Overview

Paul A. Brisso joined Maire, Powell & Werner on an of counsel basis after retiring as a partner and full-time civil litigator with The Mitchell Law Firm in Eureka, California, where he practiced for more than forty years.

Over his career Mr. Brisso earned a reputation as a trusted advisor and formidable courtroom advocate, handling hundreds of civil cases and trying more than one hundred jury trials, primarily in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties and in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. His practice focused on personal injury and wrongful death, dangerous condition of property, civil rights, harassment and discrimination claims, real estate disputes, contracts, employment disputes, and medical malpractice.

Mr. Brisso graduated magna cum laude from Humboldt State University in 1973 with a B.A. in Journalism and worked as a reporter for the Times-Standard in Eureka from 1973 to 1975. He graduated from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1978 “with great distinction,” ranked fourth in a day-division class of more than two hundred, and was inducted as a lifetime member of the Traynor Legal Honor Society. He then served as judicial staff attorney to Justice George N. Zenovich of the California Court of Appeal, Fifth District, before joining Mitchell, Dedekam & Angell in 1979, where he became a partner as the firm evolved into The Mitchell Law Firm.

Recognition

Mr. Brisso has been rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell for more than twenty-five years and was named a Northern California “Super Lawyer” by San Francisco magazine each year from 2005 through 2020. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of only four attorneys in Humboldt County history so honored, and a longtime former member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).