Barbara Brown is the office chair and senior employment lawyer in Paul Hastings’ Washington, D.C., office. She represents employers in the entire range of employment law matters, particularly employment discrimination class actions challenging pay, promotion, hiring and other personnel decisions. In these suits, she has been successful in defeating class certification or winning summary judgment. She also is frequently called upon to defend sexual harassment and retaliation suits or to perform investigations of such allegations, often in the executive suite.

Ms. Brown has defended individual cases that raise the broad spectrum of discrimination and common law tort and contract claims. This includes litigation and threatened litigation by high-level employees and partners in law firms or other professional service firms. She is knowledgeable about the regulations of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and represents contractors preparing for executive order audits, particularly those focusing on compensation analysis. She also advises on employment compliance diagnostics and provides strategic advice on diversity programs and best practices for EEO compliance. 

The Washington, D.C. office of Paul Hastings has more than doubled in size over the years Ms. Brown has led it. She is also Chair of the 25,000 member labor & employment law section of the American Bar Association, and has written and spoken extensively on employment law. She co-authored seven editions of Equal Employment Law Update (BNA 7th ed., Fall 1999), a comprehensive treatment of appellate authority across the field of employment law and litigation, and The Legal Guide to Human Resources (Thomson/West, 3d Rev. Ed. 1996, Supp. 2008).

Washingtonian magazine has recognized Ms. Brown as one of the 50 best lawyers in Washington, D.C. She also has been cited as a leading employment lawyer in Washington, D.C., by Chambers USA 2008, the International Who’s Who of Management Labour and Employment Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, DC Super Lawyers 2008, The Washington Post Best Lawyers, and The Legal Times. Ms. Brown is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and a member of the board of trustees of the Legal Aid Society.

Ms. Brown received a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard University and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School, where she was on the board of editors of the Yale Law Journal. After graduation she clerked for the Honorable J. Joseph Smith, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She is a member of the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate and district courts.