Paul Hastings has strengthened its employment litigation offering in New York with the hire of a four-partner team from Baker McKenzie. 

The group comprises Paul Evans, Krissy Katzenstein, Blair Robinson and Jeffrey Sturgeon. They focus on matters including pay equity and human capital, complex Title VII and civil rights, ERISA and employment-related class actions.

Paul Hastings chair Frank Lopez said the group would enhance the firm’s ability “to represent clients at the c-suite and board levels on their most sophisticated and complex matters, including high-profile matters across the employment spectrum”.

At Paul Hastings, the group will work as part of an employment practice that is ranked Band 1 by Chambers and Partners in the US and has worked with clients including Activision Blizzard, AIG, Disney, Google, Meta, Nike and UPS. In New York, the practice is noted by Chambers for its particular expertise in class action litigation and internal investigations. 

The incoming partners told law.com they had often worked across from, and sometimes in conjunction with, Paul Hastings in the past and recently had been advising clients on how the upcoming US presidential election will affect employment law, as well as pay equity and the use of generative AI in hiring. 

The group’s arrival continues a period of aggressive lateral hiring by Paul Hastings, particularly in London and New York, where the firm expects headcount to be up nearly 50% since 2022 to more than 400 lawyers by year-end according to Bloomberg. New York partner laterals this year include Joshua Ratner, who joined as global vice chair of private equity from Goodwin, and public M&A lawyer Timothy Fesenmyer, who joined from King & Spalding in September. 

Fesenmyer’s move reunited him with the 11-partner restructuring, private credit and special situations team that had defected from King & Spalding in June from a number of locations across the US, including in New York. 

Paul Hastings’ ambitious hiring strategy appears to be paying off, with the firm growing revenue nearly 9% last year to a record $1.8bn as rising demand saw it shrug off the post-2021 hangover that affected several of its rivals. Meantime profits per equity partner stood at around $5.4m last year according to data published by American Lawyer. 

A Baker McKenzie spokesperson commented: “We thank Paul, Krissy, Blair and Jeff for their contributions to Baker McKenzie as members of our globally recognised employment and compensation practice. Our employment team provides best-in-class representation for domestic and international employment litigation, counselling and transactional matters. We are committed to serving our clients and growing our capabilities in New York.”