Michael DePaul is senior trial lawyer, activist and committed client advocate who has been practicing law since 2003. From his early work as a public defender, through more than a decade of civil practice, Michael has dedicated his personal and professional life to fighting for equal justice and civil rights.
From day laborers to doctors, service employees to CEOs, Michael has obtained six and seven figure verdicts for his clients, and he has resolved millions of dollars of cases on behalf of individuals who have been harmed by discrimination, harassment and retaliation or who were wrongfully terminated from their jobs.
Michael is experienced in all aspects of employment and labor law, he has tried and won cases throughout the state of California, and he routinely litigates cases in both state and federal court. Michael also has argued in the California Court of Appeal.
Outside of work, Michael has served as a volunteer attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Workers’ Rights Clinic, and, for the past nine years, he has served as a co-director for the YMCA’s Youth and Government Mock Trial program, a Bay Area after school program that teaches middle and high school students about the importance of jury trials and the art and advocacy required to be a real trial lawyer.
In 1998, Michael earned his undergraduate degree in History and Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2003, Michael received his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. In law school, Michael was a member of the Public Interest Law Foundation and the National Lawyers Guild. He also served as a law clerk at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Before moving to California, Michael ran his own law practice where he represented low-income clients in criminal and family law matters in Madison. In his spare time, Michael enjoys soccer, music, art and literature.