Jessica Lobis Buckwalter

Jessica Buckwalter has a broad litigation and arbitration practice focusing primarily on employment and labor law, international disputes, complex financial disputes, and insurance. Her practice encompasses counseling, litigation in federal and state courts and all forms of dispute resolution, including mediation and arbitration. Ms. Buckwalter is committed to providing exceptional client service. She is dedicated to strategic analysis, seeking practical solutions for clients when feasible, and, when not, aggressively litigating disputes to achieve favorable outcomes. She understands that responsiveness and partnering with clients is critical to solid and enduring business relationships. 

Ms. Buckwalter has almost 25 years of experience litigating all types of employment, commercial and civil cases. In her employment and labor law practice, Ms. Buckwalter advises and represents employers in a broad range of employment matters arising under various state and federal laws. She has extensive experience defending management in litigation involving wrongful termination, workplace harassment, retaliation, discrimination, wage and hour issues, defamation, other employment torts and breach of contract. She regularly practices in federal and state courts, and practices before administrative agencies such as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Ms. Buckwalter also frequently advises employers on the multitude of issues that arise under the employment relationship, such as: employee hiring and termination, workplace investigations, litigation avoidance, compliance with EEO requirements, and worker classification. 

Ms. Buckwalter's practice also focuses on litigating all types of commercial disputes, including disputes arising out of complex financial frauds. She has successfully litigated matters involving allegations of breach of contract, negligence, and fraud, including security fraud involving subprime mortgages and structured financial products. Ms. Buckwalter also represents domestic and foreign insurers on a number of significant insurance litigation issues, including asbestos, environmental, health hazard and bad faith claims. 

Through her extensive experience dealing with discovery issues in complex litigation, Ms. Buckwalter has developed substantial knowledge and proficiency in the area of electronic discovery. Ms. Buckwalter provides focused guidance and expertise on information governance and electronic discovery matters to Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss' lawyers and their clients, including providing case and client-specific advice about meeting preservation obligations, addressing "meet and confer" obligations, and attending court appearances that address eDiscovery matters. 

Professional Affiliations

• District of Columbia Bar Association
• California Bar Association
• American Bar Association

• Associate, Severson & Werson
• Judicial Extern to the Honorable Richard Huffman, California Court of Appeal Fourth District

• Representation of Australian hedge fund in multiple actions filed domestically against prominent Wall Street banks and collateral managers stemming from the fraudulent sales of collateralized debt obligations and other subprime mortgage products.
• Represented insurers in coverage litigation in New York against multi-billion-dollar global company.
• Representation of employers in California and Washington D.C. involving claims for discrimination and harassment based on sex, national origin, ancestry, race, sexual orientation, retaliation, defamation, wage and hour violations, and wrongful termination.
• Represented insurers in coverage litigation in West Virginia brought by a large coal mining company.