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Paul Grossman

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP

Specialty: Employment law

Law School: Yale, 1964

If there’s a nasty, high-profile employment dispute involving a major company, odds are good that Paul Grossman won’t be far from the action.

As head of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker’s employment law department, Grossman says he has “seen it all” a reasonable claim given a client list that includes Hughes Aircraft Co., Bechtel Group, Morgan Stanley, Rockwell International, Atlantic Richfield Co., Bank of America and Pacific Bell.

He has worked on more than 40 major cases around the country, among the most notable being Lane vs. Hughes Aircraft. In that case, the jury awarded a Hughes employee $6 million in compensatory damages and his supervisor $3 million, plus an additional $40 million each for punitive damages, in ruling that they had been victims of discrimination and retaliation. The $89 million judgement is among the largest ever awarded for an employment case.

Grossman did not handle that initial case for Hughes, but was brought in to appeal the record-setting verdict. He has already managed to convince the California Supreme Court to review the case. Oral arguments are scheduled to begin early this year.

“This case looks like it will be one of the most important for the employment law sector in a long time,” said Grossman.

Grossman says one of his most “enjoyable wins” was Rubinstein vs. Rockwell. Sy Rubinstein, who had been fired as head of Rockwell International Corp.’s space division, alleged that there had been an implied contract because he had been on the job for a long time. He also alleged Rockwell discriminated against him because he had narcolepsy. Grossman successfully defended Rockwell in five weeks of trial.

Grossman and his team usually get called in after a company has lost its initial trial, and Grossman is charged with getting the verdict reversed.

In addition to discrimination suits, Grossman deals with a number of sexual harassment cases involving some of the country’s top executives. Grossman declined to name any of his former clients. He did say, however, that “I see egregious harassment is still going on. Some people still don’t get it.”

Jessica Toledano

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