Profile: Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP

Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP - Who's Who Legal '70'

What is the Who's Who Legal '70'?

LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker has a strong claim to be the leading firm worldwide for management labour and employment work. Three of the 10 Paul Hastings partners we identify for that chapter appear in the short list of the practice area’s elite, including one of the most nominated practitioners: Paul Grossman (“outstanding” and “top-notch, particularly in employment discrimination”). Nancy Abell and Barbara Brown also appear among the most highly regarded individuals overall. Abell is also based in Los Angeles office and is chair of the firm’s 200-lawyer employment law department, she has a reputation as “a very strong and very prominent” practitioner. Brown also “deserves to be on the list, no question”, and is fêted for her “brilliant and broad employment practice”.

Zachary Fasman is chair of the New York office’s employment law department. New York is also home to the “outstanding” Erika Collins – she chairs the firm’s international employment law practice group and is “extremely internationally minded”. Geoffrey Weirich in Atlanta earned plaudits for his “sophisticated practice”. His colleague in Georgia John Wymer is another “leader in the field”.

Paul Cane chairs the firm’s appellate practice group and represents management with “tremendous conviction and gusto”. Kirby Wilcox also in the San Francisco office is “great” at both litigation and counselling. London’s Christopher Walter “complements the firm’s strength in the US”. Walter chairs Paul Hastings’ London employment law practice group and comes recommended by clients and peers.

IMMIGRATION, FRANCHISE AND REAL ESTATE
All three corporate immigration experts to appear are based in the Atlanta office. Daryl Buffenstein chairs the national immigration group. He was variously described as “one of the best”, “well-known” and “very strong”. A past president and general counsel of AILA, Buffenstein is joined by the “extremely competent” Deborah Marlowe and “exceptional” Karen Koenig.

Paul Hastings’ franchise group was also universally lauded and three highly nominated practitioners feature. Atlanta-based Richard Asbill was described as “superb”; his peers complimented his “highly impressive” aptitude for complex transactions and international work. Andrew Scott is a member of the ABA’s forum on franchising and chairs the international franchising committee of the IBA; his “fabulous technology practice” was also noted. The firm’s third representative is based in Los Angeles. The “excellent” Michael Lindsey was praised for his technology-oriented practice.
The New York office provides both entries in the real estate chapter. Martin Edelman is regarded as “fabulous”, and Robert Wertheimer is recognised for both his international and domestic practice.

FINANCE, CORPORATE AND OTHER AREAS
Recent lateral hires have bolstered the firm’s presence in two other chapters. John Douglas joined from Alston & Bird LLP in 2007; he divides his time between the Atlanta and Washington, DC offices. Douglas is reportedly “a regulatory genius” and a “highly-esteemed lawyer” in the banking sector. The firm also appears in the aviation chapter thanks to the December 2007 combination with Frankfurt firm Smeets Haas Wolff. Peter Smeets’s asset finance work was recommended to us.

Dominique Borde, chair of the Paris and Brussels offices, appears in the commercial litigation chapter, while the French research also identifies corporate tax expert Allard de Waal and leading M&A expert Luc Saucier. Described as “highly respected”, our corporate sources were effusive in their praise: “Saucier is my number one choice for any complex corporate legal matter in the Francophone world,” said one.

The five remaining partners are all based in the US. Lawrence Barcella Jr is “one of the deans of the bar in DC” and among the most highly regarded business crime defence lawyers worldwide. Also from the capital, Hamilton Loeb heads the firm’s practice in international trade, safeguard proceedings, economic sanctions, and export controls on advanced technologies, and his clients include the governments of China and the province of Quebec.

Paul Harner from the Chicago office is “extremely well known and equally well regarded”, and earns a place in the insolvency and restructuring chapter. In California, Siobhan McBreen Burke appears in the private funds chapter and was variously described as “outstanding”, and “unbelievably great”. Douglas Olson in San Diego features in the patent chapter and brings “a fantastic reputation” with him.