Paul Hoffman has exceptionally wide experience in the practice of law, having handled jury trials ranging from fence-line disputes to federal housing discrimination claims.  After first working as a solo practitioner in Newport Beach, California, he moved his young family to rural Oregon in 1983, where he became the managing partner of Van Valkenburgh & Hoffman, a 5-attorney general practice firm in The Dalles, OR.  His many clients there included a local bank, radio station, private college, lumber mill, and art museum, along with many farmers and ranchers, small public entities, and a host of various businesses and charitable organizations. 

He returned to southern California in 2001 and joined Cooksey Toolen as an associate, working primarily with the firm’s Construction Defect group.  After a decade or more handling complex litigation, his practice is now focused on general business litigation, insurance defense, and representing landlords in tenant disputes and unlawful detainer actions. 

Through three decades of practicing law, Mr. Hoffman has maintained a strong interest in academics and a commitment to life-learning, having earned a Master of Arts in Religion along the way.  He is the co-editor of a successful book on Christian apologetics (Why I am a Christian, Baker Books, 2006), and the author of a Chapman Law Review article criticizing the leading case in California dealing with storekeeper liability for slip-&-fall injuries (Crying Over Spilled Milk: the Demonstrable Illogic of Ortega v. Kmart).  He has also served as adjunct professor of Legal Writing and Evidence at Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, CA.

In 1977, Mr. Hoffman graduated from Westmont College, Santa Barbara (magna cum laude), with a B.A. in economics.  In 1980 he received a J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco.  And in 2008 he received a Master of Arts in Religion from Southern Evangelical Seminary (magna cum laude), Matthews, North Carolina.