Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Business & Commercial Disputes

Partner - Litigation and Investigations

Jean-Claude’s (J.C.) practice focuses on high-profile matters that address some of the most challenging legal issues, including constitutional issues, issues of statutory and regulatory interpretation, jurisdictional issues, preemption, class-certification issues, sovereign immunity, and efforts to obtain and defeat discretionary appellate review. J.C. co-leads the Appellate and Supreme Court Group.

Between private practice and government, J.C. has personally briefed and/or argued hundreds of distinct appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court, various U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, the California Supreme Court, and the California Court of Appeal, including dozens of briefs and 3 arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court and over 100 briefs and 45 arguments before the Ninth Circuit. He regularly writes, speaks, and teaches about the Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit and California appellate practice, and appellate advocacy generally. For example, J.C. is co-editor of Thomson Reuters’ treatise, Federal Appeals: Jurisdiction and Practice, and the lead editor of the Appellate Lawyer Representatives’ Guide to Practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which the Ninth Circuit publishes on its website.

Prior to joining BCLP, J.C. served as the West Coast head of the national Supreme Court and Appellate Practice of an international law firm. J.C. also served as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) and, for four years, as the appellate chief at the Office of the United States Attorney for the Central District of California—the largest and most-populous federal district in the country. In addition to serving as the appellate chief, during his lengthy tenure as an AUSA, J.C. maintained an active district court caseload and was otherwise extensively involved in many of the office’s most high-profile investigations and prosecutions.

For his work before the U.S. Supreme Court, J.C. was recognized in 2014 by Reuters’��The Echo Chamber as one of an “elite cadre” of the 66 “most influential” lawyers practicing before the Supreme Court. In 2017, the judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit selected J.C. to serve as an Appellate Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference – a role in which J.C. studies and proposes improvements on a wide range of matters of importance to the court, including rule changes, alternative dispute resolution, and educational programs designed to aid the court and its district courts in improving the administration of justice. In 2019, the Los Angeles County Bar Association appointed J.C. as a member of the State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee, which evaluates persons whose names are submitted by the Governor for possible nomination to the California Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, and makes recommendations on whether the candidate should be nominated. And most recently, J.C. was elected to be a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers—an invitation-only association of the country’s most-respected appellate lawyers dedicated to advancing the administration of justice and promoting the highest standards of professionalism and advocacy in the appellate courts.

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT & HONORS Top 100 Lawyers, Los Angeles Business Journal (2024) Member, Board of Directors, Constitutional Rights Foundation (2019-present) Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Distinguished Service Award (2020) Executive Office of United States Attorneys Director’s Award for “Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney – Appellate” (2017) PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Fellow, American Academy of Appellate Lawyers Appellate Lawyer Representative, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference Member, Litigation Section Executive Board, Los Angeles County Bar Association Member, State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee, Los Angeles County Bar Association CLERKSHIPS Clerkship, Honorable Harry Pregerson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2003-2004 Clerkship, Honorable A. Andrew Hauk, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 2000-2001