Janet Kwuon
Partner
Reed Smith LLP
Janet Kwuon’s trial prosecutor experience for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office helped prepare her to now lead high-stakes multi-district litigation, class actions and coordinated actions on behalf of her pharmaceutical and medical device company and higher education institution clients, including serving as UCLA’s trial counsel in the Los Angeles Superior Court Coordinated Proceeding, Olympus America Duodenoscope Litigation (JCCP 4885), arising from a high-profile infection outbreak at global hospitals including UCLA.
Kwuon is often one of the few women in the courtroom for these litigations and almost always the only diverse woman. She is currently the most senior diverse woman in Reed Smith’s leadership in the U.S. She also leads Reed Smith’s renowned Global Commercial Disputes group, the firm’s largest practice, and she serves on the firm’s Executive Committee, Global Governing Board (as its first U.S. elected diverse woman member), Diversity and Inclusion Council, Finance Committee, Talent Committee and the Race Equity Action Plan. She previously chaired the firm’s Audit Committee and served as the Los Angeles Office Managing Partner.
Kwuon actively seeks lawyers she can help sponsor and mentor. As lead of the US Commercial Disputes Practice, she has doubled the number of women equity partners. She has also identified and recruited women lateral partners with growing international and US-based practices in other practice areas, including corporate, labor and employment, intellectual property, technology and privacy. Additionally, she has served on the boards of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus. She has also been a member of the Defense Research Institute and the American Bar Association’s Tort and Insurance Practice Committee.
