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30 As General Counsel, J. Paul Compton serves as the chief law officer of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and principal legal advisor to the Secretary. Compton brings to HUD nearly 30 years of experience in providing legal advice regarding affordable housing transactions, commercial mortgage finance, and consumer-lending compliance. He joins HUD from the Birmingham office of the law firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP where he was a partner and served as the Chairman of the firm's Finance Committee. Compton joined the firm in 1989 and spent his career there providing legal advice to developers, nonprofits, public housing authorities, banks, and other financial institutions regarding financial transactions and investments in affordable housing and community development projects. He also served as outside General Counsel to the Alabama Affordable Housing Association and as a Member and former State Chairman of the American Bar Association Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development. What does a typical day look like for you as General Counsel for HUD? e typical day is one that cuts across many different tasks and activities, so it is a cornucopia of different things. First, I'm a manager. e Office of General Counsel has a budget approaching $100 million and more than 500 employees, most of them lawyers. ere is a lot involved in simply keeping our trains running. I am also Counselor to HUD Secretary Ben Carson. Whatever is important to the Secretary on a given day is what's important to me. e Secretary travels a fair amount, but when he's in the office, I typically visit with him once or twice a day on various priorities that he has. A third focus would be on policy or pro- grammatic areas, such as reworking our Sec- tion ree regulations or initiating litigation, or HUD's EnVision Centers, which offer HUD- assisted families access to support services that can help them achieve self-sufficiency. I also work with other agencies, parts of the admin- istration, or Congress, as well as brokering policy differences either within the department or even within the Office of General Counsel. You might be shocked that lawyers don't always see things the same way. I am also HUD's designated agency eth- ics official, so ethics matters all roll up to me eventually. How did your past work, such as your time serving as legal advisor for the Alabama Affordable Housing Association, prepare you for this role at HUD? First and foremost, I'm fortunate to have some subject-matter experience with what is at the core of the mission of HUD, which is affordable housing. 've worked in that area for nearly 30 years in private practice and have had the opportunity over that time to work in a hands-on way with many of the programs that HUD administers. Almost as importantly, I have the perspective of understanding that, in many cases, what the department does is just one piece of the puzzle. Local land-use rules matter. e equity that's provided by investors matters. e manner in which the managers can market the project matters. ere are a lot of things that have to come together to have widespread and cost-effective affordable housing. I have an appreciation of the fact that there are a lot of things that need to be brought into consideration. On the flip side, the federal government is a really complicated beasts that I have had less experience with, and so I have been fortunate to be able to rely on career colleagues as I get up to speed on things like the Merit Systems Protection Board and the budgetary process on the hill. "What the department does is just one piece of the puzzle. Local land-use rules matter. The equity that's provided by investors matters. The manner in which the managers can market the project matters. There are a lot of things that have to come together to have widespread and cost-effective affordable housing." COUNSEL'S CORNER LEARNING LESSONS FROM DIVERSE COURT CASES J. Paul Compton General Counsel, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

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