Paul Wagner Bio

Stokes Wagner, ALC PAUL E. WAGNER 903 Hanshaw Road Shareholder and Chief Financial Officer Ithaca, NY 14850 Paul supported himself through seven years of college and law school at [email protected] Cornell University as a bartender at several local bars. That, along with his T: 607.257.5165 love of food and travel, is what ultimately drew him to the hospitality industry as an attorney, and later as an Adjunct Professor at Cornell’s Hotel Education: School. • B.A., Government, Cornell University, Ithaca Paul grew up living in the United States, Canada, Liberia and Kenya, before • J.D., Cornell Law School, returning to the U.S. to attend Cornell starting in 1982. He then worked on a Ithaca refugee camp in southern Sudan (now South Sudan) for three summers during college. Since graduating from law school in 1990, his practice has Licensed to Practice in: been devoted to labor and employment law, primarily representing hotel • Colorado and restaurant management companies and owners. Paul’s international • New York background gives him a unique and valuable perspective in the hospitality industry, which draws its strength from cultural and ethnic diversity. The practice of labor and employment law in the hospitality industry requires as much sociology and anthropology as it does classic legal training, and he remains a dedicated student of these disciplines. He has extensive experience litigating labor and employment cases in federal and state court, private and public arbitration, and administrative agencies including the EEOC, USDOL, NLRB, and numerous state and municipal agencies. Wage & hour class and collective action litigation represents a growing percentage of this work. Paul spends as much time counseling his hospitality clients to avoid litigation as he spends aggressively representing their interests when claims are brought against them, focusing on training, leadership, compliance audits, and organizational design. He designs and implements manager and employee training for clients throughout the United States on the subjects of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, retaliation, leadership and general workplace conduct. He also counsels his clients in matters of traditional labor law, and represent their interests in union campaigns, collective bargaining, and related disputes. His labor practice extends outside the United States to include labor consulting in Canada, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Paul is honored to be an adjunct professor at the Cornell Hotel School, a position he has held since 1998. He teaches Hospitality Business Law, Employment Law for Managers (including discrimination, harassment and retaliation), and Labor Relations in the Hospitality Industry. The synergy between his law practice and his academic appointment the Cornell Hotel School – the premier hotel management program in the United States – is not only professionally enriching, but also makes him a more effective advocate for his clients. Atlanta • Ithaca • Los Angeles • Pittsburgh • San Diego • San Francisco