Paul Lembesis is a principal of the Emerson Associates Inc., a research and consulting firm in the Washington, D.C. area. Clients rely on his strategic advice, contacts, research and analysis to move forward strategically in both the long and the short term.  His experience covers a variety of industries including health, telecommunications, Internet, postal services, transportation, and financial services.  He also counsels governments, major corporations and entrepreneurial firms on a variety of business matters.  All his work is characterized by deep understanding of complex issues, fresh insights and approaches to action and straightforward recommendations.

Prior to founding the Emerson Associates in 1995, Mr. Lembesis served as senior counsel to the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld.  His work focused on international trade policy and practice.  He was responsible for various client business and trade matters related to Japan, Korea and China.   

In his public service career, Mr. Lembesis was a United States' strategic arms control negotiator.  He was the Legal Advisor to the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) as well as to the 40-nation Chemical Weapons Negotiations.  During the first Bush Administration, he served as lead attorney for the ratification of the START Treaty.  He also served on the United States' Delegation to the United Nations First Committee.

Mr. Lembesis has an undergraduate degree in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi (the national scientific honorary association).  His law degree is from Yale University, where he served as editor of The Yale Law Journal and was a founding editor of Yale Studies In World Public Order.

Mr. Lembesis has twice been awarded the United States' Medal of Meritorious Honor.  He has served as a committee officer of the American Bar Association's Section of International Law and Practice, as Deputy Chairman of the Federal Bar Association’s International Law Section, and is a member of the American Statistical Association.