Racial Justice
In June 2020, the firm and its chairman, Brad Karp, responded immediately to the killing of George Floyd and to the national protests calling for racial justice.
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In addition, the firm has embarked on a comprehensive set of initiatives, as follows:
- Economic Empowerment: Catalyzed by our Black Lawyers Network, we are expanding opportunities for our lawyers to engage in emerging grassroots racial justice efforts and creating new opportunities for our transactional attorneys by partnering with organizations that support Black entrepreneurs and Black-owned businesses.
- Police Conduct: Former U.S. Attorney General and Paul, Weiss litigation partner Loretta Lynch joined the New York state investigation into police conduct during protests in June.
- Institutional Racism: Former Secretary of Homeland Security and Paul, Weiss litigation partner Jeh Johnson led the Commission on Equal Justice in the Courts in reviewing institutional racism in the state court system, issuing a report and recommendations on September 10.
- Open Dialogues: The Paul, Weiss community has gathered for several virtual “Town Halls,” including one led by litigation partners Ted Wells, The American Lawyer’s 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award winner; former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch; and former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. This summer, Firm Chairman Brad Karp hosted a discussion with Tony Thompson, Founding Director of NYU’s Center on Race, Inequality and the Law, and in September, Dr. Maysa Akbar, Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale University and Chief Diversity Officer for the American Psychological Association, gave a keynote address on the impact of racial trauma.