He taught Social Studies at East Aurora High School from 1973 until 1980 and served as a voter registrar in the Aurora community. In 1980, Paul and his family moved to California to attend law school at U.S.C. After graduating in 1983, he began work at CHAIN | COHN | STILES as an associate and became a partner in 1992.

Mr. Welchans practices in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, product liability and insurance coverage issues. He has successfully tried diverse claims including the wrongful death claim of a commercial pilot against the FAA in a midair crash, personal injury claim for a 78-year-old night watchman in a darkened parking lot struck by an uninsured motor vehicle, and broker failure to obtain insurance. Mr. Welchans has been counsel in a number of published cases including State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. vs. WCAB (Leonard) (1997) 16 Cal. 4th 1187 with James Yoro [homeowners insurance coverage for Workers' Compensation claims], Farley vs. El Tejon Unified School District (1990) 225 Cal. App. 3d 371 [school district liability while transporting students], and Blake vs. Moore (1984) 162 Cal. App. 3d 700 with David Stiles [negligent entrustment]. In 1995, Paul obtained a multi-million dollar jury verdict for an individual client, and was featured in the Los Angeles Daily Journal Verdicts & Settlements Litigator Profile.

For six years while his children were growing up, Paul was active in Bakersfield Southwest Baseball as a team coach and served on the Board of Directors for three years. Now that his children are grown, his attention has turned to the legal profession. He is a member of the ABA, ATLA, AAJ, CAOC and the Kern County Bar Association where he has served as Secretary/Treasurer in 2006, Vice President in 2007, President-Elect in 2008, president in 2009, immediate past president in 2010.

He has been married to his wife, Bonita, for 38 years and has two children now out of college; Kelly is an attorney practicing in Los Angeles while Kyle is a geologist in San Diego. Both he and Bonnie enjoyed traveling and playing golf when time permits.

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