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Paul is Certified as a Business Bankruptcy Specialist by the American Board of Certification. He was a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee for 13 years, and has published several articles and two book chapters pertaining to bankruptcy law. He has lectured on bankruptcy to lawyers, bankers, businessmen and conventioneers. He is experienced in Chapter 11 business reorganizations as well as commercial Chapter 7 liquidations. He also handles consumer Chapter 7's and 13's in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland. He represents commercial banks and other creditors as well as debtors. He has written and counseled on asset protection. With prior experience in crisis management as a corporate officer, he is attuned to business rescue techniques and non-bankruptcy resolutions of financial problems.
Paul is the editor of a practice manual, Real Estate Practice in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, formerly published by the Bar Association of the District of Columbia. The book has been a best seller for local practitioners since 1995. He is the author of a variety of articles on real estate law and has taught real estate courses to his fellow lawyers, Realtors™, and bank officials. He has written or been responsible for the creation of standard real estate forms and contracts sold and used in the area.
A prior attorney with HUD, he has dealt with apartments, condominiums, cooperatives, commercial leases, construction contracts, easements, and a myriad of related disputes. He worked as an Operations Manager, building and marketing low rise and high rise apartments in the 1960's. He has also sold real estate in Virginia and Maryland.
Probate, will contests, estate planning, wills, trusts, conservatorships, and guardians.
On behalf of the Council for Court Excellence, Paul worked to reform the Probate Court and lobbied successfully to introduce the Uniform Probate Code and unsupervised probate into the District of Columbia. He has written and lectured in the field and handles estates in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. His articles on Asset Protection and Estate Planning are on this web site.
Paul has experience in cases involving real estate, foreclosures, constititutional issues, clouds on title, fraudulent conveyances, title disputes, leases, arbitribility, ground leases, condominiums, cooperatives, sales contracts, legal ethics, fraud, contracts of all sorts including TV documentaries, divorce, custody, tax liens and serious personal injury.
He began his career with criminal cases and courts martial, and was involved with the defense of three murder cases.
Arbitration, mediation, and case evaluation.
Paul is active as an arbitrator with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA, the new NASD and NYSE SRO) and was on the American Arbitration Association (AAA) panel of arbitrators for over 30 years. He has mediated at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for a number of years. He continues to do private mediation and case evaluation. With experience in financial crisis management, he enjoys business workouts and rescue techniques to avoid bankruptcy.
Pearlstein v. U.S. Small Business Admin., 231 U.S.App.D.C. 250. (1983) (Established that a District of Columbia sales tax lien [or other state lien] may take priority over a non-governmental federal lien.)
In Re Magwood, 251 U.S.App.D.C. 389. (1986) (Established that a bankruptcy sale of real estate free and clear of liens is final and cannot be upset by a later attack whether with or without merit. The case also concerned whether the bankruptcy court, as an Article I court could have the powers of either civil or criminal contempt because of the constitutional separation of powers between the Congress (Article I of the Constitution of the United States) and the Judicial Powers (Article III). Unfortunately, the final opinion avoided this question because it was not required to resolve the main question before the court.)
Smith v. Tippett, 569 A.2d 1186. (D.C.App. 1990) (A 50 year old solid brick wall intruding over property lines was considered to be hostile for the purpose of acquiring title by adverse possession.)
Iannucci v. Pearlstein, 629 A.2d 555. (D.C.App. 1993) (Failure to answer a suit in a timely manner may not justify a default judgment in this jurisdiction.)
In Re Estate of Lizzie Wilson, DC App No 05-PR-428 (2007). (An attorney may be paid by a private party with non estate funds without prior court approval.)
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