Paul 'chip' L. Lion Iii Receives Business Law Section's 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award

• Publication year: 2020
• Author: By A. John Murphy and Suzanne Graeser

Paul 'Chip' L. Lion III Receives Business Law Section's 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award

By A. John Murphy and Suzanne Graeser^*

Paul 'Chip' L. Lion III

The Business Law Section is pleased to announce that Paul ("Chip") L. Lion III will receive the Business Law Section's 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award. This prestigious award is annually presented to a California lawyer "who over an extended period has made significant contributions to the Section or business law generally, or both, in the State of California and who has achieved high status in the legal community." Chip joins an impressive list of California business attorneys and legal scholars who have received this recognition. For those who know Chip, receipt of this award will not be a surprise. For those who don't, once you finish this article, you will understand why he is most deserving of this award.

Background

Chip's family and his deep roots in the San Francisco south bay area have indelibly influenced his commitment to his profession. Chip was born and raised in San Jose. His family connections to early San Jose and California history reach back five generations. On his father's side, his great, great grandfather, Lazard Lion (pronounced "Lee own"), emigrated from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France and in 1856 opened a furniture store in downtown San Jose. Chip's paternal great, great grandmother was also from a California pioneer family, of Irish and German ancestry. His ancestors include Charles J. Martin, who served as mayor of San Jose twice, in 1882-1884 and 1898-1902, and Victor Scheller, who served as the District Attorney of San Jose from 1891-1894.

By 1906, L. Lion and Sons Company, the furniture store started by Lazard Lion, had grown to be the largest furniture store west of the Mississippi River. It ultimately grew to four furniture and merchandise stores in the San Francisco south bay and Salinas. In 1967, Chip's father (Paul L. Lion Jr.), who was the president, sold the company and went on to serve in various management roles at Bank of America and Bank of the West. His mother, Marty, was the daughter of an engineer and attended Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University. Together they raised four children, Chip, Steve, Alexandra, and Christopher, in San Jose. Both of Chip's parents were actively involved in leadership roles in local non-profit organizations and instilled in their children a sense of duty to give back to their communities and professions. His parents' sense of duty to the community strongly influenced Chip and underlies his effort to instill a similar commitment in the next generation of attorneys.

Chip was a fraternal twin, born eight minutes before his brother Steve. Sadly, Steve died two years ago from pancreatic cancer. Steve and Chip were very close. They worked summer jobs together, shared the same friends, and even belonged to the same national fraternity, although at different schools. By Chip's own admission, Steve was bigger, stronger, and more outgoing, while Chip was more reserved and bookish. Chip credits Steve for helping him develop his social skills by allowing Chip to ride his social coattails as they grew up. Anyone who knows Chip today would have great difficulty envisioning Chip being shy or reserved.

After high school, Chip attended the University of California at Davis, where in 1979 he received a B.A. degree with honors in Political Science and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. While at Davis, he played varsity soccer for three years, as well as lacrosse at the club level. Chip attended law school at Santa Clara University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1982. In addition, Chip served as the Associate Editor of the Santa Clara Law Review and was the Vice Chairman of the Honors Moot Court Board. In 2015, Chip received the Alumni Special Achievement Award from the law school.

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Chip attended law school with the goal of becoming a transactional attorney, focusing on business law. Because most business transactions have underlying tax considerations, Chip took several tax courses while in law school and discovered that he enjoyed the intellectual challenge of tax law. To further develop his tax skills, Chip attended New York University, where he received...