{"id":133759,"date":"2025-09-23T16:43:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T00:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/23\/former-chair-of-top-15-biglaw-firm-passes-away\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T00:43:15","slug":"former-chair-of-top-15-biglaw-firm-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/23\/former-chair-of-top-15-biglaw-firm-passes-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Chair Of Top 15 Biglaw Firm Passes Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have some incredibly unfortunate news to report out of New York, where the former chair of Am Law 100 firm Paul Weiss recently passed away.<\/p>\n

Alfred Youngwood<\/a>, 87, joined the firm in 1964 following a clerkship in the Southern District of New York. While at Paul Weiss, he rose to prominence as a tax attorney, and became a partner in 1970. Later, in 1999, Youngwood became the firm\u2019s first democratically elected chair. After serving for about a decade as chair, he retired to a counsel position in 2009, following a 40-year stint at the firm.<\/p>\n

The American Lawyer<\/a> noted current chair Brad Karp\u2019s poignant words about Youngwood in a firmwide email:<\/p>\n

\n

Karp said that Youngwood was a \u201crole model for me personally, guiding and supporting me throughout my career at the firm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my May 2008 remarks upon being elected to succeed Alfred, I told my partners that I was following in the footsteps of towering giants who loved our firm and that Alfred Youngwood was at the top of that list,\u201d Karp added. <\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

Karp also lauded Youngwood\u2019s tenure as chair of the firm. \u201cNot only did Paul, Weiss become one of the most profitable law firms in the country during Alfred\u2019s decade as chairman, but our culture and dedication to pro bono work, diversity, and associate development all flourished as well,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Karp went on to refer to Youngwood as \u201cone of our nation\u2019s most distinguished tax attorneys and business advisors,\u201d praising him as \u201cbrilliant, endlessly creative and a dogged problem-solver.\u201d<\/p>\n

We here at Above the Law would like to extend our condolences to Alfred Youngwood\u2019s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.<\/p>\n

Alfred Youngwood, Former Paul Weiss Chair, Dies at 87<\/a> [American Lawyer]<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Former Chair Of Top 15 Biglaw Firm Passes Away<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image via Getty)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We have some incredibly unfortunate news to report out of New York, where the former chair of Am Law 100 firm Paul Weiss recently passed away.<\/p>\n

Alfred Youngwood<\/a>, 87, joined the firm in 1964 following a clerkship in the Southern District of New York. While at Paul Weiss, he rose to prominence as a tax attorney, and became a partner in 1970. Later, in 1999, Youngwood became the firm\u2019s first democratically elected chair. After serving for about a decade as chair, he retired to a counsel position in 2009, following a 40-year stint at the firm.<\/p>\n

The American Lawyer<\/a> noted current chair Brad Karp\u2019s poignant words about Youngwood in a firmwide email:<\/p>\n

\n

Karp said that Youngwood was a \u201crole model for me personally, guiding and supporting me throughout my career at the firm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my May 2008 remarks upon being elected to succeed Alfred, I told my partners that I was following in the footsteps of towering giants who loved our firm and that Alfred Youngwood was at the top of that list,\u201d Karp added. <\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

Karp also lauded Youngwood\u2019s tenure as chair of the firm. \u201cNot only did Paul, Weiss become one of the most profitable law firms in the country during Alfred\u2019s decade as chairman, but our culture and dedication to pro bono work, diversity, and associate development all flourished as well,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Karp went on to refer to Youngwood as \u201cone of our nation\u2019s most distinguished tax attorneys and business advisors,\u201d praising him as \u201cbrilliant, endlessly creative and a dogged problem-solver.\u201d<\/p>\n

We here at Above the Law would like to extend our condolences to Alfred Youngwood\u2019s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.<\/p>\n

Alfred Youngwood, Former Paul Weiss Chair, Dies at 87<\/a> [American Lawyer]<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have some incredibly unfortunate news to report out of New York, where the former chair of Am Law 100 firm Paul Weiss recently passed away. Alfred Youngwood, 87, joined the firm in 1964 following a clerkship in the Southern District of New York. While at Paul Weiss, he rose to prominence as a tax […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":133760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Staci-Zaretsky-XmHjkJ.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}