Clients frequently turn to Paula for high-stakes, high-pressure, time-sensitive litigation.
Many of Paula’s cases involve employers and their departing employees, but she frequently defends clients in state and federal class actions that cross practice-area and industry boundaries. Her class action experience runs the gamut from defending employers in employment discrimination suits, fiduciaries in ERISA actions, and insurers and other companies in consumer class actions. She regularly litigates these cases beyond her Chicago home office.
Paula also defends and prosecutes claims on behalf of individual and corporate clients in cases involving fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims, professional liability, and commercial contract disputes. She is often called on to parachute into ongoing litigation to review strategies, develop theories, and draft briefs and pleadings that steer a case in new directions.
Paula spends nearly as much time advising and strategizing with her clients to solve their problems as she does litigating on their behalf. She understands that, virtually without exception, her clients want to avoid contentious disputes and focus on their core business, so her first priority is steering her clients clear of litigation. With an intense focus on her clients’ practical concerns, she works with clients to develop and implement corporate policies and procedures; conducts or oversees internal investigations and analysis of financial and business transactions, as well as internal complaints; manages and coordinates their litigation; and advises them about compliance with federal and state laws and regulations.
The common thread across all of Paula’s representations and client relationships is her exclusive focus on her clients’ practical, business interests. Even more than achieving victories in litigation, Paula relishes the chance to solve problems for her clients.
