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Paul Schwartz

Arbitration and Other ADR Services

pschwartz@sgslitigation.com
303-530-3452 x 3

To schedule (non-AAA matters only): email amarkert@sgslitigation.com, or call 303-530-3452 x5.

A highly accomplished litigation attorney with nearly three decades of experience representing companies and individuals in complex business disputes throughout the United States, Paul Schwartz brings a deep understanding of all aspects of business litigation and arbitration—from the perspectives of both plaintiffs/claimants and defendants/respondents—to his role as arbitrator and early neutral case evaluator. Paul is a member of the Panel of Neutrals of the American Arbitration Association and a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Dispute Resolution Services arbitrator. He also serves as an arbitrator as a member of the Colorado Bar Association’s Legal Fee Arbitration Committee, is a member of the Arbitration Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section on Dispute Resolution, and handled hundreds of matters as a neutral while serving as a law clerk on the U.S. Supreme Court and a U.S. Court of Appeals.

As a practitioner, Paul has represented plaintiffs/claimants and defendants/respondents in roughly equal measure in a wide variety of complex business disputes involving industries such as energy (oil & gas and alternative), financial services, software, technology development, cannabis, education, food, life sciences, insurance, consumer products, telecommunications, banking, and manufacturing. Paul’s arbitration-management approach is pragmatic and customized to the case, aiming to advance the dual arbitration values of efficiency and party autonomy.

Education

University of North Carolina School of Law, J.D. with Highest Honors, 1992; Editor-in-Chief, North Carolina Law Review; Order of the Coif; Chancellors Scholar

Brown University, Sc.B. (Mechanical Engineering), 1988

Clerkships

Associate Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Harry A. Blackmun (Ret.), U.S. Supreme Court, 1994-95

Circuit Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 1992-94

Litigation/Arbitration Experience

Founding Member, Shoemaker Ghiselli + Schwartz LLC, 2009-Present

Partner and Associate, Cooley Godward LLP (now Cooley LLP), 1998-2009

Associate, Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP, 1995-1998

Professional Associations

Panel of Neutrals, American Arbitration Association

Arbitrator, FINRA Dispute Resolution Services

American Bar Association (Dispute Resolution and Litigation Sections, Member, Arbitration Committee)

Colorado Bar Association (Dispute Resolution and Litigation Sections, Member, Legal Fee Arbitration Committee)

Bar & Court Admissions:

Colorado

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S Courts of Appeals for the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits

U.S. District Courts for the District of Colorado, Northern District of Georgia, Eastern District of Texas

COMPLEX COMMERCIAL LITIGATION & ARBITRATION
Extensive and broad range of experience on complex litigation and arbitration matters up to $6B in dispute, including matters involving fiduciary duties and corporate governance, fraud, commercial contracts, securities, financial transactions, trade secrets, trademarks, employment, fraudulent conveyance, collections, SEC and other regulatory, antitrust, and insurance disputes. Qualified and testified in court as expert witness concerning all phases of fraud/deceptive-trade-practice litigation.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Substantial experience with M&A disputes, representing both sellers and buyers, involving, among other things, merger agreements, asset purchase agreements, stock purchase agreements, LLC membership interest purchase agreements, reps and warranties, earnouts, accounting and valuation matters, make-whole provisions, fraud, interpretation of corporate charters, and business valuation.
COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS/TRANSACTIONS/BANKING
Extensive experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in disputes involving, among other things, manufacturing and supply contracts, master service agreements, technology development agreements, insurance policies, fidelity bonds, non-competition agreements, settlement agreements, exclusivity agreements, commodities options contracts, indemnification agreements, joint venture agreements, software and other licensing agreements, factoring agreements, purchase and sale agreements, and promissory notes.
Substantial experience in banking disputes involving the duties of bank officers and directors, duties to customers, bank fraud, fiduciary bonds, and federal and state regulation of banks.
CORPORATE/GOVERNANCE
Substantial experience in litigation involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duties, conflicts among boards and management, shareholder derivative actions, special board committees, directors and officers insurance, expense advancement and indemnification, corporate approvals, independence and disclosure issues, proxy fights/stockholder votes, proposed corporate transactions, and stock conversions.
SECURITIES
Extensive experience in private litigation (individual and class actions) and regulatory enforcement investigations and actions involving alleged securities fraud; the definition, offer, and sale of “securities” under federal and state law; numerous aspects of the Securities Act of 1933, Securities Exchange Act of 1934, SEC regulations, and state securities acts (“blue sky laws”). Matters concerned oil and gas, real estate, insurance, financial services, telecommunications, food, pharmaceuticals, and other industries.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Substantial experience in litigation involving, among other things, trade secrets (software development, customer lists/client lists), trademarks, copyrights, source code, and other licensing agreements.
CANNABIS
Substantial experience in litigation involving equity interests in state-regulated cannabis companies, licensing issues, financing agreements, fiduciary duties, fraudulent conveyance, and alleged fraud.