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Described as “...diligent and knowledgeable” (Chambers UK), Paul is a very experienced commercial litigator and Solicitor Advocate with Extended Civil Rights of Audience.  Building upon his experience gained as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in the early 1990s, Paul has always made extensive use of his Scottish Rights of Audience since gaining them in 1998. 

Paul has a special interest in technology and all intellectual property issues as well as data protection and FOISA. Paul heads bto’s Technology & IP team and is recommended for IT litigation in the 'Scottish Bar' section of the most recent edition of the Legal 500. Clients praise him for being a lawyer who “...understands the legal process and how to influence it.” 

In 2010 he was involved in cases concerning false “reviews” of a company’s services and obtained a court order requiring an ISP to disclose the owner of the internet IP address they had been posted from. He acted in a serious internet defamation case where Prevention from Harrassment Orders were obtained against a couple who had posted allegations on numerous blogs and social networking websites. He also acted in a connected series of construction disputes simultaneously spanning two Court of Session cases, three adjudications and an arbitration.

In 2009 Paul acted for the Pursuer in a £25 million intellectual property case about inventive ideas and confidential information, in the context of offshore wind farm technologies. He initially acted as sole Solicitor Advocate and later took on the role of junior counsel to a QC in a “Mixed Double.

In 2008 he argued the first Scottish case about “Derivative” actions by disgruntled minority shareholders under the new Companies Act 2006. This case was appealed to the Inner House in May 2009 when Paul acted as junior counsel to a QC in a “mixed double”. 

In 2007 he acted as Solicitor Advocate for a Public Authority in the first Scottish public procurement case to go to a defended hearing, lasting for eight court days.

He has experience of "Dawn Raids" in commercial and IP cases most recently in June 2010 involving seizure of computers and mobile phones. He has conducted a large number of cases involving urgent applications for interdict orders such as internet harassment, intellectual property infringements, breaches of restrictive covenants, trade mark infringement, passing-off and removal of confidential information/ trade secrets.