"It is imperative that one deals in positives--no negatives, no excuses and never any raised voices on the team. As has been said by others, 'if you don't see that light at the end of the tunnel, stride down there and light it yourself."

Paula Hinton is a partner in Vinson & EIkins L.L.P.'s litigation and international arbitration sections. Her practice focuses on representing businesses in complex civil litigation. She has assisted businesses in courtrooms across the country and in arbitration forums to resolve a wide variety of disputes, including those concerning contracts and general business issues, consumer disputes, environmental issues, fraud investigations, trademark and trade secret issues, technical litigation and numerous class actions. Hinton is currently chair of United Way of Texas Gulf Coast's Women's Initiative program. And, since 2000, she has served as chair of the Texas Supreme Court Gender Bias Task Force Implementation Committee. Hinton also serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Houston School of Law Foundation and from 2000- 2003 served on the Board of Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, Inc. Hinton received her B.A. and M.P.A. from the University of Alabama. Afterwards, she attended the University of Alabama School of Law where earned her J.D. Hinton was named one of The Best Lawyers in America in 2008, one of the "Texas Super Lawyers" in business litigation from 2003-2007 by Texas Monthly and recipient of the 2004 Woman on the Move Award by Texas Executive Women and the Houston Chronicle.

Houston Woman Magazine ]une/July 2008