Paul H. Berens was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1949. He graduated magna cum laude from St. Louis University in 1971 and received his law degree from St. Louis University College of Law in 1974. From 1974 through 1978 he served as a Captain in the United States Air Force in the Department of the Judge Advocate General.

He concentrates his practice in primarily creditors' rights in both commercial and bankruptcy matters, representing numerous lending institutions and credit corporations throughout the State of Missouri. He has published various articles in his practice and has lectured for the Missouri Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the University of Missouri School of Law and the Missouri Bankers Association. Together with former bankruptcy Judge Joel Pelofsky, now the acting United States Trustee, he co-authored Chapter 12 procedures and substance of the Missouri Bar Bankruptcy Deskbook.

Mr. Berens is a member of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, the Commercial Law League of America, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Missouri Bar Association and Cape Girardeau County Bar Association. In 1993 Mr. Berens was inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy. He was the 1999 recipient of the Excellency in Bankruptcy Award presented by the Missouri Bar Association.

Mr. Berens is married to Carol Wheeler Berens and they have three sons.