Paul J. Geller

Paul Geller is a founding partner of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP and head of the Firm’s Consumer Practice Group. Over the last 30 years, Paul has served as lead counsel in some of the country’s most high-profile consumer, antitrust, and securities class actions and has recovered billions for communities, consumers, and investors harmed by corporate abuse.

Before devoting his practice to the representation of consumers and investors, Paul defended companies in high-stakes class action and multi-district litigation, providing him with an invaluable perspective from “both sides of the ‘v.’” An experienced trial lawyer, he has tried bench and jury trials on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants and has argued before numerous state, federal, and appellate courts throughout the United States.

Paul’s ability to earn respect and trust from all sides in difficult negotiations has been recognized by the bar and legal publications. Chambers notes that “Paul is a consummate professional who has the ability to work seamlessly and collaboratively to address daunting challenges that arise in complex mass tort litigation.”

He serves as a key leader of the nationwide litigation against the companies responsible for the U.S. opioid addiction crisis. He played a key role in negotiating and architecting the complex settlements that resulted in over $50 billion being paid to communities across the country struggling with the fallout of the opioid crisis.

He has also successfully litigated and negotiated precedent-setting class recoveries in multiple practice areas, including data privacy, antitrust, products liability, and securities cases.

• Facebook Data Privacy Case – $650 Million: He secured the then-largest privacy class action settlement in history – a $650 million recovery in a cutting-edge class action against Facebook. The case concerned Facebook’s use of biometric identifiers through its “tag” feature, which Paul’s team challenged under a new biometric privacy law that had never before been applied in a class action. The federal judge that presided over the case called it a “landmark result” and a “major win for consumers.” In addition to the monetary recovery, Facebook disabled the tag feature altogether, deleting 1 billion facial profiles and discontinuing the related facial recognition program.
• Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Case – $17 Billion: Paul was a member of the leadership team representing consumers in the massive Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” emissions case. The San Francisco legal newspaper The Recorder labeled the group that was appointed in that case, which settled for more than $17 billion, a “class action dream team.”
• “EpiPen” Antitrust Case – $609 Million: As lead counsel, Paul secured a recovery of $609 million for overcharged purchasers of the “EpiPen” device in a nationwide class action alleging that the manufacturer and marketer of the EpiPen engaged in anti-competitive and unfair business conduct in their sale and marketing of the auto-injector device. The American Antitrust Institute honored Paul and the litigation team for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice for this result.

Outside the courtroom, Paul is a lifelong martial artist and award-winning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter. He previously won the gold medal at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Miami Open and has trained throughout the United States, Europe, and in Brazil. He has served as a training partner for numerous professional fighters, including a former UFC champion.

Paul is ranked in “Band 1” by Chambers in Litigation: Product Liability – Florida and Litigation: Securities – Florida and is ranked nationwide in Product Liability: Plaintiffs-USA-Nationwide. Chambers cited colleagues who describe him as “one of the best plaintiff class action lawyers in the country. His track record has almost no peer.” He was named (twice) one of the nation’s top “40 Under 40” by The National Law Journal and has also been named a Legend, a Leading Litigator in America, a Leading Lawyer in America, a Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer, a Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyer, and included in the 500 Global Plaintiff Lawyers guide by Lawdragon; a Plaintiffs’ Lawyer Trailblazer by The National Law Journal; one of Florida’s “Legal Elite” by Florida Trend magazine; and one of “Florida’s Most Effective Lawyers” by ALM’s Daily Business Review.

Paul served on the Advisory Board of Emory University School of Law and the separate Board of The Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims at Emory. He is a member of the Trial Law Institute and the Diversity Law Institute of the Litigation Counsel of America. He is also a member of the Supreme Court Historical Society and a former member of the Board of Advisors for the Center on Civil Justice at New York University School of Law. In these roles and others, Paul frequently lectures on class action and MDL issues at legal and academic conferences across the United States. He is also a member of the faculty of the Mass Torts MDL Certificate Program at the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke University School of Law.

Paul is a graduate of the University of Florida, where he was a member of the University Honors Program, and Emory University School of Law, where he graduated with Highest Distinction, served as an editor of the Emory Law Journal, and was a member of the Order of the Coif.

Individual Awards:

• Rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell
• Leading Litigator in America, Lawdragon, 2024-2025
• Best Lawyer in America, Best Lawyers®, 2017-2025
• Named a Florida Super Lawyer, Super Lawyers Magazine, 2007-2024
• Recommended Lawyer, The Legal 500, 2016, 2019, 2023-2024
• Ranked by Chambers USA, 2021-2024
• Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer, Lawdragon, 2019-2024
• Global Plaintiff Lawyer, Lawdragon, 2024
• Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyer, Lawdragon, 2022-2024
• Leading Lawyer in America, Lawdragon, 2006-2007, 2009-2024
• Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice, American Antitrust Institute, 2022
• South Trailblazer, The American Lawyer, 2022
• Class Action MVP, Law360, 2022
• Florida Best Lawyer in America, Best Lawyers®, 2017-2021
• Named one of “Florida’s Most Effective Lawyers” in the Privacy category by American Law Media, 2020
• Legend, Lawdragon, 2020
• Plaintiffs’ Lawyer Trailblazer, The National Law Journal, 2018
• Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers®, 2018
• Attorney of the Month, Attorney At Law, 2017
• Featured in “Lawyer Limelight” series, Lawdragon, 2017
• Selected as a Top Rated Lawyer, South Florida’s Legal Leaders, Miami Herald, 2015
• Litigation Star, Benchmark Litigation, 2013
• Featured as one of Florida’s “Legal Elite” in Florida Trend magazine, 2003, 2006
• Named one of “Florida’s Most Effective Lawyers” in the Class Action category by American Law Media, 2006
• Featured as one of Florida’s top lawyers in South Florida Business Journal, 2006
• Selected as one of the nation’s top “40 Under 40” by The National Law Journal, 2002, 2005

