Paul Weiss Loses Ex-US Attorney Williams After Trump Deal

A former federal prosecutor who joined Paul Weiss in the month leading up to President Trump’s second term left for Jenner & Block.

New York-based partner Damian Williams will co-chair Jenner’s litigation department and investigations, compliance and defense practice, according to the firm’s announcement on Friday. He leaves a firm that struck a controversial deal with the Trump administration to avoid punitive sanctions to a firm that sued Trump to block a similar attack.

Williams’ departure comes only months after he re-joined Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. Paul Weiss announced Williams’ arrival in January, and said he began his legal career as a Paul Weiss associate in 2009.

“Damian led the Southern District with excellence and integrity, and we are excited to welcome him to Jenner as part of our firm’s long tradition of hiring former public servants who are zealous and effective advocates,” said Jenner’s chair Tom Perrelli, former Associate US Attorney General.

A representative for Paul Weiss thanked Williams for his contributions to the firm and wished him well.

Paul Weiss roused controversy within the legal community as the first of nine firms to pledge a collective $940 million in free legal services to Trump-approved causes in exchange for avoiding punitive White House sanctions. The firm drew Trump’s anger as the former professional home to Mark Pomerantz, who left the firm in 2021 to assist with the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into Trump’s finances.

Along with other Trump-targeted firms Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey, Jenner sued the Trump administration to reclaim security clearances and access to federal buildings that were threatened by a Trump executive order.

Williams served as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2021 to 2024, when he left to join Paul Weiss. He oversaw the high-profile prosecutions of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and US Senator Bob Menendez. He was the first Black US Attorney in the history of the New York Southern District.

Jenner’s announcement said Williams will be a “driving force” in the firm’s litigation and white-collar work.

“Jenner & Block fearlessly advocates for its clients and provides outstanding strategic counsel through their most difficult challenges,” Williams said. “I’ve seen firsthand how this firm expertly tackles the toughest cases and lives its values. I’m excited to join a team with an extraordinary depth of legal talent that doesn’t shy away from hard fights—and delivers results that matter.”

Paul Weiss has sustained a string of partner exits in the wake of the announcement of its deal with the Trump administration.

Litigation department co-chair Karen Dunn, an outside counsel to Google and former campaign adviser to Kamala Harris, left with three partners last month to start a new litigation boutique. Dunn and colleagues have represented Apple Inc. and Facebook.

Their exits followed Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security Secretary under President Barack Obama, and Steve Banks, who oversaw the firm’s pro bono practice.

Trump issued an executive order against the firm March 14, which he rescinded within a week when firm chairman Brad Karp said the firm would devote $40 million in free legal services to mutually-agreed upon causes during Trump’s presidency.

Karp’s pledge was expanded upon by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s March 28 deal with the president, which saw the firm promise $100 million in free legal services. Within a month, seven other firms, including Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins, made similar pledges, some as high as $125 million. The firms, as part of their deals, also promised not to engage in “illegal DEI” activities and commit to “merit-based” hiring.

Skadden also faced departures in the wake of its deal with Trump, one being Kathleen Rubenstein, executive director of the Skadden Foundation, resigning from the public interest law group.

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Henry in Washington DC at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Opfer at [email protected]; John Hughes at [email protected]; Alessandra Rafferty at [email protected]

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