to eliminate a woman's reproductive freedom.  The list of freedoms and liberties under assault, tragically, goes on and on.

I am proud that we have answered this call to justice with unprecedented urgency and unprecedented resources.

And I am proud that so many of my peer firms, across the New York and broader legal community, likewise have answered the call.

This level of collaboration among the private bar has not been seen for generations, since the civil rights movement of the 1960's.

When all is said and done, I firmly believe that the private bar will be lauded for banding together to protect our justice system and to preserve our most sacred liberties and rights.

It is on behalf of my colleagues at Paul, Weiss—and all of my colleagues in our profession who strive to do what is right and just each and every day—that I accept this award.

The name partners of Karp & Karp, who passed away long ago, would have been so proud of this honor.

And for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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Attorney of the Year Brad Karp