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Paul W. Sweeney, Jr.

Paul Sweeney is a member of the Los Angeles office’s commercial litigation group, where he focuses his practice on handling complex business disputes, both individual and class action lawsuits, involving unfair business practices, false advertising, consumer fraud, trade regulation, privacy violations, civil rights, and violations of various federal and state statutes and regulations. He has also handled a number of employment arbitrations and lawsuits involving claims of discrimination, wage-hour violations, wrongful termination, and theft of trade secrets. He represents clients primarily in the manufacturing, retailing, technology, financial services, food and beverage, medical device, and entertainment industries.

Paul served as a White House Fellow, where he worked for the White House Chief of Staff/Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs. Paul has also served as a volunteer prosecutor for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, Criminal Branch, where he handled misdemeanor jury trials. In 2022, Paul was named by Savoy magazine as one of the most influential African-American lawyers in the United States. He was also named Banking and Finance Visionaries for the Los Angeles Times in 2021 – 2022, Minority Leaders of Influence in 2021 and Most Influential Minority Attorneys in Los Angeles in 2019 by the Los Angeles Business Journal. From 2010 – 2019, Paul was named to the Southern California Super Lawyers list.

  • American Law Institute
  • Hollywood Wilshire YMCA, Board of Directors
  • Public Counsel, Board of Directors
  • Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Board of Directors
  • National Bar Association, Panelist: Addressing the Widening Gaps in Compensation, Development and Promotion of Black Lawyers (2022)
  • Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter: Panelist, The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA): Key Impact Areas (2021)
  • Live with the Supremes: Recap of the Most Important Decisions Impacting Corporations from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2017-18 Term (2019)
  • K&L Gates Webinar: Panelist, Discrimination Law: Workplace Inequalities Are Alive and Kicking (2018)
  • Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter: Panelist, Getting the Most Out of Your Outside Counsel, and Panelist, Inside/Outside Counsel Relationships -- Addressing Issues of Bias (2018)
  • K&L Gates Webinar: Panelist, Consumer Litigation: The Year in Review and the Years to Come - What to Expect in Consumer Litigation Under the Trump Presidency (2017)
  • National Bar Association: Panelist, Attorney - Client Privilege in the Parent - Subsidiary Context (2017)
  • National Bar Association: Panelist, The Current Telephone Consumer Protection Act Landscape & What You Need to Know to Avoid Liability (2016)
  • Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter: Panelist, Effective Use of Social Media in Litigation: Tools, Traps, and Tips (2014)
  • National Bar Association: Panelist, Class Action Strategies (2011)
  • National Bar Association: Panelist, Managing Partner: To Be or Not To Be?; and Going Deep in a Business Relationship: Becoming a Trusted Advisor (2010)
  • Corporate Counsel Women of Color: Moderator, Managing Business Drivers (2007)
  • Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter: Panelist, Multi-State Investigations: What They Are and What to Do When Your Company Is the Subject of One (2006)
  • Minority Corporate Counsel Association: Panelist, Strategies for Aggressively Countering Multi-Plaintiff Lawsuits (2003)
  • CEB: Panelist, Fundamentals of Employment Law (2001)
Additional Thought Leadership Pages
  • "USA Patriot Act," presented at Labor and Employment Law: Challenges for the Financial Service Industry seminar in K&LNG's Los Angeles and San Francisco office, June 18 & 19, 2002
  • “Mountain Man,” California Law Business, April 1, 2002
  • Co-author, “Legal Separation: When Employment Relationships Turn Sour, Can a Parent Corporation be Held Liable,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, April 26, 1999 (Employment Law Supplement)
  • “How to Cut Litigation Costs,” California Lawyer, 1991
Additional News & Event Pages
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