Paul F. Heaton

Paul Heaton is a shareholder in Godfrey & Kahn's Litigation Practice Group in the firm's Milwaukee office.

Prior to returning to private practice, Paul served as Vice President-Litigation Counsel for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, with responsibility for the direction and oversight of all of the company's litigation, including litigation and arbitration disputes over insurance and investment products, real estate investments and public and private securities investments, the company's national sales distribution system, as well as regulatory challenges arising under the jurisdiction of FINRA, the SEC, and individual state insurance departments. In this role, Paul worked closely with the company's in-house and outside risk management and communications professionals to address enterprise liability and risk assessment, as well as corporate reputation and communications crisis management.

Paul's trial practice encompasses a variety of commercial litigation and arbitration, including insurance coverage and bad faith defense, state and national class action defense, commercial torts, internet disparagement disputes, insurance sales practices and distribution system challenges, consumer fraud claims, and unfair trade practices claims.

Paul won a $50,000,000 verdict for a commercial client in a five week jury trial in Wausau, Wisconsin state court. The $50,000,000 verdict appeared in the National Law Journal's annual listing of Top 100 Verdicts, ranking as the second largest professional liability verdict in the nation that year, and the forty-fifth largest verdict overall. Paul was recently named as one of only eleven "Exceptional Insurance Lawyers" in the country in the BTI Client Service All-Stars Report in 2014, a recognition based solely on nominations by corporate general counsel.

Paul has served on the Litigation Committee and the Class Action Subcommittee of the American Council of Life Insurers, is a fellow of the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel, and is a member of the Society of Corporate Insurance Litigators, and the Association of Life Insurance Counsel. Paul is consistently recognized in Best Lawyers in America and Wisconsin Super Lawyers, and the Chambers & Partners annual listing.