Lear

Paula Lear has over 20 years of experience and focuses her practice on representing clients in civil trial and appellate litigation. Specializing in written advocacy, she has served as trial and appellate counsel in disputes involving the commercial, corporate and insurance sectors. She has experience handling complex civil disputes regarding contracts, tort, insurance, products, and real property, among others. Paula previously served as Staff Attorney for Justice Bob Pemberton at the Texas Third Court of Appeals. She also has several years’ experience as in-house corporate counsel for a corrugated packaging and building products company.

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Appellate & Written Advocacy
• Business Torts & Unfair Competition
• Catastrophic Events & Major Claims
• Class Actions
• Commercial Litigation
• Construction & Building Products Litigation
• Director & Officer Liability
• Insurance
• Real Estate Litigation
• Tort, Transportation & Specialized Litigation

• Represents clients in every stage of civil litigation, from pre-trial investigation and preparation through the appellate process.
• Experienced in all areas of commercial litigation, including conducting discovery and drafting pleadings, dispositive motions, special appearances, jury charges, and other pre-and post-trial motions.
• Assisted in representing fiber network company headquartered in Georgia in disputes with Texas landowners over installation of fiber optic cables.
• Assisted in representing a global renewable energy company in contractor-subcontractor disputes related to the development of solar photovoltaic plants in Texas.
• Assisted in representing a multinational power generation company headquartered in Illinois in negotiating agreements with various local governmental entities pertaining to renewable energy developments.
• Represented clients defending class-action matters involving computer manufacturer service contracts and insurance industry software use.
• Managed large-scale, complex discovery and electronic-document production for a multinational information technology client.
• Assisted in defending legislatively created Texas Windstorm Insurance Association in civil trials and administrative appeals regarding Hurricane Ike windstorm and hail damage claims.
• Served as in-house corporate counsel for a corrugated packaging and building products company, handling claims and litigation concerning contract disputes and products and premises liability, with a heavy emphasis on enforcing contractual indemnity clauses and additional insured provisions.
• Assisted in representing a family-owned waste services company in unfair competition claims against a Fortune 500 waste services company.

• Texas, 1997
• U.S. District Court
  • Texas: Western

• University of Houston Law Center, J.D., cum laude, 1996
  • Trial Advocacy Bench Trial, Best Advocate, 1996
  • Judicial Internship, Justice Nathan Hecht, Texas Supreme Court, Summer 1996
  • Hippard Mock Trial Competition, First Place, 1995
  • Summer Judicial Internship, Honors Award, 1995
  • Judicial Internship, Federal Magistrate Mary Milloy, Southern District of Texas, Summer 1995
  • Best Appellate Brief Award, First Year Legal Writing
• University of Texas, B.A., English, 1989

• State Bar of Texas
  • Civil Appellate Section
  • Civil Litigation Section
• Austin Bar Association
  • Civil Appellate Section
  • Civil Litigation Section
• Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association

• Co-Author, Renewable Energy Case Law Update – Texas, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Winter 2023) Edition of Section Report, State Bar of Texas – Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Law Committee

• Mother Attorney Mentoring Association (MAMAs Austin), Member