Paul Watford

Paul Watford is a partner in the Los Angeles office of King & Spalding, where he is a member of the firm’s business litigation practice and appellate, constitutional and administrative law group.

Prior to joining the firm, Paul served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for 11 years. During his tenure on the court, he authored published opinions addressing numerous areas of federal and state law, including arbitration, bankruptcy, class actions, constitutional, copyright, environmental, immigration, labor and employment, securities, and tax. In one of Paul’s more notable rulings, he authored the Ninth Circuit’s en banc decision in City of Los Angeles v. Patel (2013), a case in which the court struck down, 7-4, a Los Angeles city ordinance authorizing police to conduct surprise inspections of hotel and motel guest registries without obtaining the owners’ consent or a search warrant. The following year, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Ninth Circuit’s decision invalidating the ordinance in a 5-4 vote.

After graduating from law school in 1994, Paul served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The following year, from 1995 to 1996, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Paul became an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California in 1997. Serving in the Criminal Division, he prosecuted a wide range of federal criminal cases, including complex white collar criminal cases as a member of the Major Frauds Section. While serving in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Paul tried seven cases to verdict before a jury.