Download 9163.Bio - Pennsylvania Bar Institute

About the Author
Paul Messing, Esq.
Mr. Messing joined Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg in 1993, specializing in civil rights
litigation and criminal defense. He has represented plaintiffs in a broad range of civil rights
cases, including issues related to police misconduct, prisoners’ rights, homelessness, sexual
assault victims, student violence issues, race and gender discrimination, and First Amendment
violations. His recent litigation includes lawsuits that brought about reforms in the
stop-and-frisk/racial profiling practices of the Philadelphia Police Department, the treatment of
political protesters, homeless persons and street musicians, Traffic Court procedures, and the
improper searches of private homes.
Mr. Messing provides criminal defense representation in state and federal court at the trial
and appellate level. His clients include a broad range of political advocacy organizations in the
areas of housing, the rights of the homeless and those with disabilities, antiwar activists, and
the victims of race, gender, and sexual orientation discrimination. He has represented
numerous political activists charged with criminal offenses in the course of exercising First
Amendment rights.
Prior to joining Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg, Mr. Messing was a senior trial
attorney and administrator at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. As deputy chief of the
Felony Unit, he supervised more than one hundred trial attorneys and maintained a caseload
of major felony cases. As a senior trial attorney, he provided representation to indigent
criminal defendants at all levels of trial and appellate practice, including more than one
hundred felony jury trials.
Mr. Messing has been an adjunct professor at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law for
more than 30 years, where he teaches Integrated Trial Advocacy and Criminal Law, and has
been a visiting professor at Tsingua School of Law in Beijing since 2006, where he has taught
criminal law, criminal procedure, and evidence. He is also a member of the faculty of the
National Institute of Trial Advocacy. Formerly, Mr. Messing was an adjunct professor at
Rutgers School of Law at Camden, where he taught the Criminal Litigation Clinic. He was also
a clinical instructor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he taught a clinical
program in which law students served as supervised trial counsel for indigent criminal
defendants. Mr. Messing regularly serves as a course planner and presenter for the
Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the Philadelphia Bar Association, and other organizations at
conferences, training sessions, and seminars relating to criminal defense issues and civil rights
litigation.