Hello and thank you for considering the Law Office of Paul A Romero to help you with your legal needs.

ME:

I was born and raised here in San Diego’s Southbay. After graduating high school I spent many years playing music in punk bands, working in restaurants and trying to find a direction in life. Eventually, I went to The Art Institute of Seattle and earned an Associate of Arts in Audio Engineering which I used to obtain work in Seattle’s vibrant live sound music scene. This was a great few years but I felt restless and knew that I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life.

After setting up a concert at Seattle Central Community College I decided to go back to school. I enrolled at SCCC and graduated with honors and as a member of the Dean’s list. From there I went to The University of Washington and graduated Magna Cum Laude from The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. From there I went on a partial grant to the University of San Diego School of Law and earned by law degree in 2006.

While in law school I interned several times for the San Diego County Office of The Public Defender and was able to obtain one of the highly competitive post-bar internships with the office. From there I competed with hundreds of other applicants and secured a full time position.

Throughout my education I worked at various restaurants to support myself. Overall I have spent close to 20 years in the restaurant industry doing everything from being a dishwasher at Chart House (when it was in Coronado), a busboy at Miguel’s Cocina to being a server and line cook at Palisade Restaurant in Seattle under the tutelage of James Beard award winner John Howie. I have bartended, cocktailed, catered, cooked and served.

I am an FCC certified drone pilot, love Dungeons and Dragons, sing in a thrash metal band and have two wonderful children, an amazing long term partner and a slobbery, good natured Rottweiler.

MY WORK:

I began my legal career serving close to 15 years as a Deputy Public Defender for the County of San Diego. During my tenure I started out on the high volume misdemeanor team and worked up to litigating serious felony cases such as drug sales, attempted murder, child molestation, robbery, assault etc. I also served on the Juvenile Delinquency Team, the Sexually Violent Predator Team, the Post Conviction Team (probation, parole, post release community supervision, veteran’s court, drug court, behavioral health court), and the Homeless Court team.

My approach to serving my clients is grounded solidly in the philosophy and ethics that drove me to become a Public Defender in the first place - A strong desire to serve my community and to help those who are facing the awesome power of the State or the complexities of the American civil litigation system.

I am knowledgeable but understand my clients have ideas and experiences of their own. I am aggressive but compassionate. I will do my best to negotiate an appropriate outcome to your case but if this effort proves fruitless I am not afraid to litigate and I have gone to trial many times with a tremendous amount of success. (No, I do not always “win” but you should be very careful about hiring an attorney who claims to have a perfect record as this shows that they are unlikely to be willing to take difficult cases to trial.)

The same passion that I have been applying to my criminal cases I now offer to clients in need of help negotiating the complexities of divorce and other family law matters as well as small business clients who are in need of limited representation actions such as unlawful detainers etc. I do not believe in being a jerk and strongly favor a negotiated settlement but if the gloves need to come off I am ready to go and years in the trenches of the Public Defender’s office have made me fearless in court.