Judge Paul L. Friedman was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on August 1, 1994.  He previously was a partner in the international law firm of White & Case and the managing partner of its Washington, D.C. office; an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States; an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia; and Associate Independent Counsel for the Iran/Contra Investigation.  He was law clerk to Judge Roger Robb on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., on the U.S. District Court. Judge Friedman received his B.A. degree from Cornell University and his J.D. degree, cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo. 

Judge Friedman has served on the Advisory Committee on Federal Criminal Rules of the U.S. Judicial Conference and the American Bar Association Special Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice, and he has chaired the Rules Committee of the U.S. District Court.  He is a Past President of the District of Columbia Bar and was instrumental in founding the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and the Frederick B. Abramson Memorial Foundation.  Judge Friedman served on the Council of the American Law Institute for 25 years and was Secretary of the ALI from 2013-2022.  He is a member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.