Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison is facing a legal malpractice claim brought by affordable housing developer Fairstead, which alleges that the Am Law 100 firm’s advice was irreconcilably conflicted as a result of its connections to the Tisch family — the billionaire dynasty into which former Fairstead co-founder William Blodgett married — causing Fairstead to receive flawed legal advice and suffer damages in underlying litigation, according to a suit filed on 12 June 2026.
Paul Weiss issued a public statement describing the claims as baseless, asserting they misrepresent basic facts, ignore binding court rulings and were brought nearly four years after the representation ended. The firm said it would vigorously contest the allegations.
The background to the claim lies in a prolonged internal dispute at Fairstead that generated multiple court proceedings. Fairstead, which manages approximately $7.8 billion in assets and 24,000 housing units across 28 states, was co-founded by Blodgett alongside Jeff Goldberg, with backing from hedge funder Stuart Feldman. Blodgett, who had married into the Tisch family — his father-in-law is hedge funder Donald Sussman — began sharing confidential Fairstead information with the Tisch and Sussman family offices while planning a competing venture. Fairstead terminated Blodgett for cause in 2021. Blodgett subsequently launched rival firm Tredway.
The dispute generated extensive litigation. Delaware Court of Chancery Vice Chancellor J Travis Laster presided over proceedings involving Fairstead, Blodgett and former employee John Tatum III — awarding Tatum approximately $7.8 million in equity value after finding that Fairstead’s cancellation of his equity interests was made in bad faith. Quinn Emanuel acted as litigation counsel for Fairstead in the underlying proceedings.
Fairstead’s malpractice claim against Paul Weiss centres on the allegation that the firm advised Fairstead during the relevant period while simultaneously advising the Tisch family — who were at that time receiving confidential Fairstead information from Blodgett. The conflict of interest allegation, if established, would mean Paul Weiss owed duties to parties on opposing sides of the same dispute without obtaining a conflict waiver.
For law firm risk and professional indemnity practices the claim raises two compliance questions that every firm management team should be reviewing. First, whether lateral conflict checking procedures adequately capture family office relationships and extended family connections of named clients — the Tisch and Sussman family offices are named in the underlying Delaware proceedings as recipients of confidential information, and any firm advising both Fairstead and those family offices simultaneously faced an obvious conflict exposure.
Second, whether the four-year gap between the representation ending and the claim being filed falls within the applicable limitations period — Paul Weiss’s public statement specifically flags the timing. Law firms with real estate, private equity and family office advisory practices should ensure their conflict screening protocols capture the full network of related entities around named family office clients.