Partner Paul Lauricella

Paul A. Lauricella is an accomplished trial attorney who has secured numerous verdicts and settlements for millions and tens of millions of dollars in medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injury, products liability and sexual abuse cases. His medical malpractice actions have involved a variety of medical specialties, including obstetrics/gynecology, emergency medicine, radiology, psychiatry, pulmonary medicine, orthopedic surgery, urology, family practice and oral surgery. In addition, Paul has been at the forefront in pursuing lawsuits on behalf of victims of sexual abuse. He represented 12 of the victims in the child sexual abuse scandal involving Penn State and assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. While the individual settlements that Paul achieved remain confidential, several of his clients were placed in the top monetary category of the claims against Penn State. In another highly publicized sexual abuse case, Paul represented a plaintiff who was abused by two priests and a Catholic schoolteacher in litigation against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia for covering up and enabling child molesters to gain access to Catholic school students. The case was resolved with a confidential settlement.   

Notable jury verdicts include: 

• $55 million on behalf of a child who suffers from cerebral palsy as a result of a traumatic delivery. The verdict is the largest single medical malpractice verdict in the history of Lehigh County 
• $20 million on behalf of a man run over by a bulldozer 
• $17 million for a child brain injured when prematurely withdrawn from a ventilator 
• $10 million on behalf of an emergency room patient who was not informed of CT scan results 
• $7 million for a woman whose wrist fracture went undiagnosed 
• $5 million on behalf of children injured by a discharged psychiatric patient 
• $2.5 million for a woman whose surgeon left a hand towel in her abdomen 
• $1 million in a suit brought by a widow against a life insurance company which refused to pay policy benefits 
• $1 million in a Delaware County wrongful death case 

Notable settlements include: 

• $16.25 million recovery for a man injured in a landfill worksite 
• $8.75 million recovery for a teen injured in an automobile crash 
• $13 million recovery for a woman whose doctors failed to address airway stricture 

Paul also secured a landmark intellectual property victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Facenda v. The National Football League, in which he represented the estate of legendary Philadelphia broadcaster, John Facenda. He has also won significant verdicts in breach of contract and employment discrimination cases. 

Paul has been recognized as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer every year since 2006 and has been recognized over many years as a Top 100 Super Lawyer for Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and the Litigation Council of America, and served on the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers’ Amicus Curiae Committee for more than 20 years. 

Early in his career, Paul worked as an assistant district attorney in Nassau County New York. From 1987 to 2004, Paul worked alongside legendary trial attorney James E. Beasley, securing seven and eight-figure medical malpractice verdicts. Following Beasley’s death in 2004, Paul partnered with the late Slade McLaughlin to form McLaughlin & Lauricella, which has a storied history of recovering some of the largest verdicts and settlements in medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injury, and sex abuse cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other states. In 2024, Paul and the other trial attorneys from McLaughlin & Lauricella joined Feldman Shepherd. 

Paul earned his B.A. magna cum laude from Hofstra University, where he was elected for membership in the Phi Beta Kapa honor society. He earned his J.D. cum laude from Villanova School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review, the Moot Court Board, and the Order of the Coif. 

Paul is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania, New York, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. 

When he is not practicing law, Paul is an avid runner. He has run dozens of distance runs, including three marathons, and is a regular participant in the annual Philadelphia Bar Association 5K. Paul is also a devotee of popular music, rock music, and jazz, though he knows how to play absolutely no instruments. He is a regular contributor to the Michael Smerconish radio program where he provides allegedly comedic commentary as “Liberal Paul.”