Paul arrived in Golden in 2005, along with his wife, Sharon Friedman, and step-son Alex. He is a retired attorney who primarily represented small businesses in a wide array of matters, including representation before the Federal Government. He served on the Appropriations Committee staff of the US House of Representatives early in his career. He was involved in the founding, development and construction of the national memorial to Francis Scott Key in Washington, DC and the rehabilitation of a National Register property in historic Alexandria, VA. He served as Chair of a Fairfax County, VA commission responsible for regulating some of the development within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. He is a graduate of Holy Cross College (AB) and Georgetown University Law Center (JD).