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Paul Perkins
Adjunct Faculty

Paul Perkins

Adjunct Professor

Paul Perkins

Biography

A former U. S. Navy deep sea diver and death penalty mitigating evidence investigator, he graduated from the University of Oregon in 1994 (B.A., English and Philosophy; Mortar Board Junior Scholar; Golden Key National Honor Society) and Vermont Law School in 1998 (Trial Advocacy Advisory Board; Best Brief, Thomas M. Debevoise Moot Court competition; moot court team, Texas Young Lawyers Association northeast regional competition, Boston, Massachusetts).

After law school, he joined Griffin & Levine, P.C. and began trying cases in the criminal and family courts of Vermont, then joined Plante & Hanley, P.C. where he practiced insurance defense, insurance coverage, subrogation and bad faith litigation for a Fortune 100 insurer.  He now maintains a diverse practice at Plante & Hanley, involving complex personal injury, False Claims Act, commercial and insurance litigation in the state and federal courts of Vermont and New Hampshire, often against regional healthcare facilities, large insurers and multi-national corporations.  He has tried numerous civil cases to conclusion and is among the handful of lawyers in Vermont who have obtained punitive damages awards that were affirmed on appeal.

He was the chair of the Insurance Law Section of the Vermont Bar Association from 2011 until 2020, where he presented “year-in-review” continuing legal education programs and wrote the Insurance Law Section Year-in-Review program materials from 2012 - 2018. He also wrote Practicing Insurance Law in Vermont, which appeared in the March 21, 2017 issue of Coverage Opinions.

He previously served as a Trustee of The Sharon Academy in Sharon, Vermont, Chair of the Newton School Board in Strafford, Vermont, the Executive Committee of the Orange- Windsor Supervisory Union and other local organizations and committees in Central Vermont and the Upper Valley.

Publications

Insurance Law Section 2018 Year-in-Review, Vermont Bar Association.

Insurance Law Section 2017 Year-in-Review, Vermont Bar Association.

Practicing Insurance Law in Vermont, Coverage Opinions, March 21, 2017.

Insurance Law Section 2016 Year-in-Review, Vermont Bar Association.

Insurance Law Section 2015 Year-in-Review, Vermont Bar Association.

Insurance Law Section 2014 Year-in-Review, Vermont Bar Association.

Insurance Law Section 2013 Year-in-Review, Vermont Bar Association.

Insurance Law Section 2012 Year-in-Review, Vermont Bar Association.

Closing the Circle (co-author, with Michael A. Mello) in America’s Experiment with Capital Punishment (J. Acker. Ed. 1998).

Ted Kaczynski's Diary (co-author, with Michael A. Mello), 22 Vermont Law Review 83 (1997).