Paul Tyler, Attorney at Law
I grew up in Ventura County, and I have spent my entire legal career, three decades now, defending people in its courts. I have made well over 20,000 appearances in the Ventura County Superior Court, which means I have been in that courthouse nearly every working day since the 1990s. I know the judges, the prosecutors, and the court staff as well as anyone, and I have handled literally thousands of cases: thousands of DUIs, plus drug possession and sales, burglary, robbery, grand and petty theft, conspiracy, stalking, fraud, identity theft, assault and battery, firearms charges, domestic violence, three strikes cases, sex offenses, and nearly everything else in the Penal Code. But before I tell you the rest of my background, here is what I actually promise the people who hire me:
- Honesty about your case and your options, even when the honest answer is not what you hoped to hear
- Personalized service specific to you and your case
- Total access to me, every day of the week; you will have my cell number
- Your calls returned promptly, and answered by me, not staff
- Exactly what you were promised, delivered
- Full information at every stage; you will always know what is happening in your case and what comes next
My Career Started Inside the Trial of the Century
In 1994, while at Pepperdine Law, I was awarded a judicial externship with Judge Lance Ito of the Los Angeles Superior Court, and assigned to the O.J. Simpson double murder trial. I spent nine months inside the most famous criminal case in American history: pretrial motions, jury selection, and the trial itself. My daily work was researching and drafting memoranda advising Judge Ito on the admissibility of evidence, then drafting his written rulings. My primary responsibility was the research and analysis on the admissibility of the RFLP and PCR DNA evidence, the scientific evidence at the heart of the case. I attended the jury’s crime scene view, and pre-walked the Bundy crime scene and Mr. Simpson’s home alongside Judge Ito, Marcia Clark, Christopher Darden, Robert Shapiro, and Johnnie Cochran. Why does that matter to your case in Ventura County thirty years later? Because criminal defense is, at its core, about evidence: what the prosecution can prove, what was collected properly, and what does not hold up under scrutiny. I learned how judges actually decide what evidence comes in, from inside chambers, on the biggest stage there is. I published on the admissibility of DNA evidence in the Pepperdine Law Review and earned the Am Jur award (highest grade) in Scientific Evidence. When I challenge the blood draw in your DUI, the lab work in your drug case, or the forensic claims in any prosecution, that is the foundation I am standing on.
Legal Experience
Law Office of Paul Tyler, Private Practice, Oxnard, California (1998 to Present). My practice is devoted to defending criminal cases in Ventura County; it is the only place I currently practice, by design. More than 20,000 court appearances in the Ventura County Superior Court alone; every kind of misdemeanor and felony; every stage from arrest through trial. I have also appeared and argued before the California Court of Appeal (Second District) and in the United States District Courts for both the Central and Northern Districts of California.
Wood and Associates LLP, Associate Attorney (1996 to 1998). Attorney malpractice defense and coverage counsel on shareholder litigation, where I learned, early, exactly what careful lawyering looks like and what happens when lawyers cut corners.
Judge Pro Tem, Ventura County Superior Court (2004 to 2015). Served as a temporary judge handling the small claims calendar in Simi Valley and Ventura, once or twice a month.
Law Clerk to the Honorable Lance Ito, Los Angeles County Superior Court (1994). The People v. O.J. Simpson, as described above.
Education
Juris Doctor, Pepperdine University School of Law (1996), Malibu, California. Lead Articles Editor, Pepperdine Law Review; Moot Court School Champion (first place); Am Jur Awards for the highest grade in Remedies, Scientific Evidence, and State Constitutional Law; Published in the Pepperdine Law Review on the admissibility of DNA evidence; Judicial externship to Judge Lance Ito on the O.J. Simpson trial.
Bachelor of Arts, Pepperdine University (1988), Malibu, California.Double major in English and Religion; Honored as Outstanding Male Graduate of the August 1988 class; Year in Europe Program, Heidelberg, Germany.
Bar Admissions and Professional Leadership
- Admitted to all California state courts since December 1996 (State Bar #183960)
- United States District Court, Central District of California, since 1997
- United States District Court, Northern District of California, since 2001
- Former President, Ventura County Barristers
- Former member, Executive Committee of the Ventura County Bar Association
Articles and Interviews
My work on the O.J. Simpson case drew national and local media attention, and over the years I have been interviewed by national television programs, regional broadcasters, and newspapers across the country about my role on the case and my perspective from inside Judge Ito’s chambers. Those interviews and appearances have included Good Morning America on ABC, The Today Show on NBC, MTV News, and KABC Eyewitness News, along with Teddy Bart’s Roundtable in Nashville. My work has also been featured and written about in the Los Angeles Times, the National Law Journal, the Ventura County Star, the Ventura County Star Free Press, and the Nashville Banner, among others.
I have also written on the subject of scientific and forensic evidence, drawing directly on my experience with the DNA evidence at the center of the Simpson case:
- Fundamental Misunderstandings About DNA Contamination: Does It Help or Hurt the Criminal Defendant? Published in the Beverly Hills Bar Association Journal. Inspired by the O.J. Simpson case, this article describes the dangers sloppy police work can have on blood evidence collected at a crime scene. 31 Bev. Hills Bar Association Journal 15.
- The Kelly-Frye Standard Remains the Rule for Admissibility of Novel Scientific Evidence.Published in the Pepperdine Law Review. This article advocates the admissibility of DNA evidence in criminal and civil cases. 22 Pepp. L. Rev. 1274.
- The Ito I Saw, and the O.J. You Did Not. Published in Citations, the journal of the Ventura County Bar Association.
Outside the Courthouse
I have spent time as a Cub Scout den leader, youth basketball coach, Little League coach, and youth soccer coach and referee. And when I am not in a courtroom, I race off-road: I am the 2017 Dirt Riot National Champion and a three-time finisher of King of the Hammers, widely considered the toughest one-day off-road race on earth.
Talk to Me About Your Case
If you would like to discuss your case, call me at 805-889-9000. I will answer the phone myself, any day, any hour. The consultation is free, and you will get my honest assessment of where you stand and exactly what I would do about it. Here is what some of my clients have had to say about my representation: client testimonials.
