J. Clinton

Pauls ability to earn respect and trust from all sides in difficult negotiations has been recognized by the bar and legal publications. Chambers notes that Paul is a consummate professional who has the ability to work seamlessly and collaboratively to address daunting challenges that arise in complex mass tort litigation. He serves as a key leader of the nationwide litigation against the companies responsible for the U. S. opioid addiction crisis. He played a key role in negotiating and architecting the complex settlements that resulted in over $50 billion being paid to communities across the country struggling with the fallout of the opioid crisis. He has also successfully litigated and negotiated precedent-setting class recoveries in multiple practice areas, including data privacy, antitrust, products liability, and securities cases. Facebook Data Privacy Case - $650 Million: He secured the then-largest privacy class action settlement in history - a $650 million recovery in a cutting-edge class action against Facebook. The case concerned Facebooks use of biometric identifiers through its tag feature, which Pauls team challenged under a new biometric privacy law that had never before been applied in a class action. The federal judge that presided over the case called it a landmark result and a major win for consumers. In addition to the monetary recovery, Facebook disabled the tag feature altogether, deleting 1 billion facial profiles and discontinuing the related facial recognition program. Volkswagen Clean Diesel Case - $17 Billion: Paul was a member of the leadership team representing consumers in the massive Volkswagen Clean Diesel emissions case. The San Francisco legal newspaper The Recorder labeled the group that was appointed in that case, which settled for more than $17 billion, a class action dream team. Epi Pen Antitrust Case - $609 Million: As co-lead counsel, Paul secured a recovery of $609 million for overcharged purchasers of the Epi Pen device in a nationwide class action alleging that the manufacturer and marketer of the Epi Pen engaged in anti-competitive and unfair business conduct in their sale and marketing of the auto-injector device. The American Antitrust Institute honored Paul and the litigation team for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice for this result. Outside the courtroom, Paul is a lifelong martial artist and competitive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter. He previously won the gold medal at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Miami Open and has trained throughout the United States, Europe, and in Brazil. He has served as a training partner for numerous professional fighters, including a former UFC champion. Paul is ranked by Chambers in Litigation: Product Liability - Florida and Litigation: Securities - Florida and is ranked nationwide in Product Liability: Plaintiffs-USA-Nationwide. Chambers cited colleagues who describe him as one of the best plaintiff class action lawyers in the country. His track record has almost no peer. He was named (twice) one of the nations top 40 Under 40 by The National Law Journal and has also been named a Legend, a Leading Litigator in America, a Leading Lawyer in America, a Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer, a Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyer, a Leading Global Litigator, and included in the 500 Global Plaintiff Lawyers guide by Lawdragon; a Plaintiffs Lawyer Trailblazer by The National Law Journal; one of Floridas Legal Elite by Florida Trend magazine; one of Floridas Most Effective Lawyers by ALMs Daily Business Review; and a member of The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 - Civil Plaintiff. Paul is a member of the American Law Institute and has served on the Advisory Board of Emory University School of Law and the separate Board of The Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims at Emory. He is a member of the Trial Law Institute and the Diversity Law Institute of the Litigation Counsel of America. He is also a member of the Supreme Court Historical Society and a former member of the Board of Advisors for the Center on Civil Justice at New York University School of Law. Paul is also an Advisory Board Member to Trial Lawyers of Mass Torts, an organization whose mission is to foster collaboration and education among class action and mass tort lawyers and the judiciary. In these roles and others, Paul frequently lectures on class action and MDL issues at legal and academic conferences across the United States. He is also a member of the faculty of the Mass Torts MDL Certificate Program at the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke University School of Law. Paul is a graduate of the University of Florida, where he was a member of the University Honors Program, and Emory University School of Law, where he graduated with Highest Distinction, served as an editor of the Emory Law Journal, and was a member of the Order of the Coif.