Paul Traina

Paul Traina is a trial attorney with Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, focusing his practice on litigating large and complex personal injury, wrongful death and product defect cases on behalf of injured individuals and consumers in California and Nevada. Mr. Traina is a fiercely competitive litigator and experienced trial attorney who has obtained over $3 billion in verdicts and recoveries for his clients.

In 2023, Mr. Traina was a lead member of the trial team that obtained a landmark jury verdict for a beginning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu student who suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury while sparring with a Del Mar Jiu-Jitsu Club instructor who performed a technique on the young man which rendered him an incomplete quadriplegic. As a result of his work on this matter, Mr. Traina has been named a 2025 Consumer Attorney of the Year finalist by the Consumer Attorneys of California and he was a recipient of the 2024 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award.

In 2019, Mr. Traina and Lyssa Roberts obtained a settlement for a man who suffered catastrophic burns as a result of an explosion due to a gas leak.

After graduating from Pepperdine Law School in 1991, Mr. Traina began his career as a defense attorney at Harrington, Foxx, Dubrow and Canter where he worked on personal injury and product defect cases, trying five cases in his first four years while at the firm.

Prior to joining Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, Mr. Traina was a partner at the prestigious law firm of Engstrom Lipscomb & Lack from 1996 through 2017 where he litigated and tried cases involving class actions, personal injury, business litigation, qui tam, and securities actions on behalf of consumers and businesses. In 1998, Mr. Traina represented Fightertown U.S.A. in a securities fraud case against Robertson Stephens that resulted in a jury verdict after a four-week trial. In 2006, he represented a former CEO of CarsDirect involving a wrongful termination action that resulted in a verdict for over a sum.

In 2008, Mr. Traina was part of a team of lawyers that worked on the California Natural Gas Anti-Trust Cases which resulted in a settlement after a six week trial. In 2014, he represented Casablanca, a company that sold travel certificates, in a case brought against Wyndham Hotels for Breach of Contract and Fraud. After a 15-day jury trial, the jury returned a verdict and found that Wyndham was also liable for punitive damages.

Mr. Traina is recognized as a Best Lawyers in America® as well as a Southern California Super Lawyer and is routinely a guest speaker and lecturer at Loyola Law School, CAALA, and Bridgeport, speaking on issues involving trial practice including Opening and Closing Arguments, Direct and Cross Examination, Depositions and Ethics. He has also been published in various legal publications which include topics involving Fiduciary Duties; Class Actions; Discovery Strategies; Qui Tam Actions and the False Claims Act.