After earning a J.D. and Master of Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University Law School, he joined the new administration of Governor Mark R. Warner in Virginia. In his first year, as Deputy Director of the Office of Employment Dispute Resolution, Paul created led a cross-agency Information Technology team responsible for revolutionizing reporting of Virginia’s state employee grievances, for which he received the National Governor’s Award for Efficiency. He was also a founding member of The Virginia Dispute Resolution Council.
Governor Warner appointed Paul Prissel to the position Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Trade for the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2003. It was in that capacity that Paul brokered a controversial $4.3 million state park development initiative designed to provide economic benefits to Southside Virginia, leading challenging and delicate negotiations with myriad stakeholders, including local business owners, Sierra Club, Native American tribes, local residents and political leaders. Paul served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce from 2003 to the end of Governor Warner’s tenure in 2005.
When his work in Virginia was done, Paul Prissel returned to California to join the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. He spent a decade prosecuting felony and misdemeanor criminal cases ranging from homicide to sexual assault to fraud, but he is most proud of the strong alliances he cultivated and still maintains with his fellow prosecutors, defense counsel, judges and peace officers.
Paul Prissel returned to school, mid-career, to earn a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has since worked as Deputy Chief Counsel for the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. and as a General Counsel for the City of New York.
Paul Prissel has been married for 19 years to Michele Palermo, a writer, and producer. They currently reside in Los Angeles where they are collaborating on a television pilot inspired by Paul’s “adventures in advocating”.
