Kwame Manley, left, and Robert Luskin, right, of Paul Hastings.

Describe your firm's approach to litigation and your strategy for building successful teams for trials or other matters. Our strategy is simple: We listen to our clients, understand their objectives and provide them with the highest quality legal services of any law firm worldwide. We staff our matters with the best lawyers with the most significant experience in achieving great results. Regardless of geography or practice area, we always put the best team on the field. That includes diverse lawyers working collaboratively across our 20-plus offices.

Discuss the two biggest white collar litigation cases your firm worked on in 2019 and how you reached successful outcomes. Bob Luskin and Kwame Manley represented Gordon Sondland, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union, in the high-profile impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. Our work involved one of the most challenging representations in connection with the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry. As with other congressional investigations, we interacted frequently with the White House and multiple agencies. With 30 million viewers watching, we advanced our client's interests in what was considered a pivotal moment of the impeachment proceedings.

For British Arab Commercial Bank, we negotiated one of the most successful [Office of Foreign Assets Control] resolutions. With regulators seeking a $228 million penalty, we persuaded OFAC to reduce its demand by 98% to $4 million—without admission of liability. It was one of the most remarkable OFAC settlements ever.

What are the most challenging and satisfying aspects of your work in litigation? Multijurisdictional investigations are the most challenging aspect of our practice. We have to balance competing laws and interests of multiple authorities. We have used our extensive experience in this area to achieve successful resolutions for several of our most significant [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act] matters, including Alstom, TechnipFMC, SBM and Airbus. The most satisfying matters are those in which we formulate an effective global strategy that yields optimum results. The stakes are always high, and our clients rely on our judgment, experience and expertise to help them through difficult periods.

What is the most important piece of advice you'd share with young lawyers? Listen carefully to your client. Understand what the client needs. Remember this is their case, not yours. Make sure you are singularly focused on exceeding their expectations every day. If you are not the best lawyer they have ever had, you are not working hard enough.

Responses submitted by Kwame Manley, global chair of Paul Hastings's investigations and white collar practice, and Robert Luskin, a litigation partner at the firm. Manley also currently serves as the Department of Justice-appointed monitor for Panasonic Avionics Corp. Luskin is among the nation's most highly-regarded litigators, he wrote. He has represented individuals and companies in the most sensitive, high-profile matters over the past 30 years.

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