A tenacious and results-driven trial lawyer, Paul Leary is known for stepping into the toughest cases, in the toughest courtrooms, when the stakes are highest. For more than 27 years, he has aggressively defended multinational companies in complex, high-exposure litigation, earning a national reputation as the lawyer clients call when a trial must be won—not merely managed.
Most recently, Paul’s reputation as an aggressive and seasoned trial lawyer has led him to be “parachuted” into multiple high-severity trials across the country, including in Pennsylvania, Arizona, California, and Indianapolis. These late-stage trial engagements resulted in defense verdicts in cases carrying catastrophic exposure, eliminating more than $40 million in potential indemnity payments and, through creative and precise offers of judgment, securing fees and costs back to his clients.
Paul has tried and won cases in nearly every major litigation arena, including product liability, construction, transportation, dietary supplements, complex commercial disputes, hospitality, and mass tort and class action litigation. In the past two years alone, he has successfully tried multiple cases in some of the most challenging jurisdictions in the United States. His ability to simplify complex issues, command the courtroom, and connect with juries has made him one of the firm’s most trusted trial lawyers for “bet-the-company” cases.
Paul has secured landmark victories for long-standing clients in the hospitality, transportation, construction, retail, private equity, and manufacturing industries, consistently delivering outcomes that protect brands, reputations, and bottom lines.
Among his notable trial achievements: serving as lead trial counsel for all litigation arising from construction of Pennsylvania’s tallest skyscraper, the Comcast Technology Center; leading Temple University Health System’s medical malpractice trial team; defending high-end hospitality clients in severity cases and resort fee litigation; defending a propeller manufacturer in a three-week trial involving a case of first impression; securing a dismissal for a multinational hotel corporation arising from the bombing of a hotel in Islamabad; obtaining a seven-figure verdict for a terminal owner after an oil spill in the Los Angeles harbor; defending a company facing a $60 million contamination claim involving a hospital sterilization unit; and winning defense verdicts for a national transportation company in a three-week, seven-figure trial and a hospitality client in a claim involving severe TBI to a young child. He has also led mass tort defenses involving dietary supplements and represented private equity clients in high-stakes fraud litigation.
Paul’s courtroom success has led to his appointment as national litigation and coordinating counsel for multiple Fortune 500 companies. He is known not only as a trial lawyer, but also as a strategic partner who understands his clients’ industries and helps them develop risk management protocols, emergency response plans, and coordinated national litigation strategies. He currently serves as national dram shop counsel to a major restaurant conglomerate and as national trial counsel to the largest distributor of interior and exterior building products in the United States.
While his results define his reputation, Paul measures success by the trust his clients place in him. Many of his client relationships span decades—a reflection of his relentless advocacy, responsiveness, and commitment to winning when it matters most.
Paul currently serves as vice chair of the firm’s Commercial Litigation Department and previously sat on the firm’s board of directors. Paul earned his undergraduate degree from Fairfield University, where he captained the hockey team and received the Eastern College Athletic Conference Medal of Merit for excellence on and off the ice. After working as a claims executive at a global insurance company, he earned his J.D. from Pace University School of Law in 1998. He is a graduate of the FBI Honors Intern Program and earned a trial certificate from the International Association of Defense Counsel Trial Academy at Stanford Law School. He is a member of Philadelphia Country Club, the Union League, and Merion Cricket Club.