Carol C. Payne

Carol helps businesses and individuals solve their commercial and business legal problems, everything from addressing disputes before a lawsuit is filed to aggressively pursuing full-blown litigation and trials.  A lawyer for more than 20 years, Carol is experienced, creative, tough and prepared.  She understands the importance of each case to her clients, and she approaches each case with the same focus, intensity, determination and sheer will to win that has served her well since the beginning.  As a former big-firm lawyer, she knows how to provide high-quality legal services, but through a small-firm boutique platform that emphasizes personal service, responsiveness, and value.Carol handles a wide variety of business-related disputes in state and federal courts, in Texas and around the country, including breach-of-contract claims, real estate litigation matters, lender/borrower disputes, fraud and other business torts, and construction matters.  She also has significant experience representing lawyers and law firms, and she has successfully defended lawsuits for professional negligence and legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, and disqualification. Finally, she is a member of the American Arbitration Association's panel of arbitrators for commercial matters.Before joining Estes Thorne Ewing & Payne, Carol was a partner for almost 10 years with Vinson & Elkins LLP.  She has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in commercial litigation every year since 2006, and she has been recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer since 2014.  She is a former Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation’s Professional Liability Litigation Committee. She is also a former member of the Texas State Bar's Standing Committee on the Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.