Paul R. Townsend

Paul Townsend is a partner at Gottlieb Townsend.  He joined the firm in May 2019 and represents clients in a wide variety of white-collar and traditional criminal defense matters in federal and state courts both in New York and throughout the country.  Mr. Townsend has obtained countless favorable results for his clients through non-prosecution agreements, motion practice, plea negotiations, hearings and trial.   He has successfully tried cases in both the state and federal courts around the country on everything from driving while intoxicated to murder to facilitating multi-billion dollar Ponzi schemes, and everything in between.

Prior to his arrival at RCG&A, Mr. Townsend worked for a boutique criminal defense practice and handled complex high-profile criminal litigation.  Notably, Mr. Townsend was one of the four attorneys on the trial team representing Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera during his narcotics trafficking trial as leader of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel in the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. Townsend began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, New York.  While an assistant district attorney, Mr. Townsend prosecuted hundreds of felony cases in the Major Narcotics and Firearms Bureau, and specialized in utilizing wiretaps, pen registers, trap and trace devices and other methods of electronic surveillance against organized criminal enterprises engaging in significant drug or firearm trafficking.  Mr. Townsend presented hundreds of cases to grand juries, including the possession and sale of largescale narcotics and firearms, attempted murder, robbery, assault, robbery, burglary, and white-collar fraud.

Mr. Townsend earned his juris doctorate from Brooklyn Law School, where he earned the CALI award in Trial Advocacy as well as Privacy in the Workplace Law.  He obtained dual-major bachelor of arts degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in philosophy and political science.  He is admitted to practice in all New York and New Jersey State Courts as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York and the 2^nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

In addition to his zealous advocacy in the courtroom, he has been published several times in the New York Law Journal, the New York Daily News, and the New York Post.  He is the president of the New York Chapter of the International Network of Boutique Law Firms; he is chair of the New York State Bar Association Subcommittee on the Intersection of Human Rights, Drugs, and the Law, which focuses on drug policy and the New York State Penal Law; and is a member of the Sex Offender Working Group, an advocacy organization dedicated to changing in the way that the court system treats sex offenders through statistical research and analytical reasoning.  Mr. Townsend has also appeared as a recurring expert on the Law and Crime Network, providing legal commentary relating to nationally televised trials.

Mr. Townsend is also the creator and host of the popular legal podcast, In Summation: The Final Word. In it, Mr. Townsend examines some of the most famous, infamous – and often misunderstood – court cases to make headlines across America.  In doing so, he provides non-lawyer listeners with an unbiased understanding of the underlying facts as the judge or jury would have heard them at the time. He then explains the role of each party, breaks down the legal arguments presented, and gives “the final word” on who ultimately prevailed, and why.

In Summation: The Final Word can be found wherever you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Listen Notes, and Spotify.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-summation-the-final-word/id154150649

https://open.spotify.com/show/7uxSq2qXYHZxkf6Gh13HTo