THE FOUNDATION'S BOARD

Founding Director

Jerry Neal Paul provides support for mesothelioma cancer treatment.
Jerry Neil Paul

Jerry Neil Paul was born in 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 the University of West Los Angeles School of Law in 1979, and was sworn in as an attorney in 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 Neil Paul took on his first asbestos litigation case in 1986 when local union 250 of the United Association of Steamfitters and Pipefitters in Los Angeles asked for help with their members having asbestosis health issues. Jerry went on to develop a special relationship with the Pipefitters of the Western United States. He now represents all 30 of the Pipefitters local unions in California totaling 30,000 members. He also represents the Boilermakers lodges 549 and 92, the Bricklayers local 4, and well as many members of other allied crafts such as Plasterers, Iron Workers, Electricians, Asbestos Workers, Machinists and Brake Workers. Jerry's work has evolved into a leading law firm in the representation of injured workers. He has also served as co-counsel at trial on multiple asbestos injury cases which resulted in significant verdicts in favor of his clients including a 1989 lung cancer case that the 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 work directed at labor unions, Jerry has 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 a prominent California consumer advocate and innovative asbestos tort lawyer.

Jerry Neil Paul is a member of the California State Bar licensed to practice law. Mr. Paul is licensed to also practice law in the States of Washington and Wisconsin. He was sworn in allowing him to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court. Jerry is a member in good standing with the Consumer Attorneys of California, Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura. He is also a member of the American, California, and San Francisco Trial Lawyers Associations. Jerry Neil Paul is a Former Board Member of Governors for the Consumer Attorneys of California.

Jerry Neil Paul has been appointed as a mediator to arbitrate Manville asbestos bankruptcy claim appeals and serve 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 cancer-cure for mesothelioma.

 

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