William R. Paul, Shareholder

EDUCATION:
Brooklyn Law School, J.D., 1973
University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, B.S. in Economics, 1964

PRACTICE AREAS:
Corporate & Securities
Mergers and Acquisitions
Commercial Transactions

Bill Paul has a practice that spans an extensive variety of business transactions and legal proceedings.  He has represented both public and closely held companies, securities issuers, underwriters, broker-dealers, and venture capital investors in mergers, acquisitions, takeovers, business combinations, business sales, securities offerings, compliance activities, and administrative, licensing, and enforcement proceedings.

Bill’s practice includes executive employment and separation agreements and a wide array of dispute resolutions.  He has represented buyers, sellers, joint venture partners, lenders, and investment bankers in various business financing and sale transactions; manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors in a varied spectrum of distribution agreements; and vendors of computer software and radio frequency identification (“RFID”) systems in competing for government contract awards.

In over 45 years of private practice, Bill has represented clients in numerous industries and professions, including computer hardware and software developers; hospitals and medical practice groups; medical device inventors and suppliers, medical product manufacturers and distributors; RFID and other emerging technologies suppliers; real estate syndicators; waste container manufacturers and distributors; casino cruise operators; other motor vessel owners; hospitality and hotel developers; heavy and light manufacturing companies; radio stations and individual broadcasters; food processors and distributors; mortgage lenders, brokers, and bankers; commercial banks and bank holding companies; securities broker-dealers; real estate brokers; insurance brokers; and cellular tower landlords.

His clients also have included not-for-profit business leagues and tax-exempt civic, educational, and charitable organizations involved in environmental protection, real estate, finance, healthcare, and other industries.

Bill practiced law in New York City for 3 years prior to moving to Tampa, Florida in 1979.  He has been a partner in international, national, and Florida law firms during his years in Tampa.  He is a member of the American Bar Association and its Federal Regulation of Securities Committee, The Florida Bar and its Business Law Section, and the Hillsborough County Bar Association, and is an inactive member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Bill was President of the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Association For Corporate Growth from 2000 to 2003 and a Director from 1998 to 2010.  He was a founding member of the Real Estate Investment Council, Inc. ("REIC") in 1983; served as REIC President for two years; and has been a Director since 1983.  He also was a founding member of the Private Directors Association - Tampa Bay.  Bill was a charter member of The Tampa Club and became its first emeritus member.

Bill is AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been included for the past ten years in Florida Trend's Florida Legal Elite and was designated a member of its Hall of Fame in its 2022 edition.  He also is included in Marquis Who’s Who in America 2022-2023 and in its Top Lawyers publication.

Prior to entering private law practice, Bill was a Senior Staff Attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., in its Division of Corporation Finance, for 3-1/2 years.  He is a former arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, The New York Stock Exchange, and the NASD (now FINRA).

Bill earned a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1964 where he was a member of the Varsity Football Team from 1960 through 1963.  He earned a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1973, where he was a member of the National Moot Court Team and the Moot Court Honor Society, and he completed several tax law courses in the graduate tax program at Georgetown University Law School in 1974 and 1975 while working as a Senior Staff Attorney at the SEC.

Bill also is a 1969 graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, which he attended for three years; and he performed in lead roles in several dinner theater productions in Staten Island, New York and is an avid theater goer.