Paulette Miniter is an associate in the Dallas office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. She practices in the firm’s Litigation Department, representing a wide range of clients in difficult or significant disputes.

Paulette brings a special combination of courtroom experience and a facility with complex legal issues to advise clients and achieve successful results. She has played a lead role in managing complicated or large cases, including from the earliest stages of litigation to trial and appeal, and she has argued and briefed successfully in federal and state trial and appellate courts.

Paulette was recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for 2022-2024 (Commercial Litigation and Appellate Practice), and for 2021 (Commercial Litigation).

She previously practiced law at a Chambers-ranked litigation boutique in Dallas and served as a law clerk to Judge Catharina Haynes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Paulette earned her law degree from the University of Virginia, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and was an editor for the Virginia Journal of International Law. Before practicing law, Paulette was a journalist for national news organizations in New York and Washington, D.C.

Paulette enjoys being active in the community and legal profession. She serves on the board of the nonprofit organization New Friends New Life, and she is a member of Orchid Giving Circle at Texas Women’s Foundation. She has also served as appointed counsel as a member of the Fifth Circuit’s Pro Bono Panel, is co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Delaware Corporations Subcommittee-Commercial & Business Litigation Committee, and she is a past co-editor for the American Bar Association’s Corporate Counsel Committee Newsletter. Paulette is also active in alumni activities as a member of the Rotunda Society and a mentor for the UVA Lone Star Lawyers 1L Mentorship Program.

Representative Cases

• Represented global investment firm and individuals in a challenge to personal jurisdiction in Texas court; case voluntarily non-suited.
• Represented publicly-held bank in state court action filed after bankruptcy of a debtor; obtained summary judgment on affirmative breach of guaranty claim and obtained summary judgment on counterclaim for breach of fiduciary duty.
• Represented former directors and officer in litigation initiated by unsecured creditors’ trustee appointed in large bankruptcy case and seeking in excess of $100 million. Successfully argued and briefed motion to confirm that automatic stay did not apply to proceeds of director-and-officer liability insurance proceeds.
• Represented a national broadcast television station company in a contract and fraud dispute with a major content distributor in the Commercial Division of the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.
• Aptive Environmental, LLC v. Town of Castle Rock (10th Cir. 2020) – Successfully briefed precedent-setting commercial speech rights case, obtaining full affirmance of the trial court’s ruling on the unconstitutionality of a curfew on commercial door-to-door solicitation.
• United States v. White (5th Cir. 2021) – Appointed by the Fifth Circuit as lead counsel to argue and brief a challenge of ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment.
• Barcus v. Scharbauer (Tex. App.—Dallas 2021) – Successfully argued and briefed issues relating to claims of breach of contract, fraud and civil conspiracy resulting in a favorable, unanimous decision.

Publications

• Protecting Information Provided to the Government, ABA Corporate Counsel
  
• Mandamus in the Fifth Circuit: An Extraordinary Remedy, Except When it Isn’t, Texas Lawbook
• Tips for a Better Direct Examination, Dallas Bar Journal
• Advocating for Change and Thought Leadership as In-House Counsel, ABA Corporate Counsel
• Removal to Federal Court After the November 2018 Elections: More Incentive, But Less Receptiveness?, Texas Lawbook