Overview
Noel C. Paul is an experienced litigator whose practice focuses on insurance and reinsurance recovery and risk management for corporate insureds. He helps clients navigate complex commercial and insurance coverage litigation in state and federal courts across the country, as well as in arbitrations and mediations.
Noel represents clients in a wide range of industries, including agriculture, banking, distribution and supply chain management, finance, industrial manufacturing, private equity investment, real estate development, retail, and telecommunications industries. He has helped clients recover hundreds of millions of dollars of insurance in defense costs and indemnity payments under general liability, professional liability and errors and omissions (E&O), directors and officers, and media/tech liability policies, as well as under first-party policies.
Noel’s expertise includes managing complex first-party property damage claims, business interruption losses, and losses due to cyber incidents and employee theft. Noel also has handled significant coverage claims on behalf of policyholders in Bermuda arbitration proceedings.
Noel is a frequent speaker on insurance and risk transfer topics, advising companies on understanding and negotiating indemnification and insurance provisions in commercial contracts, as well as securing indemnification and additional insured coverage for claims against them. He has spoken on these topics at events hosted by the Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, American Bar Association, and other legal education organizations.
Since 2021, Noel has received recognition from Best Lawyers in America.
Services
Practice Areas
Experience
Representative Matters
- Negotiated insurance-funded settlement of hundreds of suits in 10+ year toxic tort litigation in Illinois on behalf of manufacturer
- Obtained judgment in Texas-based arbitration on behalf of logistics and distribution company awarding indemnity and attorneys’ fees under general liability policy
- Won judgment on the pleadings in $20M+ first-party property and business interruption lawsuit in Illinois
- Successfully settled Illinois court action against insurer for breach of contract and bad faith damages after obtaining sanctions order against insurer’s forensic accounting firm in Colorado state court
- Represented auto parts company in resolving claim under cyber policy for business interruption loss caused by ransomware attack
- Managed claim under D&O policy in Bermuda arbitration resulting in award of full damages for policyholder client
- Negotiated insurance-funded settlement of putative class action suit alleging violations of Illinois’ Genetic Information Privacy Act
- Secured defense coverage and negotiated insurance-funded settlement of numerous product-liability suits pending in multiple jurisdictions against commercial building parts manufacturer
- Obtained coverage under crime policy for employee theft claim involving manufacturing operations in Mexico
Prior Experience
- Reed Smith, Partner
- Pew International Journalism Fellow
Credentials
Education
- Honors at Entrance Scholar
- Rose Marie Russo Scholar
- Loyola Consumer Law Review, Executive Editor
Admissions
- Illinois
Recognition
Awards
- Best Lawyers in America, 2021-2026
- Recognized in practice area of Insurance Law
Professional & Community Involvement
- Chicago Bar Association
- Past Chair of Insurance Law Committee