Firm Awards:

• Tier 1 Firm, “Best Law Firms,” Best Lawyers®, 2013-2025
• Top Plaintiff Firm, Benchmark Litigation, 2010-2020, 2022-2025
• Tier 1 Securities Firm, Benchmark Litigation, 2022-2025
• Regional Powerhouse – California, Law360, 2023-2024
• Top-Tier Plaintiffs’ Firm, The Legal 500, 2010-2020, 2022-2024
• Band 1 Law Firm, Chambers USA, 2010-2024
• Plaintiff Firm of the Year, Benchmark Litigation, 2022, 2024
• Practice Group of the Year – Class Action, Law360, 2023
• Prestige Leader, Law360 Pulse, 2023
• Elite Trial Lawyers, The National Law Journal, 2014-2016, 2018, 2020-2023
• Practice Group of the Year – Securities, Law360, 2015-2017, 2019-2020, 2022
• Top Law Firm in Antitrust, Antitrust Annual Report, 2020
• Practice Group of the Year – Privacy/Cybersecurity, Law360, 2020
• San Diego Firm of the Year, Benchmark Litigation, 2019-2020
• Most Feared in Litigation, BTI Consulting, 2014-2015, 2019-2020
• Practice Group of the Year – Competition, Law360, 2019
• Practice Group of the Year – Consumer, Law360, 2019
• Selected as the Securities winner, Elite Trial Lawyers, The National Law Journal, 2016
• Most Feared Plaintiffs’ Firm, Law360, 2013-2015
• Plaintiffs’ Hot List, The National Law Journal, 2004-2009, 2011, 2013-2014

Emory University School of Law, J.D., 1993, with Highest Distinction

• Editor, Emory Law Journal
• Order of the Coif Legal Honor Society
• Awarded multiple American Jurisprudence Book Awards for earning the highest grade in class

University of Florida, B.S., 1990, Psychology

• Member, University Honors Program

• Florida
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Court of Appeals: Eleventh Circuit
• United States District Courts: Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida; District of Colorado; Eastern District of Michigan

Notable Cases

• Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) Proven Trial Lawyers
• Faculty, Mass Torts MDL Certificate Program, Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law School
• Member, Advisory Board, Emory University School of Law
• Member, Advisory Board of The Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims, Emory University School of Law
• Member, Supreme Court Historical Society
• Member, Trial Law Institute
• Member, Diversity Law Institute

• Georgetown Law Opioid Litigation Summit: Maximizing the Impact of Settlements to Address the Opioid Epidemic, State of the Settlements, Bellwethers, and Settlement Design Innovations, Co-Panelist, Washington, DC; September 24-25, 2021

• The Duke Law Bolch Judicial Institute, Mass-Tort MDL Certificate Program, Durham, North Carolina; March 13-15, 2019

• HarrisMartin’s Opioid Litigation Conference: The Case Against the Wholesalers: Wholesalers’ Roles in the Allegations Against All Defendants,  Surfside, Florida; March 8, 2019

• ValueEdge Advisors’ 2018 Public Funds Forum: The War on Opioids, Laguna Beach, California; September 6, 2018
• ValueEdge Advisors’ 2017 Public Funds Forum: The Opioid Epidemic, San Diego, California; September 6, 2017
• ValueEdge Advisors’ 2017 Public Funds Forum: Keynote Address, Q&A Presentation with President Bill Clinton; San Diego, California; September 5, 2017
• Emory Law Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims, Complex Settlements Conference co-sponsored by the Federal Judicial Center and the JPML: Fairness Determinations: Pitfalls and Challenges in Class Settlement, Atlanta, Georgia; December 14, 2016
• The Duke Law Center for Judicial Studies, Class Action Settlement Conference: Compensation of Objectors, San Diego, California; October 6-7, 2016
• ValueEdge Advisors’ 2016 Public Funds Forum: The Volkswagen Emissions Scandal: A Look Under the Hood of Dieselgate, Deer Valley, Utah; September 2, 2016
• LSI’s Automobile Class Actions with Global Ramifications: Volkswagen Emissions Scandal: So What Kind of Case is This Anyway?, New Orleans, Louisiana; December 2, 2015
• ValueEdge Advisors’ 2015 Public Funds Forum: Playing to Win: Lessons on Teamwork and Leadership,  Presentation with Shaquille O’Neal; Laguna Beach, California; September 9, 2015
• Institute for Law & Economic Policy’s 19th Annual Symposium: Multi-Jurisdiction Litigation – State, Federal & Foreign, Co-Panelist with Judges Shira Scheindlin and Leo Strine, Jr.; Naples, Florida; April 12, 2013

Featured Articles & Case News

• Jim McCormick & Maryann Karinch, Business Lessons from the Edge: Learn How Extreme Athletes Use Intelligent Risk Taking to Succeed in Business 189-192 (McGraw-Hill 1st ed. 2009)
• C.N.V. Krishnan, et al., Who are the Top Law Firms? Assessing the Value of Plaintiffs’ Law Firms in Merger Litigation, Am. L. & Econ. Rev. (Fall 2015) (objectively ranking Robbins Geller as the top law firm out of 336 firms that settled M&A cases in Delaware between 2003 and 2012)
• Paul Geller & Jayne Conroy, The Complex Truth of the Opioid Epidemic: What the Netflix Series Painkiller Missed, LinkedIn (Sept. 28, 2023), https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/complex-truth-opioid-epidemic-what-netflix-series-missed-paul-geller?trk=public_profile_article_view