Paul J. Geller

Paul Geller has obtained substantial recoveries for defrauded consumers and investors, and has received numerous awards for his work in class action litigation.

Paul Geller, Managing Partner of the Boca Raton, Florida office, is a Founding Partner of the Firm, a member of its Executive and Management Committees and head of the Firm’s Consumer Practice Group. Geller’s 23 years of litigation experience is broad, and he has handled cases in each of the Firm’s practice areas. Notably, before devoting his practice to the representation of consumers and investors, he defended companies in high-stakes class action litigation, providing him an invaluable perspective. Geller has tried bench and jury trials on both the plaintiffs’ and defendants’ sides, and has argued before numerous state, federal and appellate courts throughout the country.  

Geller was selected to serve in a leadership position on behalf of consumers in the massive Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Emissions case. This notable appointment came after a record-setting application process in which over 150 attorneys sought the court’s designation as a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee. The San Francisco legal newspaper The Recorder labeled the group that was ultimately appointed, including Geller, a “class action dream team.” Along with the committee and government agencies, Geller reached a series of settlements on behalf of purchasers, lessees and dealers that total well over $17 billion, the largest settlement in history, concerning illegal “defeat devices” that Volkswagen installed on many of its diesel-engine vehicles.  

Other noteworthy recent successes include a $265 million recovery against Massey Energy in In re Massey Energy Co. Sec. Litig., in which Massey was found accountable for a tragic explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Geller also secured a $146.25 million recovery against Duke Energy in Nieman v. Duke Energy Corp., the largest recovery in North Carolina for a case involving securities fraud, and one of the five largest recoveries in the Fourth Circuit.

Additionally, Geller was the lead counsel in Kehoe v. Fidelity Fed. Bank & Trust, one of the country’s first cases alleging a class-wide privacy violation, settling the case for a $50 million recovery in addition to enhanced privacy protections. More recently, he was one of the lead counsel in the Sony Gaming Networks Data Breach litigation, which resulted in significant monetary recovery and other benefits to class members. Geller was also instrumental in resolving a case against Dannon for falsely advertising the health benefits of yogurt products.

Geller has been rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell (the highest rating available), twice named one of the nation’s top “40 Under 40” by The National Law Journal, and has been named one of “Florida’s Top Lawyers” by Law & Politics and South Florida Business Journal. He has also been named a Leading Lawyer in America by Lawdragon, one of Florida’s “Legal Elite” by Florida Trend magazine and one of “Florida’s Most Effective Lawyers” by American Law Media’s Daily Business Review.

Featured Seminars & Speaking Engagements

• Emory Law Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims, Federal Judicial Center/Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Conference: “Fairness Determinations: Pitfalls and Challenges in Class Settlement”; Atlanta, Georgia; December 14, 2016
• The Duke Law Center for Judicial Studies, Class-Action Settlement Conference: “Compensation of Objectors”; San Diego, California; October 6-7, 2016
• LSI’s Automobile Class Actions with Global Ramifications: “Volkswagen Emissions Scandal:  So What Kind of Case is This Anyway?”; New Orleans, Louisiana; December 2, 2015
• ValueEdge Advisors’ 2015 Public Funds Forum: “Playing to Win: Lessons on Teamwork and Leadership,”  Presentation with Shaquille O’Neal; Laguna Beach, California; September 9, 2015
• Institute for Law & Economic Policy’s 19th Annual Symposium: “Multi-Jurisdiction Litigation – State, Federal & Foreign,”  Co-Panelist with Judges Shira Scheindlin and Leo Strine, Jr.; Naples, Florida; April 12, 2012

Individual & Firm Honors & Awards

• Rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell
• Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) Proven Trial Lawyers
• Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers®, 2018

• Best Lawyer in America, Best Lawyers®, 2017-2018

• Attorney of the Month, Attorney At Law, 2017

• Leading Lawyer in America, Lawdragon, 2006-2007, 2009-2017
• Featured in “Lawyer Limelight” series, Lawdragon, 2017
• Selected as one of Florida’s top lawyers in Class Action & Mass Torts by Super Lawyers, 2007-2017
• Recommended Lawyer, The Legal 500, 2016
• Selected as a Top Rated Lawyer, South Florida’s Legal Leaders, Miami Herald, 2015
• Litigation Star, Benchmark Litigation, 2013
• Featured as one of Florida’s “Legal Elite” in Florida Trend magazine, 2003, 2006
• Named one of “Florida’s Most Effective Lawyers” in the Class Action category by American Law Media, 2006
• Featured as one of Florida’s top lawyers in South Florida Business Journal, 2006
• Selected as one of the nation’s top “40 Under 40” by The National Law Journal, 2002, 2005
• Band 1 Law Firm, Chambers USA, 2010-2017
• Top Plaintiff Firm, Benchmark Litigation, 2010-2017
• Top-Tier Plaintiffs’ Firm, The Legal 500, 2010-2017
• Tier 1 Firm, “Best Law Firms,” U.S. News – Best Lawyers®, 2013-2017
• Practice Group of the Year, Law360, 2015-2016

• Selected as the Securities winner, Elite Trial Lawyers, The National Law Journal, 2016

• Elite Trial Lawyers, The National Law Journal, 2014-2016
• Most Feared Litigation Firms, BTI Consulting, 2014-2015
• Most Feared Plaintiffs’ Firm, Law360, 2013-2015
• Plaintiffs’ Hot List, The National Law Journal, 2004-2009, 2011, 2013-2014

Featured Articles & Case News

• Carlos Harrison, Where Pit Bulls Fear to Tread: Anywhere Near Attorney Paul Geller, Florida Super Lawyers Mag. (June 2009), http://www.superlawyers.com/florida/article/Where-Pit-Bulls-Fear-to-Tread/df6258d4-73ab-4c28-8479-d02d07162180.html
• David Wilkening, Paul Geller: Ultimate Fighter, Boca Life Mag., Jan. 2007, at 50-51
• Jim McCormick & Maryann Karinch, Business Lessons from the Edge: Learn How Extreme Athletes Use Intelligent Risk Taking to Succeed in Business 189-192 (McGraw-Hill 1st ed. 2009)
• HSBC Faces $2.46 Billion Judgment in Securities Fraud Case, The New York Times (Oct. 17, 2013), http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/business/hsbc-is-fined-2-46-billion-in-securities-fraud-case.html
• Ed Silverman, Pfizer to Pay $400M to Settle Shareholder Suit Over Off-Label Marketing, The Wall Street Journal (Jan. 27, 2015), http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2015/01/27/pfizer-to-pay-400m-to-settle-shareholder-suit-over-off-label-marketing/
• Institutional Shareholder Services Top 50 Report, May 2015 (ranking Robbins Geller #1 in both the total amount and number of class action recoveries for 2014)
• C.N.V. Krishnan, et al., Who are the Top Law Firms? Assessing the Value of Plaintiffs’ Law Firms in Merger Litigation, Am. L. & Econ. Rev. (Fall 2015) (objectively ranking Robbins Geller as the top law firm out of 336 firms that settled M&A cases in Delaware between 2003 and 2012)

Practices

Education

Emory University School of Law, J.D., 1993, with Highest Distinction

• Editor, Emory Law Journal
• Order of the Coif Legal Honor Society
• Awarded multiple American Jurisprudence Book Awards for earning the highest grade in the school in a dozen courses

University of Florida, B.S., 1990, Psychology

• Member, University Honors Program

Admissions

• Florida
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Courts of Appeals: Fifth and Eleventh Circuits
• United States District Courts: Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida; District of Colorado; Eastern District of Michigan