Nancy L. Abell
Paul Hastings LLP, Los Angeles, CA

Nancy Abell is a partner in the Employment Law Department, Los Angeles office, of Paul Hastings LLP. She is the Chair of the Firm's 190-lawyer Employment Law Department. Since joining the Firm, Ms. Abell has worked exclusively in the representation of private and public employers in all aspects of employment law, including class actions; wrongful discharge, discrimination, sexual harassment, whistle blower, and labor-management litigation; Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs systemic cases and affirmative action compliance reviews; unfair labor practice charges and other proceedings before the NLRB; organizing campaigns; labor negotiations; arbitrations; and proceedings before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Fair Employment and Housing Commission, and wage/hour compliance agencies.

Ms. Abell's clients include major financial institutions, retailers, technology companies, defense contractors, manufacturing companies, professional firms, and entertainment companies. She has successfully represented numerous leading national law firms in partner and glass ceiling cases throughout the country and defended members of the judiciary.

Ms. Abell is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and is named in The Best Lawyers in America. She has been recognized as one of California's top few employment defense lawyers in 2004-2006 surveys conducted by Chambers USA, one of the top 14 employment lawyers in the world by The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers in 2006, one of "America's Top 50 Women Litigators" by the National Law Journal, one of America's Top 500 Litigators by Lawdragon.com in 2006, one of California's "Top 100" influential lawyers by the Daily Journal in 2002 and 2005, one of California's "Top Women Litigators" by the Daily Journal in 2002-2006, and one of the "Top 100 L.A. County Super Lawyers" in 2004-2006 by Los Angeles Magazine.

Ms. Abell is a member and past Chair of the Board of Governors of the Institute for Corporate Counsel, a past lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, a member of the Board of Advisors of the UCLA School of Law, and a member of the Advisory Boards of the National Employment Law Institute and American Employment Law Council. She is the author of "An Employer's Guide for Preparing Affirmative Action Programs," co-author of "An Employer's Guide to the Americans with Disabilities Act (1991)," and author of the Federal Contractor Affirmative Action Compliance chapter of Employment Discrimination Law. Ms. Abell has written for several legal and personnel publications and has lectured extensively on a variety of employment matters. She also has presented training sessions for representatives of the United States Courts and the Justices of the California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeals, and the Connecticut judiciary on employment issues.

Prior to studying law, Ms. Abell was the Supervisor of the City of Los Angeles Affirmative Action Unit and a member of Mayor Bradley's Affirmative Action Task Force and Advisory Committee on the Status of Women.

Ms. Abell graduated first in her class from Pitzer College of the Claremont Colleges in 1972. She graduated Order of the Coif and Order of the Barristers from the UCLA School of Law in 1979. While there, Ms. Abell was co-winner of the Roscoe Pound Moot Court Competition, a member of the National Moot Court Team and an extern clerk to the Honorable Shirley Hufstedler, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.