What are some of the department's most satisfying successes of the past year and why? We recently resolved, on favorable terms, several major cases that we've handled for a decade or more. In May 2018, after more than a decade of securities litigation on behalf of Merck concerning the drug Vytorin, we secured the final dismissal of high-value, "opt out" claims, having previously helped Merck settle the underlying securities class action. In March 2019, we ended two decades of litigation by defeating an antitrust and false advertising lawsuit brought by Retractable Technologies against our client Becton, Dickinson on Retractable's second trip to the Fifth Circuit. In April 2019, Italy's Supreme Court ruled that a court award we had secured for our client Citigroup in 2011 on our counterclaim against failed Italian dairy giant Parmalat was final and enforceable in Italy. Now Citi can finally collect on the judgment, which has now tripled in value and is worth over $1 billion. And in June 2019, we won the dismissal of Alien Tort Statute claims alleging that our client ExxonMobil was complicit in human rights violations committed by Indonesian soldiers. This ended 18 years of litigation. All of these outcomes were very gratifying for us and for our clients.

A prospective client in crisis calls and asks why your team should be retained. What is your answer? Paul, Weiss has the talent and experience to successfully handle the most formidable opponents, in unfriendly jurisdictions and on expedited timetables. Our record of achievement is unparalleled in terms of our successful defense of "bet the company" class action litigations and clients facing franchise-threatening risks. We have unmatched experience in the class action realm, as trial lawyers and as appellate lawyers—and in the regulatory and white-collar sphere, if that skill set is required. We truly are a unique resource for clients in crisis.

What traits do you respect most in opposing firms and lawyers? I admire the same traits in opposing counsel that I admire most in my colleagues: judgment, judgment, judgment. At the end of the day, we are in the judgment business. We need to provide our clients wise, thoughtful, strategic advice, always keeping in mind their business objectives and understanding the big picture. It is also critical that counsel be zealous advocates, strategic thinkers, effective negotiators, and have high IQ and EQ.

What sorts of trends are you seeing in litigation, and what do you think will be the most important development in the law/legal business that will impact your field in the next 10 years? Technology, especially the looming impact of AI, is increasingly disrupting litigation. Machine learning is increasingly replacing human capital, and this phenomenon will only accelerate. At Paul, Weiss, we are adjusting our staffing model to take these changes into account. We are constantly learning, investing and innovating so that our clients have every conceivable advantage.

What is the firm doing to ensure that future generations of litigators are ready to take the helm? We continually reinvest in the next generation. We provide our litigation associates opportunities to develop the skills and experience they need to become well-rounded litigators. They acquire hands-on experience not just via paid client work but through immersing themselves in pro bono cases. We supplement that experiential component with intensive formal training and skills-based workshops to gain hands-on experience in core advocacy skills. Additionally, through formal and informal coaching, we encourage our younger litigators to take on successively greater client-facing and internal leadership responsibilities so that they develop the confidence to become leaders.

Responses prepared by Brad S. Karp, chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.