Richard Paul

Experienced labor and employment counsel for high-profile institutions and matters

Rich Paul is a leading labor and employment law strategist who works with national and multinational businesses and organizations to build strong and resilient workforces and management teams, manage business risks associated with employees and students, and address disputes effectively and strategically. An accomplished trial lawyer who has been a fixture among California management employment lawyers for over 40 years, Rich and his team focus on:

• Employment disputes
• Discrimination and systemic claims
• Higher education sector disputes

With judgment and vision honed by decades of experience in courtrooms and at the negotiating table, Rich is a highly skilled problem solver and team leader who assesses an institution’s employment challenges and crafts strategies to align with a client’s long-term business goals. He and his team take on the most serious employment disputes and, with care and hard work, deliver optimal results, leading one commentator to call him the “dean of Southern California employment lawyers.”

Rich was a co-founder of Paul, Plevin, Sullivan & Connaughton LLP, which combined with Quarles in 2023.

• High-level policy architect and advisor to research, technology, education, community impact and other institutions in significant disputes and transactions.
• Lead trial counsel to employers in litigation involving whistleblowing, harassment, systemic discrimination, retaliation and compensation claims.
• Lead counsel in labor negotiations and mediation.
• Counsel to complex organizations in high-stakes disputes, including addressing academic, civil rights and constitutional claims.
• Independent investigator for c-suite and faculty-level alleged misconduct matters.

• Lead trial and appellate counsel in university’s successful defense of claimed faculty free speech denial.
• Lead trial counsel in numerous tenure review and student complaint matters.
• Lead trial counsel in constitutional and Title VI religious rights claims.
• Advisor in university campus divestiture and recent systemic gender bias claims.
• Defense jury verdicts for companies in discrimination cases, for medical schools in defamation and credentialing cases, for universities in sports and other termination cases, and similar matters.
• Lead negotiator in symphony collective bargaining negotiations with musicians represented by the American Federation of Musicians.
• Independent mediator in dozens of employment-related matters; extremely high success rate.