Paul E. Smith Senior Counsel

Senior Counsel Paul E. Smith serves as a trusted advisor to his clients, counseling on traditional labor law as well as a full range of labor and employment issues. He has extensive experience working on noncompete disputes, major restructurings, and wage-and-hour, disability, discrimination, and harassment matters. Before returning to private practice at Perkins Coie, Paul served as the chief employment lawyer at a global, publicly traded manufacturing company and later as vice president of human resources for the company’s largest business segment.

Since his return to the firm, Paul has handled a wide variety of matters, including leading a cross-border investigation of workplace misconduct, advising numerous organizations on union organizing campaigns, and responding to whistleblower claims under Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). Paul has defended clients against discrimination, retaliation, and harassment claims in federal and state courts, emphasizing early resolution through dispositive motions. Paul has also frequently served as lead counsel in both private and public sector labor arbitrations and in unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board and state agencies. 

During his time as in-house counsel, Paul managed employment, immigration, health, safety, and environmental law matters and oversaw the employment law aspects of numerous acquisitions and divestitures of complex global businesses. From his years leading a global HR team, Paul also gained key insights into the human resources function that informs his current practice. Paul has responded to dozens of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and state agency discrimination charges, achieving dismissal of 100% of charges on behalf of his corporation. He also led investigations of highly sensitive and critical matters, including allegations of misconduct against senior executives and fatal workplace accidents. Paul has extensive experience developing and delivering training to human resources professionals and senior management across a range of employment law topics. 

Paul’s significant cross-border experience includes employment law support for opening a new manufacturing facility in Mexico under the USMCA, negotiations with works councils in Germany, the Netherlands, and trade unions in Italy and Brazil, as well as guidance of collective and individual consultations in the U.K. Domestically, he led contract bargaining with the United Auto Workers (UAW) and five successful oppositions to union organizing campaigns.

In addition to Paul’s robust employment law advice and counseling practice, he is a seasoned litigator. He has served as lead attorney on many lawsuits in both state and federal courts, including four defense-verdict trials. 

Paul served as one of three in-chambers clerks for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before attending law school, he was a management consultant for Bain & Co. in Boston.