Image: Paul W. Cane Jr.

Paul W. Cane Jr.

Senior Counsel, Employment Law Department

paulcane@paulhastings.com

San Francisco

Phone: 1(415) 856-7014
Fax: 1(415) 856-7114

Overview

Paul Cane is a senior counsel in the Employment Law practice of Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s San Francisco office. Mr. Cane represents management in employment matters. His principal focus is major motions and appeals.

Mr. Cane has briefed and argued numerous cases in the state and federal courts of appeals, including the California Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court. He has a special expertise in appeals involving pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Mr. Cane is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the law school at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the California Law Review. Before joining Paul Hastings in 1981, he served as law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

Recognitions

  • Chambers USA, Labor & Employment (2022)
  • Ranked in Band 1 for Labor & Employment in California by Chambers USA
  • Recognized by The Legal 500 for Labor and Employment Disputes (2020)
  • Listed as one of The Daily Journal’s top Labor and Employment lawyers (2018)
  • Honored as "California Lawyer of the Year" for Labor and Employment by California Lawyer magazine
  • Holds a place on the list of lawyers featured in the "Labour & Employment" chapter of The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers
  • Listed in Best Lawyers in America for more than 25 years

Education

  • Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, 1979
  • Dartmouth College, summa cum laude, 1976

Representations

  • Argued and won a unanimous decision in the California Supreme Court for Forever 21 (Baltazar v. Forever 21, Inc. (2016).) The Court enforced the company’s pre-dispute arbitration agreement and overruled several prior court of appeal cases that lower courts had used to invalidate such agreements.
  • Argued and won a unanimous decision in the U.S. Supreme Court for Sprint Nextel (Sprint/United Management Co. v. Mendelsohn (2008).) The Supreme Court reversed a Tenth Circuit decision that had held that trial courts must admit so-called "me, too" evidence: witnesses who would testify that they believe that they, too, were discriminated against by the defendant, but who lack a close factual nexus to the plaintiff and plaintiff’s decisionmaker. (This case was Mr. Cane’s second U.S. Supreme Court victory. The Supreme Court earlier granted review, then ruled in favor of his client, in a disability-discrimination case, Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez (2003).) In Sprint, on remand from the Supreme Court, the Tenth Circuit in 2010 unanimously reinstated a jury verdict in Sprint’s favor.
  • Won a new trial for Lucasfilm in a pregnancy discrimination case, and in the process established the rule that defendants are entitled to a special instruction admonishing the jury not to second-guess the employer’s business judgment.  (Veronese v. Lucasfilm Ltd. (2012).)
  • Persuaded the California Court of Appeal to overturn a $12.9 million verdict initially awarded against a Sun Microsystems subsidiary, in a case tried by another firm. The plaintiff, a commissioned technology salesman, claimed he was owed back wages and had been wrongfully terminated in retaliation for complaining about the issue. The appellate court granted judgment as a matter of law to the defendant, and the plaintiff paid $110,000 in fees and costs to the defendant. (Marx v. Storage Technology Corp. (2006)).
  • Achieved a post-trial verdict reduction, from $18.4 million to $2.4 million, for Safeway, in another case tried by another firm. Plaintiff was a grocery clerk who claimed harassment and retaliation. (Stevens v. Safeway, Inc. (2007)).
  • Argued and/or briefed many well-known precedents in the California state courts (including the California Supreme Court) and federal courts of appeals around the country, including Guz v. Bechtel National, Inc., Turner v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Harris v. City of Santa Monica, Chavez v. City of Los Angeles, Hernandez v. Hillsides, Inc., Rochlis v. Walt Disney Co., Foley v. Interactive Data Corp., Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare Services, Inc., Cotran v. Rollins Hudig Hall International, Inc., Richards v. CH2M Hill, Inc., Department of Health Services v. Superior Court, Green v. State of California, King v. United Parcel Service, Inc., Dotson v. Amgen Inc., and Rhea v. General Atomics.

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    Recognitions

    insights

    Engagement & Publications

    • Co-author of An Employer’s Guide to the Americans With Disabilities Act
    • Editor-in-Chief of Lindemann & Grossman’s Employment Discrimination Law (3d ed.), the American Bar Association’s treatise
    • Articles include "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics: How The Peter Principle Warps Statistical Analysis of Age Discrimination Claims" (The Labor Lawyer); "Mixed-Motive Cases After Costa: Why The Judicial Council Jury Instruction Is Flat Wrong" (Matthew Bender); and "Decades of State Law Got It Wrong" (Daily Journal)
    • Editor-in-Chief of the California Law Review, 1978-79

    Involvement

    • Co-chair of the Paul Hastings Appellate practice group
    • Served as law clerk to Hon. Carl McGowan, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Hon. Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
    • Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
    • Member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers

    Practice Areas

    Litigation

    Employment Litigation

    Appellate Litigation

    Workplace Retaliation and Whistleblower Defense

    Employment Counseling and Preventive Advice

    Employment Law


    Languages

    English


    Admissions

    California Bar


    Education

    University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, J.D. 1979

    Dartmouth College, A.B. 1976


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