OTLA Sidebar May/June 2020

17 • SIDEBAR • May–June 2020 Guardians of Civil Justice Spotlight: Paul Bullman S talwart Guard- ian member Paul Bullman has long been a crusader for justice on behalf of workers. Before attending both busi- ness and law school, Bullman worked a wide variety of jobs from working in grocery stores, stock- ing shelves, phone customer service, delivering pizza, unloading and load- ing trucks, clean- ing cars and was a proud member of the UFCW. His dream was always to build his own employ- ment firm from the ground up, repre- senting only workers and advocating for their rights against discriminatory employers. After law school, Bullman began practicing employment law repre- senting all sides which reinforced his conviction to start a firm which represented workers exclusively. After gaining valuable experience, he opened his own firm in 2010. Bullman is active not only with OTLA but also with the Washington Association for Justice (WSAJ) and the National Employment Lawyers Associ- ation chapters in Oregon, Washington and Missouri and is licensed to prac- tice in all three states. He frequently presents at CLEs across the country and has written articles on topics related to discrimination, harassment and retaliation by employers. He is also active with OTLA’s Legislative Committee and is honored to serve on the House of Delegates for the Oregon State Bar. In his own words: My worklife has changed in the last year because: The pandemic. Need I say more? The opportunities I see from that change are: My firm is trying to master the best way to communicate remotely with clients. Although we look forward to in-person meetings again, going forward we will be in a bet- ter position to offer clients the option of both in-person and remote meetings. Each format offers different benefits. The best thing about my job is: Fighting along- side clients to hold discriminators responsible for their conduct. The hardest thing about my job is: The hardest thing is having to explain to clients that while they were treated badly, their employers’ conduct was not unlawful under current workplace laws. Workplaces are dynamic and the laws must constantly be improved to keep up. What I do in my job is: I work to level the playing field for workers. When I was a brand-new lawyer, I wish I had known: I wish I’d known that ‘doing’ is impor- tant but taking a step back and think- ing deeply is equally important. Growing up, I thought I would become: I knew I’d be an attorney! Why I did/didn’t follow that path: I always wanted to become an attorney when I was young but working as a union grocery store worker at sixteen years of age is what truly convinced me to follow that path and led me to fight for workers’ rights. I give to the Guardians of Civil Justice program because: I personally give to Guardians because I believe we owe it to our clients, our Paul Bullman SPOTLIGHT continues on page 18