HON. PAUL A. BONIN (ret.)

JUDGE PAUL A. BONIN (ret.) served for more than 23 years as a judge. His earliest service, an appointment, was in 1990 in Civil District Court as Commissioner and Judge ad hoc. In 1997, he was elected to the New Orleans Traffic Court. His community involvement and service as a traffic court judge led to awards and recognitions from numerous organizations. During that period, he was also an Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Graduate Program at SUNO. In 2008, he was elected without opposition to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal. While on the Fourth Circuit, he authored a considerable number of opinions, extending to majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions, published and unpublished. He championed the process of accepting and publishing more opinions in writ applications for the benefit of the bar. He continued his service by presenting at numerous CLE conferences, chairing a Judicial Council Standing Committee to examine ways to reform the current funding mechanisms of the courts, and, by appointment of the Louisiana Supreme Court, chairing the Louisiana Court Reporter Board. In 2017, he began service on the felony trial court (Criminal District Court) in New Orleans. During the three years of jury trials, he presided over more jury trials than any other district judge in Louisiana, affording him yet more vast first-hand experience in understanding the complexities associated with jury trial outcomes. His judicial career was built upon his career as a lawyer. Admitted in 1976, he entered the private practice of law – sometimes solo, sometimes in partnership, sometimes with associates. He actively practiced personal injury law (three of his cases resulted in important and clarifying legal outcomes in the Louisiana Supreme Court), handled numerous contested successions and business organization matters, and engaged in criminal defense except for the time he was a Louisiana Assistant Attorney General. He also handled administrative proceedings for the State Racing Commission as Special Counsel.