About Paul
Paul’s family roots in Minnesota date to the 1860s when his great-great grandfather established a homestead along the banks of the Minnesota River in western Minnesota. In the 1930s, Paul’s grandparents settled on a farm outside of Blooming Prairie. The Thissen farm remains in the family. Paul’s other grandfather worked as a railroad conductor out of Duluth.
Paul’s parents were both public school educators. His dad, Frank, worked for the St. Paul Public Schools for over 30 years. His mom, Barb, taught in the Richfield School District for more than 25 years as a special education teacher.
Paul grew up in Bloomington in a close-knit neighborhood. Assumption Church and School in Richfield, which Paul attended through eighth grade, were a central part of his upbringing, instilling in him the importance of community and the need to take care of one other. Paul went to high school at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield where he was student council president and an All-Conference football receiver.
Paul and his wife, Karen, were married in 1993. Karen is a lawyer and active in community activities. They have three children, Emily, Griffin and Evan. All three attend Burroughs Community School in Minneapolis.
Education and Professional
Paul’s parents took out a second mortgage to send him to Harvard University. After graduating from Harvard with high honors in 1989, Paul attended the University of Chicago Law School. He served as an editor of the law review and graduated with high honors in 1992.
After law school, Karen and Paul chose to return to Minnesota. Paul clerked for the Honorable James B. Loken of the United State Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, worked for the Minnesota State Public Defenders Office and became a partner at the Minneapolis law firm of Briggs and Morgan.
In 2006, Paul was named one of “Forty Under 40” top business professionals in the Twin Cities by the Twin Cities Business Journal. In 2008, Paul was recognized as one of the 100 Influential Minnesotans in Health Care by Physician Magazine and named one of the Twin Cities “Best Brains” in Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine.
Helping clients who could not afford to pay for legal services has been an important professional value to Paul. As Chair of the Briggs and Morgan Pro Bono Committee, Paul redesigned the firm’s community efforts, creating partnerships with local non-profits to better serve their clients. As a result, the firm more than doubled the hours of free legal services it provided to low-income individuals and non-profits.
In the 1990s, Paul founded an innovative program for volunteer lawyers called Access for Persons with Disabilities to increase the availability of legal representation to persons with disabilities in the Twin Cities. Paul has served on numerous community boards and organizations.
Service in the Legislature
Since Paul was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2002, he has demonstrated the ability and a willingness to tackle tough, complex issues and deliver on innovative, practical solutions. After just four years of legislative service, Paul was appointed Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee in 2007. His legislative work has been recognized by numerous community groups and organizations.
Paul is the Chief Author of the Children’s Health Security Act, work that resulted in nearly 40,000 children getting access to health care. He was also instrumental in passing the 2008 Health Reform Act, work the Star Tribune named the “prize” of the 2008 session. For more information about Paul’s legislative record, click here.
A Commitment to Minnesota
Paul’s hopes for Minnesota are simple and reflect the basic Minnesota values instilled in him since childhood. He wants to make sure that our state continues to be a place where our kids have the same opportunity to learn, grow and succeed that we did and where our parents can live their lives with independence and dignity. He will continue to fight for those values now and in the future.
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