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    July 01, 2025

    ABA mourns the death of former president William G. (Bill) Paul

    CHICAGO, July 1, 2025 — The American Bar Association is saddened at the news of the passing of one of its former presidents, William G. (Bill) Paul, and offers its deepest condolences to his family and friends.

    Paul served as president of the ABA from 1999-2000 and was known for his dedication to diversity. He was a legend at the firm of Crowe Dunlevy, where he practiced for 59 years. He also served10 years as general counsel and senior vice president of Phillips Petroleum.

    Paul graduated from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma Law School although his legal education was interrupted by two years of active duty in the Marines in Korea in 1952.

    At the ABA, Paul firmly believed in increasing diversity in the legal profession and, with his wife, Barbara,  and law firm, funded the initial $100,000 to establish the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund. During his tenure, he helped oversee the re-dedication of the ABA’s Magna Carta monument in England and presided over the ceremony alongside Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

    Paul was a role model to his colleagues in the legal profession. His lifetime contributions embody the ABA motto to “defend liberty and pursue justice” and have inspired many of the legal profession’s most influential leaders, particularly at the ABA.

    “Bill Paul’s integrity, wisdom and unwavering commitment to justice left a lasting mark on the legal profession and the American Bar Association,” said William R. Bay, president of the ABA. “He was more than a role model — he was a moral compass and a true leader. He believed deeply in creating opportunity for those who had long been overlooked, and his vision for a more diverse and inclusive profession continues to guide us.”

    Paul was an effective leader who is not only remembered for his accomplishments, but also his generosity in comradeship. William Hubbard (ABA president 2014-15), dean at the Rice School of Law at the University of South Carolina, said Paul was “as fine a person as I have ever known — a truly kind, caring gentleman and an inspiration for so many of us. He will be sorely missed.”

    Martha Barnett (ABA president 2000-01), partner at Holland & Knight, also underscored Paul’s extraordinary character, calling him “a gentleman and indeed a prince.”

    Finally, Dennis Archer (ABA president 2003-04), chairman emeritus at Dickinson Wright PLLC and former mayor of Detroit, offers a poignant example of Paul’s collegiality: “As the incoming president of the American Bar Association, Bill Paul asked us to join him, his wife and his firm as they saw how we could make voluntary funds available to incentivize young people to consider becoming law students but lacked the funds to consider their dream,” Archer recalled. “What a legacy Bill Paul and we who believed in Bill Paul’s vision achieved that caused students to achieve their dream and become thoughtful lawyers.”

    Paul was the ABA’s first Native American president and was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame. He served as president of the Oklahoma Bar Association in 1976 and as president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents in 1986. He also was named to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2003. He received the ABA Spirit of Excellence award in 2002.

    Paul dedicated himself to the law and doing what is right. He leaves a legacy dedicated to making the legal profession and the world more equitable and fair. His quote on the Oklahoma Hall of Fame website sums up what all lawyers should aspire to: “Courage is an essential quality without which the advocate is incomplete.”

    We all will miss Bill Paul and endeavor to honor his memory.

    The ABA is one of the largest voluntary associations of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. View our privacy statement online. Follow the latest ABA news at www.americanbar.org/news and on X (formerly Twitter) @ABANews.