John Buretta is the global co-chair of the Paul Hastings Litigation Department and is based in the firm’s New York office.  Described by clients as a “powerhouse” and “an absolute star,” John is an internationally recognized litigator who handles bet-the-company disputes, corporate crises and investigations. 

Lawdragon has named John a national “Legend” and selected him as one of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” “500 Leading Global Litigators” and “500 Global Leaders in Crisis Management,” among others.  Benchmark Litigation has honored him as a “National Star” and New York “Litigation Star.”  Legal 500 US describes John as having “the ear of both the U.S. authorities and client boards,” and notes that his work “showcases his ability to get results under intense scrutiny” and that he has a “knack for seamlessly coordinating with international teams” in cross‑border matters.  Clients further describe John as “a trusted adviser in high‑stakes cases,” “calmness personified,” “a great strategic mind” and possessed of “exceptional problem‑solving abilities."  He also has been recognized on Securities Docket’s “Enforcement Elite” list of the best securities enforcement defense counsel in the industry and named to The Ethisphere Institute’s list of “Attorneys Who Matter” as a “Top Gun.”

John has represented public and private companies, boards of directors and audit committees, senior executives and general counsels in consequential matters in many industries, such as aerospace, automaking, autonomous vehicles, banking, consumer products, energy, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and technology.  His cases have included materially significant disputes involving antitrust laws, securities laws, accounting standards, transportation regulations, money laundering and anti-money laundering controls, trade sanctions and export controls, manufacturing integrity and product recalls, the False Claims Act, tax compliance and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

In recognition of his ability to master technical detail and develop clear strategy, the Department of Transportation selected John to monitor and enhance the automotive industry’s multiyear nationwide recall of Takata ammonium nitrate airbag inflators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration described the recall as the largest and most complex in U.S. history.

John brings to his decades-long practice as a prominent law firm litigator his additional experience as a former Department of Justice senior official. He served for over a decade in the DOJ, first as a lead trial prosecutor in New York and later as a senior official in the Criminal Division in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw nearly 600 prosecutors handling the department’s most complex criminal matters involving corporate fraud, FCPA, insider trading, healthcare fraud, money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act violations, trade sanctions, asset forfeiture, cybercrime, intellectual property theft and public corruption.

John received a B.A. in 1993 from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1996, he received a J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he earned the Edward Allen Tamm Award and was editor‑in‑chief of the Georgetown Law Journal’s “Annual Review of Criminal Procedure.” He clerked for the Honorable Peter K. Leisure of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

• Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. (cum laude), 1996
• University of California, Berkeley, B.A., 1993