Paul Weiss Hires Top M&A Partner From Cravath

The elite corporate law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which almost never loses partners to competitors, is losing one of its most prominent: Scott Barshay, who is among the country’s most active M&A lawyers, is joining Paul, Weiss, Rifkind Wharton & Garrison in an effort to vault its growing corporate practice.

Barshay, 50, has accepted a position to become the global head of mergers and acquisitions for the New York City-based law firm, which has more than 900 lawyers in eight offices in the U.S., London and Asia. He began work on Friday.

The move illustrates the challenges facing Cravath’s ...