Public Service

Paul, Weiss has always tackled legal issues of the highest significance: matters that have influenced the structure of the nation's economy, the soul of its judicial system and the quality of its public life.

Public service is embedded in the firm's DNA. The lawyers who built Paul, Weiss had been working at the heart of America's civic life for decades, establishing their reputations by helping frame the legal issues wrought by the transformative crises of the early 20th century. Other Paul, Weiss lawyers carry that banner of service forward through to the present day.

Some of the more recognizable names in our firm's public service tradition include:

• Theodore C. Sorensen: President John F. Kennedy's special counsel and adviser; trusted counsel to governments around the world
• Adrian W. DeWind: Former Treasury Department lawyer; tax policy advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson; helped draft of legislation that shaped the postwar federal tax code
• Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham Jr.: Renowned civil rights advocate and Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Arthur L. Liman: Chief Counsel to the Senate in the Iran-contra affair investigations; chief counsel to the McKay Commission, investigating the Attica state prison uprising
• Honorable Judge Simon H. Rifkind: As legislative secretary to Senator Robert F. Wagner, helped create important aspects of New Deal legislation, including Section 7(a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act; respected judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
• Lloyd K. Garrison: prominent public service lawyer; helped establish the National Labor Relations Board and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935; defended Langston Hughes and Arthur Miller when they were subpoenaed by the House un-American Activities Committee
• Randolph E. Paul: Treasury Department General Counsel; chief author of the Revenue Act of 1942, which transformed federal income taxation; special adviser to President Truman