Paul J. Byrne
Commercial Litigation; Labor and Employment
pbyrne@cornerlaw.com
415-357-2094
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Paul J. Byrne is a principal in Cornerstone Law Group’s San Francisco office, where he concentrates his practice on commercial and employment litigation in both state and federal courts.

Mr. Byrne emphasizes providing cost-efficient, pro-active and responsive legal solutions to individuals, businesses and officers and directors involved in disputes arising out of:

• employment
• product liability
• breach of contract/lease
• breach of fiduciary duty
• intellectual property (trade secrets, trademarks, and copyright)
• unfair competition
• federal False Claims Act
• real estate, and
• partnership disputes.

My Byrne’s in-depth trial experience gained over 20 years includes bringing multiple cases to jury verdict and conducting numerous arbitrations throughout California.

Mr. Byrne began his legal career as a criminal defense attorney with Hinkle, Jachimowicz & Pointer in San Jose, California, where he gained valuable courtroom experience in Bay Area federal and state courts. Mr. Byrne turned to civil litigation with the Saratoga law firm Hinshaw, Draa, Marsh, Still & Hinshaw.

While working on a broad spectrum of civil cases, Mr. Byrne developed an expertise in product liability litigation arising out of the Fen-Phen diet drug lawsuits.

Mr. Byrne then joined Lillick & Charles, LLP’s San Francisco office, which later became Nixon Peabody, LLP, where he continued to represent individuals and companies in civil litigation disputes, including defending airline and helicopter manufactures in product liability matters.

Representative matters include:

• San Francisco Zoological Society – retained to provide crisis management and legal advice concerning the Christmas Day Tatiana tiger incident.
• Silicon Valley CEO – achieved complete defense award after lengthy arbitration in case involving breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and misrepresentation.
• Engineer – successfully defended employee from accusations of misappropriating trade secrets from a large pharmaceutical company.
• San Francisco General Contractor – secured substantial settlement in a breach of contract and fraud matter against large out-of-state corporation.
• Bay Area Green Tech company – successfully challenged defamatory statements by large energy conglomerate.
• Project Homeless Connect – General

Mr. Byrne’s community involvement and pro bono work includes having acted as general counsel to Project Homeless Connect (a San Francisco non-profit dedicated to rallying volunteers and creating public/private partnerships to develop lasting solutions to homelessness), participating in the Mississippi Project by assisting Hurricane Katrina victims secure reconstruction funds, and providing the legal work on the documentary film Pursuit of Equality. Mr. Byrne taught moot court to students at Lincoln High School.

As a member of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s transition team in 2003, Mr. Byrne worked on community development issues and continues to be involved in local and state politics.

Mr. Byrne is a member of the San Francisco County and Santa Clara County Bar Associations. He is a member of the California State Bar employment and business litigation sections.

Mr. Byrne earned a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1997. He studied Comparative Torts at Oxford University, Magdalen College, in 1994.