OUR BOARD

Jerry Neil Paul

Founding Board Member

Jerry Neil Paul, Esq. - Founding Board Member

Jerry Neil Paul was born on May 1, 1954, and grew up in Los Angeles. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Accounting from Cal State University at Northridge in 1975, received his law degree from San Fernando Valley College of Law in 1979, and was sworn in as an attorney on December 6th, 1980. Jerry's affiliation with and interest in helping union members began while working his way through Cal State Northridge as a card paying Teamster member, loading and unloading boxes for United Parcel Service.

While still in law school, Jerry worked full time in benefits and estate planning for Equitable Life Insurance, then became the sole proprietor of his own insurance brokerage business. After he passed the bar he started a law practice in Los Angeles and ran it alongside his insurance business for several years. In 1985 he sold his insurance business and devoted himself full time to the law and representing the seriously injured.

Jerry took on his first asbestos litigation case in 1986, when local union 250 of the Steamfitters and Pipefitters of the United Association, Los Angeles, asked for help for their members who had asbestosis. Jerry went on to develop a special relationship with the Pipefitters of the Western United States. He now represents all 30 of the Pipefitters locals in California, totaling 30,000 members, as well as Boilermakers lodges 549 and 92, Bricklayers local 4, and has represented many members of other allied crafts such as Plasterers, Iron Workers, Electricians, Asbestos Workers, Machinists and Brake Workers. In so doing Jerry founded what has become a leading firm in the representation of injured workers. In addition, Jerry has served as co-counsel at trial on multiple asbestos injury cases, resulting in significant verdicts for his clients, including a 1989 lung cancer case in which a jury found an asbestos product to be a defective under the Consumer Expectation Test, a theory of liability which has now become a standard in asbestos litigation.

As part of his union directed efforts, Jerry has also made a special effort to keep members and retirees informed about occupational illnesses caused by various toxic substances to which they may have been exposed during their careers. He has become known as one of California's prominent and innovative asbestos tort lawyers and consumer advocates.

Jerry Neil Paul is a member of the State Bar of California; also, Jerry was sworn in allowing him to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ventura; and the American, California, and San Francisco Trial Lawyers Associations. Jerry is also on the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of California.

He has been appointed as a mediator to arbitrate Manville asbestos bankruptcy claim appeals and serves as an arbitrator for the Eagle Pitcher Industry Bankruptcy Victims Trust Fund. Jerry is a Fellow of The Roscoe Pound Institute, a legal think tank dedicated to the cause of promoting access to the civil justice system. He has been accepted as a Life Member of the National Register of Who's Who for his work on asbestos litigation and for co-founding the Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America, which supports medical research dedicated to finding a cure for Mesothelioma.

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