Paul L. Friedman

Paul L. Friedman (born February 20, 1944) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He serves as secretary of the American Law Institute. Education and career Friedman was born in Buffalo, New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University in 1965, where he was president of the Quill and Dagger society and a member of Zeta Beta Tau. He received his Juris Doctor from University at Buffalo Law School in 1968. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Aubrey Eugene Robinson Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 1968 to 1969, and then for Judge Roger Robb of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1969 to 1970. He was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1970 to 1974. He was an Assistant United States Solicitor General from 1974 to 1976. He was in private practice of law at the firm of White & Case in Washington, D.C. from 1976 to 1994. In June 1984, Friedman was elected to the American Law Institute and was elected to the ALI Council in October 1998. He began his first three-year term as ALI Secretary in 2013. Federal judicial service Friedman was nominated by President Bill Clinton on March 22, 1994, to a seat vacated by Gerhard A. Gesell. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 15, 1994, and received his commission on June 16, 1994. He assumed senior status on December 31, 2009.