Paul S. Leslie

Taber Estes Thorne & Carr PLLC
3500 Maple Avenue, Suite 1100
Dallas, Texas 75219
Direct Dial: 214.599.4007
pleslie@taberestes.com
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Practice Areas

Managed Care Litigation
Health Care Litigation & Government Investigations
Commercial/Business Litigation
False Claims/Whistleblower Litigation
Electronic Discovery and Document Retention
Arbitration/Mediation
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Litigation

Practice Emphasis

Paul has over 22 years of trial experience both as an outside, large law firm attorney and as an in-house assistant general counsel of a Fortune 500 health care company where he was responsible for all enterprise-wide, non-insured litigation and government investigations. From a trial involving a $204 million jury verdict to a settlement involving over $900 million, Paul has extensive experience in bet-the-company cases. He has served as lead trial counsel in many large, complex matters. Through practicing as an in-house and outside attorney, Paul has developed a unique, client orientated focus for handling litigation and ADR. Having served in the in-house role, Paul has an acute appreciation for the role of litigation budgets and the need for delivering value commensurate with the results obtained.

Paul has served as the principal architect responsible for developing the trial and case management strategies for a diverse array of matters both as an in-house attorney and lead outside lawyer. He has extensive experience in managing trial teams of all sizes.

Paul also has considerable experience in negotiating and formulating creative solutions to complex disputes. For example, he resolved a commercial case involving the acquisition of a multi-million dollar cancer practice through the use of binding baseball arbitration with an added percentage reduction to the purchase price based on an assessment of the merits of the dispute by a neutral attorney.

Paul is also a certified mediator and has successfully mediated scores of cases. He has considerable experience with jury focus groups and mock trial activities used to refine trial strategy for complicated cases. His extensive expertise in developing and implementing cost-effective strategies for early case assessment and resolution including the following representative types of matters:

• Contract disputes, including managed care and commercial contracts
• Business torts (fraud; breach of fiduciary duty; negligent misrepresentation; tortious inference with contracts; misappropriation of trade secrets; unfair competition; business disparagement, libel and defamation; deceptive trade practices)
• Health care fraud & abuse
• False claims/whistleblower litigation
• Real estate and lease claims
• Extraordinary judicial relief (permanent and temporary injunctions and restraining orders; mandatory injunctions; accounting; and receivership)
• Bankruptcy adversary proceedings
• Class actions

Prior Work Experience

ASSISTANT GENERAL COUNSEL, TENET HEALTHCARE CORPORATION (2005-2010), Dallas, Texas Fortune 500 company that owns and operates over 50 general hospitals and other health care facilities in 12 states. As corporate counsel, Paul managed all uninsured litigation and government investigations while also managing at various times three other business groups (1) Managed Care Legal Unit (Contract and Litigation); (2) Certificate of Need matters; and (3) Records Management Department. He was responsible for managing a staff overseeing departmental budgets of several million dollars and management responsibility for departmental spending well in excess of $100 million.

Partner, Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, Trial Section (Full Service Commercial Litigation) (1995-2005)

Associate, Gardere & Wynne LLP, Trial Section (1992-1995)

Associate, Touchstone, Bernays, Johnston, Beall & Smith (Insurance Defense/Personal Injury/Product Liability) (1988 – 1992)

Briefing Attorney, The Honorable James A. Baker, Dallas Court of Appeals, 5th District of Texas (1987-1988)

Education

J.D., St. Mary's University School of Law (1987)

• Associate Editor, St. Mary’s Law Journal
• Dean’s List
• American Jurisprudence Awards in Appellate Brief Writing and Property
• Winner, Norvell Moot Court Competition; Best Brief Award, Norvell Moot Court Competition;
• Semifinalist, State Moot Court Competition 1987; Semifinalist, ATLA Mock Trial Competition;
• St. Mary’s Student Bar Association, Chairman, Student Relations Committee;

B.B.A. (Finance), Texas Christian University (1984)

Admissions and Affiliations

• Admitted to practice before:
• U.S. District Court for the Northern, Eastern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas
• U.S. District Courts of New Mexico
• Member, State Bar of Texas
• Member, State Bar of New Mexico
• Member, American Bar Association
• Former Vice-Chair, Energy Resources Committee of the Torts and Insurance Practice Section
• Member, Dallas Bar Association
• Member, The Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism
• Member, Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation

Community Activities

• Member, Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce
• Member, Programs Committee, Leadership Dallas Alumni Association of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce (2003-2006)
• Graduate, Leadership Dallas, Class of 2000
• Member, Board of Directors, Big Thought (2003-2009)
• Member, Community Affairs Committee, Dallas Business Committee for the Arts, (2003-2005)
• Graduate, Leadership Arts, Dallas Business Committee for the Arts, 2002
• Volunteer, Austin Street Shelter Mission Committee, First United Methodist Church of Coppell (2002-2006)

Publications and Speeches

• Speaker and Panelist, "Best Practices: Regulatory Compliance and Education Plans" (Negotiating and Operating under a CIA), False Claims and Compliance Seminar, Dallas Regional Chamber and K&L Gates (2009)
• Speaker and Panelist, "Legislative and Litigation Trends in State False Claims," False Claims and Compliance Seminar, Dallas Regional Chamber and K&L Gates (2009)
• Speaker and Panelist, "Client Service," Holland & Knight All Lawyer Meeting (2008)
• Speaker and Panelist, "Government Investigations - Practical Advice," Alston & Bird LLP Health Care Forum (2007)
• Speaker, "Internal Investigations - Best Practices," Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Law Department Meeting (2007)
• Speaker, "Top Ten Ways to Lose A Favorite Client, Tenet's Expectations of Outside Counsel, Tenth Annual Tenet Defense Counsel Meeting (2007)
• "Legal Perspective on Integrity in Financial Reporting," 2006 Tenet Financial Leadership Conference, Tenet Healthcare Corporation
• Speaker, "Loss and Litigation Contingencies: Legal's Role," (Reserve and SFAS 5 practices), Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Law Department Meeting (2006)