Biography
A partner in the Litigation Department and managing partner of the Paul, Weiss San Francisco office, Walt Brown is among the country’s most accomplished trial lawyers and corporate advisors. For nearly three decades, Walt has represented leading public corporations, emerging private companies and individual executives in connection with criminal and regulatory investigations, parallel civil and administrative litigation and proceedings, complex business disputes and high-stakes class actions. He is also highly regarded for his work in crisis management matters and has successfully guided numerous clients through a variety of corporate crises.
Walt has represented clients ranging from multinational Fortune 500 corporations to individual founders and executives in significant government enforcement actions, internal and regulatory investigations, high-stakes business litigations and nationwide class actions. His cases have spanned securities fraud, antitrust offenses, the FCPA, health care fraud, government fraud, trade secrets misappropriation, breach of contract claims and other commercial disputes.
Walt has successfully tried numerous civil and criminal cases in federal district courts throughout the country, as well as in federal appellate courts and in California Superior Court. He is also frequently engaged by public and private companies and audit and special committees to conduct internal investigations.
Earlier in his career, Walt served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, where he tried 20 felony cases to verdict and handled numerous appeals before the Ninth Circuit.
Walt has been recognized by numerous legal industry publications and directories. He was named a “Litigation Star” in Benchmark Litigation’s 2023 guide. The American Lawyer recognized Walt in 2021 among the inaugural “West Trailblazers” for his achievements as a white collar defense attorney. The Daily Journal named Walt to its 2021 list of Top White Collar Lawyers in California, while Benchmark Litigation recognized Walt as its “White-Collar Litigator of the Year – California” in 2020; as a California Litigation Star in 2018; and as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in the United States in 2017. Chambers USA has recognized him as a leading lawyer in the white collar and government investigations area since 2005.
Walt served as President of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers – Northern California Chapter in 2023 and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Notre Dame Law Association and the Notre Dame Law School Advisory Council. He is a member of the ABA Litigation, Antitrust and Criminal Justice sections, and was previously the co-chair of the ABA White Collar Crime Northern California Regional Subcommittee. He previously served on the Executive Board of the Bar Association of San Francisco Criminal Justice Section.