Paula Hinton – Shattering the ‘Second Glass Ceiling’ & Winning Billion-dollar Trials

© 2017 The Texas Lawbook.By Janet Elliott HOUSTON (March 29) – With $3 billion in potential pollution fines on the line, Houston litigator Paula Hinton showed Harris County jurors a photo of herself from 1965. No, she told them, she was not the adorable little blonde with the Dutch-boy haircut; she was the gawky preteen wearing cat-eye glasses, Hinton recalls with a laugh. It was a lighthearted moment during opening statements. It also was the moment when she planted the defense theory: that in 1965 — when paper mill waste containing dioxin was buried in pits on the banks of the San Jacinto River — it was a different era with different rules. “That both humanized her to the jury, but also conveyed the point that we were talking about something that happened many decades ago,” said her co-defense counsel Barrett Reasoner, noting the risk that such a stunt could come across as hokey. Hinton, a partner at Winston & Strawn, is known for connecting with juries, simplifying complex issues and resolving stalled disputes. She is in the prime of a career that has included many pro bono cases and longstanding work to encourage women lawyers. It’s no surprise that…