Paul D. Clote, Esq., joins JAMS in Houston as a seasoned dispute resolution professional with more than 1,100 mediated cases, as well as arbitration experience as sole, wing and chair arbitrator. Paul enjoyed a 40-plus-year litigation career handling trials and appeals of commercial and business disputes in a broad variety of Texas industries. 

As a litigator, Paul tried to verdict state and federal court cases involving fiduciary duties, partnership termination and windup, oil/gas operating agreements, letters of credit, business fraud and civil theft, trust account funds, broker commissions, ERISA disability benefits, child abuse, FLSA minimum wage and overtime claims, and an election contest. He has argued appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Texas Supreme Court and Texas Courts of Appeals.

Paul believes that experience counts and results matter. That is why diligence, preparation, persistence and integrity are the hallmarks of his alternative dispute resolution (ADR) work.

Paul’s more than 1,100 mediations include experience in the following representative areas:

Memberships and Affiliations

• Associate and Senior Life Fellow, American Board of Trial Advocates
• Texas Super Lawyers, Business Litigation and ADR, 2007–2025
• Credentialed Distinguished Mediator, Texas Mediator Credentialing Association, 2021–2025
• Honoree, Top Lawyers, Arbitration and Mediation, Houstonia Magazine, 2021–2022
• The Best Lawyers in America®, Commercial Litigation, 2015–2026; Arbitration, 2015–2026; Oil and Gas Law, 2024–2026
• Current Member and Past President (2018), Association of Attorney Mediators
• Past Board Member, Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals
  • Chair, 2008
  • Vice Chair, 2007
• Member, Houston Bar Association, 1977–2025
• Sustaining Life Member, Houston Bar Foundation
• Sustaining Life Member, Texas Bar Foundation
• Life Member, American Bar Association Foundation
• Member, American Bar Association, 1977–2025
• Adjunct Professor, Mediation and Conflict Resolution, Rice University
• Visiting Professor in Commercial Arbitration, National Law Academy of Odessa, Ukraine, University of Debrecen (Hungary) School of Law

Admissions

• Texas
• Colorado (Inactive)

Court Admissions

• Supreme Court of the United States
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits
• United States District Court for the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Districts of Texas

• Partner, McGinnis Lochridge, 2016–2025
• Principal, Law Office of Paul D. Clote, 1989–2016
• Partner, Shrader & York (aka Shrader, York, Clote, Hinds & Grote, LLP), 1983–1989
• Associate, Vinson & Elkins, Houston, 1977–1983
• J.D., With Honors, University of Texas School of Law, 1977
• B.A., Northwestern University, 1974