Mr Justice Stanley was born and grew up in London. He studied law at Downing College, Cambridge, and at Harvard Law School. He was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 1993, and practised commercial law, civil fraud litigation, and financial services law from Essex Court Chambers. Sir Paul was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2010, and became a Deputy High Court Judge in 2023. When he joined the High Court Bench in 2026, he became the first Commercial Court Judge to be appointed directly to the newly-created Business & Property Division.

Mr Justice Stanley is the author of a restatement of the law of confidentiality and co-author, with Commercial Court colleague Mr Justice Jacobs, of a text on the Bermuda Form, which is a widely-used form of liability insurance policy.