Musical Chairs: Leading Litigator David Bernick Leaves Dechert To Join Paul, Weiss

According to the latest Am Law 100 rankings, the partnership over at Paul, Weiss had a very good year in 2015. The firm broke the $4 million mark in profits per partner, behind only Wachtell Lipton and Quinn Emanuel in that metric, and it’s using that war chest to scoop up some top talent.

Last month, Paul Weiss hired Scott Barshay away from Cravath. Some have argued that the significance of Barshay’s move might have been overstated (see the latest update to our prior story), but this week PW unveiled another major hire to keep up the momentum.

Here’s a report from Casey Sullivan of Big Law Business:

David Bernick, the former general counsel of tobacco giant Philip Morris, has joined Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison as a partner in New York, the firm announced on Tuesday. Bernick, 61, will start work next Monday in its litigation department, focusing on a range of cases, including class actions, mass tort, product liability, white collar defense, antitrust and life sciences litigation.

Bernick counts Dow Chemical as a longtime client and he has also recently represented Tokyo-based auto parts maker Takata Corp. in defective airbag litigation. Other clients include Abbott Laboratories, ABB of Zurich, Apple, Dow Corning and Babcock & Wilcox Company.

“Everybody knows Paul Weiss,” said Bernick, in an interview. “They are known. It’s not a stuffy brand. It’s a with-it, make-it-happen type brand and very plugged into the financial market generally.”

Bernick has jumped around a bit in recent years. He comes to PW from Dechert, which he joined less than three years ago, and before that he was at Boies Schiller for just a year. Prior to Boies Schiller, he served as general counsel of Philip Morris International, where he earned a pretty penny in a short stint. He was there for just about two years, but was one of the nation’s highest-paid GCs in both the 2011 rankings and 2012 rankings. Before Philip Morris, he enjoyed a thirty-year career at Kirkland & Ellis.

Sources have previously praised Bernick to us as “a great trial lawyer” who achieves “great results for his clients.” But perhaps he had special appeal to Paul Weiss besides his courtroom skills, as Alison Frankel suggested on Twitter:

David Bernick, ex of Dechert, Boies Schiller and Kirkland, is moving to Paul Weiss, which lost products expertise when Beth Wilkinson left

— Alison Frankel (@AlisonFrankel) May 3, 2016

Scott Flaherty also pointed this out in the American Lawyer:

Earlier this year, Paul Weiss also experienced a notable departure, as top litigator Beth Wilkinson—who spent part of her time at the firm defending Philip Morris USA Inc. in consumer class actions and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. in product liability litigation—and fellow partner Alexandra Walsh left the firm to start their own litigation shop.

But Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp told Am Law that Bernick’s hiring was not related to Wilkinson’s departure. “We’re in the talent business, and David is a world-class talent,” said Karp.

Congratulations to David Bernick and to Paul, Weiss on their match. Bernick is 61; PW has a mandatory retirement age of 70. Will this be his final professional home before he exits the courtroom for good? Time will tell.

Paul Weiss Poaches Former Philip Morris GC From Dechert [Big Law Business]
Paul Weiss Hires High-Profile Product Liability Litigator [American Lawyer]
Paul Weiss Snags Dechert Partner, Ex-Philip Morris GC [Law360]
Paul, Weiss Adds Renowned Trial Lawyer and Strategist [Paul, Weiss (press release)]

Earlier: Musical Chairs: David Bernick Departs From Boies Schiller
Musical Chairs: Star Litigator David Bernick Joins Boies Schiller
The 2016 Am Law 100: Trouble Ahead?

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David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].