MEET THE PAUL KIRST, ESQ.

Paul was raised in North San Diego County where his mother was a registered nurse and his father owned and operated the family farm, Kirst & Sons. Paul learned his strong work ethic working on the organic farm where the family primarily grew almonds, kumquats, boysenberries, and vegetables.

After high school, Paul moved to Las Vegas where he earned his bachelor’s degree from UNLV in 1987 before moving back to San Diego to attend law school. After graduating from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1990, Paul returned to Las Vegas where he served as the law clerk for Clark County District Court Judge Nancy Becker (now a Senior Judge). He then entered private practice and over the years defended several large hotel/casinos in Las Vegas. Additionally, he has defended multiple wrongful death and severe injury lawsuits, including obtaining a successful jury verdict in a catastrophic spinal cord injury trial.

Immediately prior to joining Craig P. Kenny & Associates, Paul worked as in-house counsel for Allstate Insurance Company for eight years. For the last three of those eight years, he ran the office as its Lead Counsel and was responsible for managing 17 employees, including 10 attorneys and providing guidance and insight on the hundreds of files open at all times. Even while serving as Lead Counsel, Paul continued his trial work, participating in multiple jury trials every year. In his 30 years as a lawyer, Paul has tried numerous civil jury trials (he stopped counting after the first 30); multiple bench trials; and hundreds of arbitrations.

During his career, Paul has had an article published in the Nevada Lawyer, served on the Nevada State Bar Continuing Legal Education Committee and the Nevada State Bar Publication Committee. He has also served as a pro tempore short trial judge, an arbitrator in the court-annexed arbitration program in both Washoe and Clark counties, and as a pro-tem municipal court judge in Las Vegas Municipal Court.