Trial Experience and Recognition	Mediation/Arbitration Experience
Professional Commitment	Community Commitment

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Trial Experience and Recognition

Paul Gutierrez focuses on providing mediation and alternative dispute resolution services in the areas of labor and employment, construction, medical services and commercial disputes. Successful resolutions are facilitated by Paul’s extensive experience as a trial attorney and an arbitrator/mediator.

Paul was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL). The ACTL is one of the premier legal associations in the United States and Canada. Fellowship is extended by invitation only, and only after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and congeniality. Membership in the College cannot exceed 1% of the total lawyer population in any state or province.

He was also elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Membership in this prestigious and exclusive civil trial attorney’s association is by invitation only and is limited to attorneys with significant trial experience. ABOTA has chapters in every state in the country and its national membership is fairly divided between the plaintiff and the defense bars. The Association’s mission is to preserve the right to a civil jury trial while promoting congeniality and civility among trial attorneys and the bench.

Paul has been selected as one of Northern California’s Super Lawyers in a survey conducted among 50,000 attorneys in Northern California. The results were recently published in San Francisco Magazine. In the first of a four phased selection process, practicing attorneys were first asked to nominate the best lawyers they personally observed in action. Each nominee was given a score based on the number and type of votes received. In phase two, an attorney-led research staff reviewed the nominees’ credentials, assigned points based on defined evaluation criteria and verified all nominee data. The nominees were then divided into practice areas and a Blue Ribbon Panel, consisting of the nominees with the most points, reviewed each nominee and produced a positive or negative point total for each. The Final Selection process totaled points for each nominee from the general survey, the research panel and the Blue Ribbon Panel. Final selectees were only those attorneys within the top 5% of all the attorneys in Northern California.

He has also been appointed as a Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court (Pro Tem.) and has presided over jury trials and appeals from prior court judgments. He continues to serve in this capacity and receives regular bench training.

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Mediation/Arbitration Experience

Paul has extensive training and experience in serving both as a mediator and an arbitrator in a wide range of disputes. He received commercial mediation training from the Alternative Dispute Resolution Association and certification from that organization.

As a neutral of the ADR panel for the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD, now The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)), Paul has provided ADR services to the securities industry for over 15 years and has received regular training refreshers from the organization over the years. FINRA is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. It oversees over 5,000 brokerage firms, about 172,000 branch offices and more than 674,000 registered securities representatives. FINRA touches virtually every aspect of the securities business—from registering and educating industry participants to examining securities firms; writing rules; enforcing those rules and the federal securities laws; informing and educating the investing public; providing trade reporting and other industry utilities; and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms.

Paul also served as a member of the Panel of Arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association (AAA), regularly handling construction and commercial disputes. As a member of the AAA faculty at the Mediation and Arbitration Day, he addressed the conference as a panelist for the seminar “Basic Commercial/Construction Arbitration”.

By recommendation and appointment, Paul serves as a mediator for the San Francisco Superior Court’s Early Settlement Program administered by the Bar Association of San Francisco. He also serves on the Early Settlement Program for the Marin County Superior Court, and has successfully settled many matters for both courts.

Paul also serves on the Panel of Mediators for the San Francisco Voluntary Mediation Program, which is also administered by the Bar Association of San Francisco. This voluntary program provides an alternative dispute resolution system that includes mediators volunteering a portion of their time without charge.

He was also a guest speaker on Alternative Dispute Resolution at San Francisco State University and at a roundtable series in San Diego sponsored by the California Minority Counsel Program.

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Professional Commitment

Paul’s professional activities demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the legal community. He has lectured on construction law on behalf of the California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) as part of CEB’s legal education programs. His subjects have included “Mechanics’ Liens and Related Remedies”, “Construction Law: Contracts and Disputes” and “Construction Litigation”. He also lectured on “Mechanics’ Liens” for Practical Law Courses, Inc. and on “California Construction Law” for Lorman Educational Services.

He was a co-author of the legal treatise Premises Liability in California, published by Thomson+West. He also served as a resource consultant in the writing of the CEB practice books: California Construction Contracts and Disputes, California Mechanics’ Liens and Related Remedies and California Lis Pendens Practice.

Paul has also published a number of law review articles on construction law including: "Liability of a Construction Lender Under Civil Code Section 3434: An Amorphous Epitaph to Connor v. Great Western Savings and Loan Association", 8 Pacific Law Journal 1 (1977); "California Civil Code Section 3264 and the Ghost of the Equitable Lien", 30 Hastings Law Journal 493 (1979); and "Commencement of Works of Improvement: This Could Be the Start of Something Big", 17 Lincoln Law Review 215 (1987). These publications have been cited as authority by numerous state and federal courts.

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Community Commitment

Paul served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and as Regional Vice President of the Hispanic National Bar Association. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco and was a representative to the Steering Committee of the California Minority Counsel Program. Paul also served as a Director at Large of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association and was that association’s President in 1998. Paul was also Vice President of the Board of Governors of the Lawyers’ Club of San Francisco.

On a lighter note, Paul was also President of the Lawyer Friends of Wine and continues to serve as Emeritus to that Board. He is also a member of E. Clampus Vitus.

Paul received the Your Honor award for three consecutive years from the Bay Area Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association. He also received the chapter’s coveted Rella Lossy Award in 1998 for outstanding commitment to legal marketing. And, he was the recipient of the 1998 “Hispanic-owned Business of the Year” from the San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

In 1997, Paul created and established “Santa Brings a Lawsuit,” a program during the holidays that collects business suits from lawyers in the San Francisco Bay Area for distribution to homeless job counseling centers. The program has received numerous awards and Paul’s dedication to this homelessness campaign is exemplified by its subsequent establishment in 10 additional cities across the country.

Additionally, he served as Trustee and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Mexican Museum and has served as a Trustee of Dominican University in San Rafael, California.

Paul was with the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam conflict and was an air traffic controller with the Federal Aviation Administration following his Honorable Discharge.

He graduated from California State University at Long Beach and received his Master of Science degree from San Francisco State University. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School.