James F. Botana
James F. Botana

Jackson, Lewis P.C. has selected a new leader to run its Chicago office.

The firm announced Tuesday that James F. Botana has been chosen to take the position of office managing principal at the 33-member Michigan Avenue firm.

Along with his knowledge in employment law, Botana — a native of Cuba and Spain — says he is bringing a personal commitment to diversity in the workplace.

Botana, 52, who has been with the firm for 16 years, has a history of working on a variety of labor-related cases. Prior to joining the firm in 2000, he was a prosecutor and a senior attorney in the employment litigation department of city of Chicago’s Office of the Corporation Counsel.

While with the city, he worked on cases involving discrimination, retaliation and national origin, among other issues.

So when he joined Jackson, Lewis, it made sense that Botana would go on to represent the city in a variety of employment-related claims while at the firm.

“That’s what I wanted to do, employment litigation and labor,” Botana said about choosing to join Jackson, Lewis. “This was, in my mind, the pre-eminent firm in the country to do this type of work.”

Representing clients in employment-related cases has been an important part of Botana’s career, but another aspect of labor law he said he enjoys is the “proactive” work, or preventing employers from encountering issues and helping to keep companies out of the courtroom.

“Here, I’ve had an opportunity to develop relationships with clients to serve as an adviser before lawsuits are filed,” Botana said.

“The object of the game is to hopefully keep them out of court and do the right thing. People are trying to do the right thing and are trying to comply with the law and run their businesses … We are here to help them navigate through all of their concerns.”

In addition to being involved in client employment issues, Botana has helped to develop Jackson, Lewis’ diversity committee and co-chairs the firm’s Hispanic-American attorney resource group.

The group aims to help clients with large Hispanic workforces as well as mentor new attorneys at the firm on how to help those clients.

The resource group is a role in which Botana has been able to bring his own personal experience. Botana was born in Cuba and spent most of his childhood in Spain.

While he has Hispanic roots, Botana said he also counts himself as “just as much of a Chicagoan as anything else.” He moved to Chicago when he was 17 and went on to graduate from Chicago State University and DePaul University College of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1992.

The ability to speak, read and write Spanish has been an asset that’s not only been valuable in the legal field in general, but it’s been specifically useful in Botana’s line of work.

He’s been able to conduct investigations, ranging from sexual harassment and discrimination cases to corporate fraud issues, in Spanish, as well as conduct employment-related training in both the U.S. and Mexico for companies with many Spanish-speaking employees.

Aside from his bilingualism, Botana said his background is something he thinks shows his firm is dedicated to diversity, which he hopes sends a message to the next generation of lawyers that there are opportunities for them in the legal field.

“I think it’s encouraging for students to see that firms like ours value diversity and promote diversity,” Botana said. “Not just Latino students, but students from any underrepresented group.”

In his new position, Botana wants to help the firm look to recruit new employment lawyers from Chicago.

“Obviously, I want to continue with the good work of my predecessors and continue to make this a pre-eminent labor and employment firm in the city of Chicago,” he said.

“There are a lot of excellent labor attorneys in Chicago and we hope a number of them start thinking of Jackson, Lewis as a place they want to practice law.”

Jackson, Lewis’ Morristown, N.J.-based chairman, Vincent A. Cino, said Botana was unanimously elected by his peers at the Chicago office for the leadership position.

The firm’s former office managing principal, Jane M. McFetridge, stepped down after nine years in the leadership role but will continue to practice at the firm.

“He’s a gem of a guy, talented, diligent, conscientious and just a nice person. It was an easy selection for them,” Cino said about Botana’s selection by his peers.

In addition to his new role at the firm, Botana was also recently reappointed to a second two-year term on the Illinois State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Botana and his wife, Monica H. Khetarpal, who is also a partner at Jackson, Lewis, live with their two boys, Nikhil and Niyam, in Oak Park.