This article by Funky Zealot from gamepro.com looks at the Paladin class and how it works (or doesn't). In it he looks at the issues from the early days through to the upcoming release of patch 1.9 and tries to see where Blizzard is going with the class.

First off, let's get some things straight: the paladin has substantially improved for PvP over the last patch. And the strike system of the Beta paladin wasn't anything outstanding--especially when you consider that the wannabe Heroic Strikes consumed more mana at the cost of less damage.



Yet, fundamental problems still remain with the revamped Paladin class. It's not that Paladins are underpowered, weak, or even dull (Shaman dropping totems in PvE is almost as bad). At 1.9, Paladins are by no means a pushover. The problem is Blizzard poorly designed the class--and worse yet, doesn't know what to do with it.

You can read the whole article here