Attorney Profile
Paul Koster serves as Managing Partner of Daley, Koster & LaVallee, LLC. He focuses his practice on the areas of governmental law, employment law, and general litigation.
Mr. Koster's governmental practice centers on the representation of cities, counties, police and sheriff departments, and public hospitals. He advises his governmental clients on day-to-day issues and represents them in a wide array of claims, including First Amendment, excessive force, false arrest, and false imprisonment claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, as well as state law negligence, defamation, breach of contract, and nuisance claims.
Mr. Koster's employment practice includes counseling both public and private employers on day-to-day employment issues, including wage and hour, personnel and contractual matters. In addition, Mr. Koster litigates cases on behalf of his clients, including discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, wage and hour, and contractual claims. He also has successfully defended claims unique to public employers, including free speech, political patronage, and candidacy-related claims under the First Amendment.
Mr. Koster's general litigation practice includes representing clients in homeowners association, insurance coverage, premises liability, professional liability and construction matters. Mr. Koster has litigated cases on the trial court level in state and federal courts throughout the State of Georgia. On the appellate court level, Mr. Koster has argued and briefed cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the Georgia Court of Appeals. He also has briefed cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Georgia Supreme Court.
Mr. Koster has spoken nationally and been nationally published on litigation issues and on issues impacting governmental entities and their officials. He has been named to Atlanta Magazine's list of Georgia Super Lawyer Rising Stars on multiple occasions. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Charter Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society consisting of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. He also serves as the Chair of the Public Employment Law Subcommittee of the American Bar Association's Section of State and Local Government Law and on the Leadership Roster of the Defense Research Institute Government Liability Committee.
Mr. Koster is a former staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and former member of the faculty at Emory University School of Law. Following law school, Mr. Koster served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Stephanie Duncan-Peters of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
