Paul graduated from University College London in 1968. He served his articles at Slowes and became a partner in 1971. He left at the end of 1980 to set up his own firm, McCombie Gordon & Lowe with Grahame Gordon (a fellow partner from Slowes) and Robert Lowe who, until then, had been the Director of Continuing Education at the College of Law. Lowe & Gordon Seminars, a training organisation for lawyers, was set up at the same time and Paul became a director.

McCombie Gordon & Lowe merged with Davenport Lyons at the end of March 1998 when Paul joined the firm with his commercial property partner at McCombie Gordon & Lowe, Richard Kelsey.  Paul became a consultant in July 2007 and was head of the Property Department until the end of March 2008.

Paul's experience since qualification has been almost exclusively in commercial property work, although he has also had broad company/commercial experience which is of considerable advantage in a commercial property context.

Acquisition and disposal of investment properties forms the core of Paul's work and he acts for a number of very substantial investment companies - often complex joint ventures are involved. Paul has substantial expertise in development work and acts for property developers, from site assembly to disposal of the completed, let development. This work often includes complicated financial arrangements.

Paul has considerable experience of dealing with and acting for banks and similar lending institutions with regard to funding of commercial property transactions. Paul acts for well-known retailers, particularly in the cosmetics field. In the past he acted for a substantial, privately-owned casino group until the company was sold. Paul lectured extensively for Lowe & Gordon Seminars both at public seminars and direct to individual firms on many property-related topics including Landlord & Tenant, Planning, Joint-Ventures, VAT, Collateral Warranties and Secured Lending.