Chair of the firm since 2008, Brad Karp has achieved national prominence as both a litigator and corporate adviser. Brad has extensive experience defending financial institutions and other companies in “bet the company” litigations and regulatory matters. Prior to being named chair of Paul, Weiss, Brad chaired the firm’s Litigation Department.

Experience

Significant representations include:

• Apollo in several litigations and advisory matters;
• Bank of America in several matters, including the litigations and regulatory matters arising out of Bank of America's 2008  merger with Merrill Lynch;
• Bank of New York in several matters, including the litigations and regulatory matters arising out of the bank's foreign exchange standing instruction orders;
• Citigroup  in multiple matters, including:
  • its arbitral victory defeating multi-billion-dollar claims brought by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), arising out of its December 2007 $7.5 billion investment in Citigroup;
  • its Southern District of New York jury trial victory defeating multi-billion-dollar claims by London-based private equity firm Terra Firma, which claimed it was defrauded in connection with its 2007 purchase of EMI;
  • its New Jersey state court jury trial victory defeating a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit brought by Parmalat;
  • its arbitral victory defeating a billion-dollar claim by a WorldCom investor who claimed he was defrauded by Citigroup and Jack Grubman, as a result of allegedly fraudulent research;
  • its subprime, credit crisis and mortgage-related litigations and regulatory matters;
  • its auction rate securities litigations and regulatory matters;
  • its Lehman-related litigations;
  • its failed investment litigations and regulatory matters;
  • its Enron-related litigations and regulatory matters;
  • its research analyst litigations; and
  • a nationwide employment discrimination class action;
• Deloitte & Touche LLP in several matters, including successfully representing Deloitte in securing the dismissal of a federal securities fraud class action concerning Fannie Mae's disclosures and financial statements;
• JPMorgan in several matters, including the litigations and regulatory matters arising out of Bear Stearns' March 2008 collapse and various subprime, credit-crisis and mortgage-related litigations;
• The National Football League in several matters, including its defense of lawsuits filed by former NFL players seeking to hold the League liable for allegedly concealing the risks associated with concussions sustained while playing professional football;
• UBS in several matters, including its settlement with the Antitrust Division of the DOJ, the SEC, the Internal Revenue Service and a group of 25 state attorneys general regarding investigations into the firm's former municipal reinvestment and derivatives group;
• Wall Street underwriters in several securities class action litigations, including class actions arising out of the $25 billion GM/GMAC bond offering and the $20+ billion AIG bond offering, as well as class actions arising out of the Ambac and American Home Mortgage bond offerings.

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS

Brad currently represents Citigroup, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, HSBC, Bank of New York Mellon, UBS, Apollo, Deloitte, the National Football League, MacAndrews & Forbes, ING, Bloomberg, Citco, Ericsson, Newmont Mining, Merck, SICPA, BB&T, Eton Park, OneWest Bank, CIM Group, Fortress, Zurich Capital, Aurora Bank and KKR, among others, in significant securities, commercial and regulatory matters.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Brad has been profiled as one of the leading lawyers in the United States by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The American Lawyer, Chambers, The Lawyer (U.K.), Crain's, The National Law Journal, The New York Law Journal, Lawdragon, Best Lawyers in America, Legal 500, Euromoney Institutional Investors, Best of the Best USA, Law360, and Benchmark/Institutional Investor.

In 2003, Brad was profiled in The American Lawyer as one of the 45 leading lawyers in the United States under the age of 45. His successful representation of financial institutions in complex litigations and regulatory matters was featured in a January 2010 American Lawyer story, "Wall Street Bailout," and in a January 2006 American Lawyer cover story, "The Lifesavers," in which Paul, Weiss was selected as the best litigation firm in the United States. For the past several years, Brad has been named one of the Most Influential People in the Boardroom by the National Association of Corporate Directors. In 2011, Lawdragon named Brad its "Lawyer of the Year." For the past several years, Chambers has selected Brad as the only "Star" in its Nationwide Securities Litigation category. In 2012, Best Lawyers named Brad its "Securities Lawyer of the Year." Also in 2012, The Financial Times selected Brad as one of the 10 most innovative lawyers in the United States. In 2013, Benchmark Litigation/Euromoney selected Brad as its "Litigator of the Year."

Recently, Brad was awarded the Extraordinary New Yorker Award by the JBFCS, the Torch of Learning Award by American Friends of Hebrew University, The Arthur Liman Public Interest Award by the Legal Action Center, the Pro Bono Award by the Pro Bono Partnership and the Human Relations Award by the Anti-Defamation League.

WRITING/SPEAKING

Brad is a frequent lecturer and writer, having spoken at more than 350 conferences and published more than 400 articles on business litigation and securities law issues. Brad has lectured on business litigation, securities litigation and corporate governance at Harvard Law School and Columbia Law School. For the past 28 years, Brad has written a monthly column for the New York Law Journal, "Second Circuit Review," which analyzes developments in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and is a frequent contributor to The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation.

BOARDS AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Brad is active in the community, serving as a director/trustee of the Legal Action Center, the Riverdale Country School, The Partnership for New York City, the Harvard Law School Leadership Council, Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program, Inc., the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, American Friends of Hebrew University, the New York Bar Foundation, the Program Advisory Board of the Brennan Center for Justice, the Best Lawyers Advisory Board, the Economic Club of New York, the Federal Bar Council Second Circuit Inn of Court, the Union College President's Council, and the United States Supreme Court Historical Society. Brad also is a founding member of the PriceWaterhouse Leaders Council examining financial services industry regulatory reform, and a member of The New York City Bar Association Task Force on New Lawyers in a Changing Profession.