Douglas Rainbow (Paralegal)
Mr. Rainbow, a paralegal, is a transplant from Minnesota where he practiced law for thirty-seven years. In High School he was active in student government, athletics, and speech competition. He was the regional debate champion for two years and edited his high school yearbook.
Mr. Rainbow attended the University of Minnesota, where he graduated with honors after only two-and-a-half years of intense study. He also wrote for the yearbook and appeared in university plays. After his graduation from the University of Minnesota Law School, he went on to become a staff member of the Minnesota Law Review, a student-edited law journal reserved for the academic top 10 percent of the class. While in law school, Mr. Rainbow worked as the program coordinator for The Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Agency.
After law school, Mr. Rainbow was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Though he served as a Legal Officer, he qualified as a Tank Unit Commander. In the Army, Mr. Rainbow prosecuted and defended over 250 felony level cases, including cases of first-degree murder and armed robbery. Mr. Rainbow served his final year of duty to his country in Thailand as Chief Legal Officer of a base operation in a deep-water port. He was appointed a United States Claims Commissioner for Southern Thailand where he adjudicated millions of dollars of maritime and other important claims.
Mr. Rainbow’s private-sector professional affiliations include a partnership in a boutique law firm for twenty years; two-and-a-half years in a 120-attorney firm, Mooty & Bennett; and ten years in his own practice. During this time, he represented Ford Motor Credit Corporation and Chrysler Credit Corporation for twenty-five years in various consumer and dealer financing litigations. Mr. Rainbow also handled personal injury and medical malpractice cases, recovering more than $10 million in awards for his clients. To round out his vast experience, Mr. Rainbow litigated more than thirty eminent domain cases, several immigration deportation cases, and contested wills. He has represented three judges in personal matters, including professional discipline inquiries against them.
In 2003, Mr. Rainbow moved to Florida expecting to retire. He soon discovered that the idle life was not for him and began working as a real estate specialist for Palm Beach County. After a year in government service, he missed the faster pace of private legal practice, and joined Cousins Law Firm as a paralegal. Mr. Rainbow, a published poet, continues to write poetry and short stories and still enjoys tennis, chess and singing to his wife and teen-aged son.