Paul Zukerberg

Paul Zukerberg
Personal details
Born	Paterson, New Jersey, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Children	2
Residence	Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C.
Alma mater	Hamilton College American University

Paul Zukerberg is an American activist, lawyer, and politician. Through a series of lawsuits and appeals, Zukerberg successfully ensured the direct election of the Attorney General of the District of Columbia in 2014 after the Council of the District of Columbia and incumbent Irv Nathan sought to postpone the vote.

Zukerberg is the son of a self-taught musician who played bar mitzvahs and weddings from Paterson, New Jersey. He graduated from Hamilton College, moved to Washington, DC to attend law school at American University, and received his JD in 1985. He became a criminal defense lawyer because he likes going to trial and he “just can’t stand when someone gets the raw end of the deal.” He currently lives in Adams Morgan with two children and is a founding parent of the EL Haynes Public Charter School. In 2016, Zukerberg founded Zukerberg & Halperin, a personal injury law firm with offices in Washington, DC and Richmond, Virginia.

In April 2012, Zukerberg declared his candidacy for a special election to the at-large seat on the DC Council with a pro-marijuana platform. According to Zukerberg, in 2011, DC was first in pot arrests with a record number that year. His council candidacy raised awareness of the importance of marijuana decriminalization in Washington, DC.

One of Zukerberg's opponents, Elissa Silverman, unsuccessfully sought to have him disqualified by challenging the validity of his signatures. Zukerberg launched and paid for an outside firm to investigate the list of DC registered voters. Zukerberg said he discovered that the District of Columbia Board of Elections has not been properly updating its rolls, including failing to process 66,000 change-of-address forms.

In the special election, held on April 23, 2013, Zukerberg came fifth out of eight candidates, receiving 1,195 votes (2.09%).

In 2010, 90,316 District residents voted "overwhelmingly" to put D.C.'s first elected attorney general on the ballot in 2014.

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