Paul worked for U. S. Senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart after graduating from University of Virginia, and before assisting with events and media for the Dalai Lama of Tibet when the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Paul works now for diverse clients as a strategist and project manager.

In 1990, Paul facilitated nine months of multi-party negotiations — among corporate, governmental, and nonprofit litigants and stakeholders in Orange County, California — to resolve a dispute over undeveloped land  with significant natural resources. He then directed a related, successful bond campaign clearing the way for the second largest urban wilderness park in the U. S., with 22,000 contiguous acres.

For 15 years, Paul worked closely with Henry Segerstrom and with other owners of C. J. Segerstrom & Sons and South Coast Plaza Partners in Costa Mesa, California. South Coast Plaza generates $2 billion a year in retail sales. Paul worked on business, public affairs, and philanthropic matters, negotiating and obtaining approvals of Development Agreements repurposing 180 acres of farmland for mixed use while expanding Segerstrom Center for the Arts to include a new theater, concert hall, public plaza, and art museum.

Paul has served on US-EU observation and assistance missions in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, and, in the wake of the Arab Spring, Egypt. He was on the Fairfax County, Virginia School Board, and served two terms as mayor of Laguna Beach, California.

In addition to his writing on behalf of clients, Paul writes fiction and non-fiction including a novel, essays, and newspaper columns. His most recent creative focus is writing fictional short stories.

Paul has an abiding interest in the game of Go.