Paul Cardinale is the founder of Cardinale Fayard and leads the firm's Medical Defense Law Group. Paul has focused his practice on the defense of healthcare providers including physicians, dentists, nurses, hospitals and nursing homes since 2003.  Before launching Cardinale Fayard in 2022, Paul worked as an associate attorney for Schuering Zimmerman & Doyle in Sacramento for 5 years and served as an equity partner for the reputable medical malpractice defense firm Lauria Tokunaga Gates & Linn for 8 years.  He has been lead counsel in a broad range of civil jury trials in both California and Nevada with excellent results. Paul also specializes in the defense of federal claims brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, representing medical practitioners who provide treatment to inmates in correctional facilities throughout California and Nevada.  He additionally handles licensing and disciplinary issues for physicians, dentists and nurses before their respective professional Boards. Paul currently serves as panel counsel for a number of professional liability insurance companies and has given presentations and lectures on insurance defense issues at legal seminars and conferences across the country.

Prior to civil practice, Paul served as a deputy district attorney for Sacramento County where he was trained as a trial lawyer, taking numerous criminal cases to verdict before a jury.

Paul is a native of Sacramento, California. He has a Bachelor's Degree in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he graduated with honors in 1997. Paul obtained his law degree in 2000 from Santa Clara University School of Law where he participated in Honor's Moot Court and argued before Justices of the California Supreme Court. Paul was also a member of the Santa Clara University Chapter of the Phi Delta Phi Honor's Fraternity and was awarded the Santa Clara University Pro Bono Award in both 1999 and 2000 for his legal assistance to the community.

Paul is admitted to practice law in California and Nevada and the United States District Courts for Nevada and Eastern and Northern California. He is a member of the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada, Las Vegas Defense Lawyers, Sacramento County Bar Association, and Defense Research Institute.

Paul is married with two children.
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