Seminar Partners™

Paul Paton is a Professor of Law and Director of the Ethics Across the Professions Initiative of the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. He became a full-time professor in 2004. Professor Paton spent over a decade in practice, first in the commercial litigation group of Davies, Ward & Beck in Toronto, then as Justice and Social Policy Advisor to the Premier of Ontario, and for six years as in-house counsel to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He teaches professional responsibility, corporate governance, business associations, legal ethics and the legal profession, and ethics for government and public lawyers, and was twice named a Fellow of the U.S. National Institute on Teaching Ethics and Professionalism. Professor Paton’s research focuses on ethics in corporate contexts, legal ethics and lawyer regulation in comparative perspective, and on corporate governance matters. He has been recognized nationally in both the United States and Canada for his contributions to debates on the future of the legal profession and is a frequent media commentator on the role of lawyers in corporate scandal. His publications include articles in the Fordham Law Review (Symposium Edition on Ethics), the ABA Journal of the Professional Lawyer (Canons of Ethics Celebration Edition), the Canadian Bar Review (Special Edition on Ethics), the Stanford Journal of Law, Business & Finance, and other law reviews and journals. He is immediate past Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee. Paul delivers  programs in Canada in association with Seminar Partners including the case-based program Practical Ethics: Real Problems, Real Solutions.