Paul Ney is a partner in the firm’s Government Enforcement & Investigations Practice Group. Paul previously served as head of the National Security Council’s Office of Legal Affairs, as deputy assistant to the president, as deputy White House counsel, and as principal advisor to the president for National Security Affairs. In addition to his government service, he is a registered patent attorney who handled a range of IP litigation matters in private practice.

His impressive background includes serving as chief legal officer and corporate secretary for a U.S. commercial space company, where he oversaw legal, regulatory, corporate governance, commercial contract and compliance matters. Paul also served as the 27th general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD); as chief deputy attorney general for the State of Tennessee; as director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County; as deputy general counsel for the DoD; and as principal deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of the Navy. 

Bar Admissions

• Tennessee, 1984
• District of Columbia, 2026

• United States Supreme Court
• United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
• United States Patent & Trademark Office

Education

• Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D., 1984, Order of the Coif; Editorial Board, Vanderbilt Law Review; Jessup International Moot Court
• Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, M.B.A., Finance, 1984
• Cornell University, A.B., Biology & Society, 1980