Overview
Throughout his career, Paul has acted as counsel to leading public and private companies in financial services and to their boards of directors.
His extensive private investment funds practice, an area in which he has more than 50 years of experience, includes the representation of hedge funds, private equity funds, offshore funds, investment advisers and broker-dealers in connection with fund formations and compliance, securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions (domestic and cross-border) and other financial transactions.
Considered the “dean of the hedge fund bar,” Paul serves as a special adviser to the board of directors of the Managed Funds Association (MFA). He is the former chair of the Subcommittee on Hedge Funds of the ABA’s Committee on Federal Securities Regulation and the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Securities Regulation.
Paul is recognized as a leading funds lawyer by The Best Lawyers in America, which also named him New York City Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law Lawyer of the Year; Chambers Global, Chambers USA, IFLR1000, Expert Guide to the Best of the Best USA, Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Banking, Finance and Transactional Law Lawyers, Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, The Legal 500 US, New York Super Lawyers, PLC Cross-border Investment Funds Handbook, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who Legal: The International Who’s Who of Private Funds Lawyers.
He was recently honored at The Hedge Fund Journal Awards for his outstanding achievement in the hedge fund industry. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Hedge Funds Care in recognition of his prominence in the hedge funds industry and his extraordinary commitment to philanthropy. He was named to HFMWeek’s 2010 list of the 50 most influential people in hedge funds.
Paul is a former lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he taught “Responsibility in Professional Services.” of Business. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, where he is teaching “Law and Management of Financial Services Businesses.”
Paul served on the Advisory Board of Harvard Law School’s Center on Lawyers and the Professional Services Industry and formerly served as president and a trustee of the Harvard Law School Alumni Association of New York City.
He is a senior director of the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP and a member of the advisory board of the RAND Center for Corporate Ethics and Governance, and he is a fellow of the New York Bar Foundation and the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Recognitions
- Best Lawyers in America, Financial Services Regulation Law (2026), Private Funds / Hedge Funds Law, 2026
- Best Lawyers – 2013 Lawyers of the Year
- Chambers Global
- Chambers USA
- The Hedge Fund Journal Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Hedge Fund Industry
- Hedge Funds Care Lifetime Achievement Award
- HFMWeek – named one of the 50 Most Influential People in Hedge Funds
- IFLR1000
- Expert Guide to the Best of the Best USA – Investment Funds
- Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Banking, Finance and Transactional Law Lawyers – Investment Funds, Capital Markets, Private Equity
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America
- The Legal 500 US
- Lexology Index Thought Leaders: USA 2025 – Private Funds Formation
- Fellow, New York Bar Foundation
- New York City Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law Lawyer of the Year
- New York Legal Awards – Lifetime Achievement Award
- New York Super Lawyers
- PLC Crossborder Handbooks: Investment Funds
- Who’s Who in America
- Who’s Who in American Law
- Who’s Who Legal: The International Who’s Who of Private Funds Lawyers
- Lecturer, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Spring 2013, “Responsibility in Professional Services”
- Adjunct Professor of Finance, NYU Stern School of Business, Fall 2011 and Fall 2012, “Managing Financial Businesses”
Community
Professional
- Member, Advisory Board, 2010-2018 – RAND Center for Corporate Ethics and Governance
- Adviser to AIMA on US Regulatory Issues, 2008-present – AIMA
- Special Adviser to the MFA Board of Directors, 2009-present – Managed Funds Association
- Chair, Subcommittee on Hedge Funds, 2005-present; Vice Chair, Subcommittee on Hedge Funds, 2002-2005 – American Bar Association
- The Economic Club of New York, 2009-present
- President, 1999-2001; Vice President, 1992; Trustee, 1987-1990 – The Harvard Law School Alumni Association of New York City
- Advisory Board, 2006-2010 – Harvard Law School Center on Lawyers and the Professional Services Industry
- Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience, 2006-2008 – Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
- Legal Advisory Board, 1999-2003 – National Association of Securities Dealers
- Chair, Committee on Securities Regulation, 1989-1992 – New York City Bar Association
- New York State Bar Association
Other
- Member, Board of Directors, 1999-2011 – Citizens Committee for New York City
- Board of Directors, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- Phi Beta Kappa Associates
Credentials
Education
Fulbright Fellowship for Study of Law in the Netherlands, Other
Harvard Law School, JD, cum laude
Harvard College, AB, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
Admissions
New York
Registered Foreign Lawyer (England & Wales)
