Berger Montague is pleased to announce that F. Paul Bland, Jr. is joining the firm as a shareholder effective on July 15, 2024. For the last ten years, Paul served as the Executive Director at Public Justice, a national legal advocacy nonprofit organization, overseeing the organization’s litigation and other advocacy, as well as operations and finances. For the seventeen years before that, Paul was a Senior Attorney at Public Justice, handling appellate and other litigation at the organization.
Paul will work at Berger Montague’s Washington, D.C. office, and will also join shareholder Josh Davis in co-chairing and growing the firm’s in-demand plaintiffs’ appellate and complex briefing practice area, as well as apply his expertise and experience to cases across multiple practice areas. Berger Montague’s appeals and complex briefing department is now open for business to plaintiffs’ lawyers and clients who wish to add to their counsel teams the highest caliber of service in high value cases, to handle drafting and oral advocacy in trial and appellate courts across the country, particularly when faced with make-or-break issues, motions, or appeals. The firm offers a variety of flexible pricing options to lawyers who wish to bring Paul and Josh onto their litigation teams.
Paul has argued and won more than 40 cases that have led to reported decisions for consumers, workers, or other aggrieved claimants. Paul has also successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Home Depot, U.S.A. v. Jackson, 139 S. Ct. 1743 (2019), an important case about the jurisdiction of federal courts over certain class actions and other cases. For his work before the Supreme Court, he was honored as a co-winner of the National Civil Justice Institute’s Appellate Advocacy Award. Paul has handled numerous successful challenges to forced arbitration clauses, and he has also represented clients seeking to defeat federal preemption of state laws. He has argued and won cases in six of the U.S. Courts of Appeal and at least one decision in the high courts of nine different states.
During his tenure as Executive Director at Public Justice, the organization doubled in size, greatly expanding its litigation docket and other advocacy. Under his leadership, the group revamped its strategic direction to increase its impact and success on important issues, including civil rights, access to the courts, environmental justice, unfair discrimination and treatment, and much more. Paul also oversaw the organization’s financial management, putting it on a sound footing for future growth.
“I am extremely excited to be joining Berger Montague,” Paul said. “Not only are they doing some of the most significant and important work of any plaintiffs’ firm in the country across multiple practice areas, but I have gotten to know a number of the firm’s principals over the years, and they are both brilliant lawyers and wonderful people whose values align with mine.”
Eric L. Cramer, the Firm’s Chair, added: “We are thrilled to have one of the most well-known and respected plaintiff-side lawyers and advocates in the country joining our firm. Paul’s unique experience and talents will expand our firm’s ability to assist clients and classes across our diverse docket of cases and across multiple practice areas.”
Other recognition of Paul’s work includes being the recipient of the National Consumer Law Center’s Vern Countryman Award, which “honors the accomplishments of an exceptional consumer attorney who through the practice of consumer law has contributed significantly to the well-being of vulnerable consumers.” Paul also won this award in 2016 for his successful argument in Chen v. Allstate (9th Circuit), involving offers of judgment. In addition, he was the recipient of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition’s “Legal Champion Award;” is a two-time winner of the Maryland Trial Lawyer of the Year; and co-winner of the San Francisco Trial Lawyer of the Year. Paul has testified in both houses of Congress several times, several state legislatures and administrative agencies, and has been quoted in more than 100 periodicals throughout the country. He has also presented at more than 100 continuing legal education or professional conferences in more than 25 states.
Before joining Public Justice in 1997, Paul worked for six and a half years with the Law Office of Kieron Quinn and Quinn Ward & Kershaw in Baltimore, handling consumer and toxic tort class actions and defending libel suits. Before that, he was Nominations Counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Berger Montague PC is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms focusing on complex civil litigation, class actions, and mass torts in federal and state courts throughout the United States. The firm is active in the fields of antitrust, commercial litigation, consumer protection, defective products, environmental law, employment law, securities, and whistleblower cases, among many other practice areas. For over 54 years, Berger Montague has played lead roles in precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $60 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and Wilmington.
