Top Paul Weiss Litigator Shanmugam Bolts for Rival Davis Polk

Prominent appellate lawyer Kannon Shanmugam is leaving Paul Weiss for Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Shanmugam and Paul Weiss partner Masha Hansford will launch Davis Polk’s new Supreme Court and appellate practice, the firm said Thursday.

Shanmugam is the best-known lawyer to exit Paul Weiss since Brad Karp, the firm’s longtime leader, resigned from the post in February over revelations about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. New Chairman Scott Barshay, a heavyweight M&A lawyer, is expected to cement the firm’s shift from a powerful litigation shop to a corporate deals behemoth.

Shanmugam is a former clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia and a veteran of the US Solicitor General’s office who has argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court. He was lead counsel in a 2020 case in which the justices ruled the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s leadership structure was unconstitutional. He is set to argue for Cisco Systems, Inc. before the court next week, and has represented Exxon Mobil Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., and the National Football League, among other clients.

He jumped to Paul Weiss from Williams & Connolly—a rare lateral departure from the elite litigation firm—to Paul Weiss in 2019 to launch its first dedicated Supreme Court practice and lead the Washington office. At Davis Polk, he and Hansford join another top corporate firm that counts major banks among its core clients.

Paul Weiss saw a string of notable litigators head for the door last year after Karp reached a controversial deal with President Donald Trump, pledging $40 million in free legal services on shared causes in order to rescind an executive order targeting the firm. Shanmugam at an event in June 2025 described the firm’s decision to make a deal rather than challenge the order in court a difficult one that reflected “practical considerations.”

Karen Dunn, a litigation group co-chair, left Paul Weiss with partners Bill Isaacson and Jeannie Rhee to start a boutique firm, later bringing some of their former colleagues with them. Jeh Johnson, the former Homeland Security Secretary, retired after 40 years at the firm between government stints. Damian Williams, the ex-US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, left for Jenner & Block.

Corporate Over All

The latest departures highlight how litigation has taken a back seat to lucrative corporate transactions work at Paul Weiss, mirroring shifts at other top law firms. It’s a stark pivot for a firm known for its trial prowess for much of its 150-year history.

Weeks after Barshay took over the top role, the firm scrapped its long-running practice of treating litigation associates as generalists working on a wide range of cases and instead assigned associates to practice groups, according to two former Paul Weiss lawyers. The firm’s previous approach, which minted star litigators and helped it stand out as a destination for lawyers seeking to follow in their footsteps.

Scott Barshay took over as Paul Weiss chairman in February.

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Barshay was among the supporters of the firm’s deal with Trump last year. Barshay also was part of the group that pressed Karp to step down after his ties to Epstein—which began through Karp’s work advising Apollo founder Leon Black and went well beyond what Karp and the firm maintained was limited contact—became public.

The series of events underscored the firm’s commitment to put the corporate side of the business ahead of the litigation, one of the former lawyers said.

The developments do not appear to have impacted the bottom line for Paul Weiss, so far. The firm’s partners raked in $8.6 million apiece in average profits last year. Davis Polk was among a small group of firms that bested the mark, as partners average $9.8 million in profits last year.