Attorney Profiles

Paul D. Schoonover
Dallas, Texas


phone	(214) 712-4470
fax	(214) 265-7411
email	Email Me vCard

Paul has a broad business and insurance litigation practice involving commercial disputes of all types, including contractual, antitrust and securities, and both insurance coverage and defense. As insurance defense counsel, Paul has defended lawyers, accountants, and other professionals in professional-negligence and related actions. As insurance coverage and defense-monitoring counsel, he has counseled insurers on complex coverage questions, and assisted in coordinating defenses, in connection with the trial and settlement of major claims such as legal malpractice claims brought against lawyers and financial institutions' directors and officers by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Paul's business transactional experience complements his business and insurance litigation practice enabling him to bring to all his litigation engagements a business perspective that often is not found in those specializing in litigation.

Paul's practice has included corporate transactions (including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, asset-purchase transactions), securities, commercial lending (representing institutional lenders and borrowers), and sports and entertainment law. Paul has represented professional athletes, owners of sports franchises and local media personalities. He has extensive experience negotiating employment contracts for both employers and employees.

Paul was a Certified Contract Advisor by the National Football League Players Association (1983-2002). He has been an Adjunct Lecturer in Sports Law, Southern Methodist University School of Law since 1993.

Paul has been selected as a Texas Super Lawyer" every year since 2003 in commercial litigation by the publishers of Law & Politics Magazine and Texas Monthly .

Paul has been selected by his peers for the last ten years as one of the best lawyers in America (commercial litigation and sports and entertainment) by the publishers of THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA.

Areas of Practice:: General Business Litigation; Professional Liability Litigation; Fidelity and Surety; Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith; General Business Representation; Sports & Entertainment

Certification/Specialties:: Certified Contract Advisor, National Football League Players Association 1983-2002

Bar Admissions:: Texas, 1972; U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas; U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas; U.S. District Court Western District of Texas; U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas; U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit; U.S. Supreme Court

Education:: Southern Methodist University School of Law, Dallas, Texas, 1972
Juris Doctor
Law Review: Southern Methodist University Law Review, Editor-in-Chief; Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, 1969
Bachelor of Arts
Honors: With Honors

Published Works:: Federal Declaratory & Injunctive Relief Under the Burger Court (Co-Author), 26 SW. L.J. 282, 1972; Discovery, Notice & Automatic Cancellation Under Revised Form 24, XVI Forum 962, January, 1981; "A Practical Primer on the Accountant's Professional Liability Policy", Southwest Practice Management Group, August, 1994; "What Lawyers Should Know About Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance", Dallas Bar Association; "When You Get Sued: What Your Liability Insurance Premiums Really Bought-And How to Be Sure You Get It", Business Litigation Symposium, May, 1997

Representative Cases:: Canutillo ISD v. National Union Fire Insurance Company, 99 F.3d 695 (5th Cir. 1996); Feld v. Zale (in re Zale Corporation), 62 F.3d 746 (5th Cir. 1995); Thigpen v. Sparks v. FDIC, 983 F.2d 644 (5th Cir. 1993); Bartley v. National Union Fire Insurance Company, 824 F. Supp. 624 (N.D. Tex. 1992); Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. Conner, 973 F.2d 1236 (5th Cir. 1992); Dahl v. Akin, 630 F.2d 277 (5th Cir. 1980); Southwest Bank & Trust Co. v. Bankers Commercial Life Ins. Co., 563 S.W.2d 329 (Tex. Civ. App.-Dallas 1978); Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Brooks, 548 F.2d 615 (5th Cir. 1977); Washington v. Estelle, 525 F.2d 1213 (5th Cir. 1976); Barker & Bratton Steel Works, Inc. v. North River Ins. Co., 541 S.W.2d 294 (Tex. Civ. App.-Dallas 1976); Triton Oil & Gas Corp. v. E. W. Moran Drilling Co., 509 S.W.2d 678 (Tex. Civ. App.-Fort Worth 1974)

Classes/Seminars Taught:: Adjunct Lecturer, Sports Law, Southern Methodist University School of Law, 1993 - Present

Honors and Awards:: Texas Super Lawyer, 2003 - Present; "The Best Lawyers in America"

Professional Associations and Memberships:: Dallas Bar Association; Member & Past Chair, Sports & Entertainment Law Committee; American Bar Association; Member, Fidelity & Surety Committee; State Bar of Texas, Insurance Law Section; Member & Past Chair, Professional Liability Committee; Sports Lawyers Association; Member

Fraternities/Sororities:: Phi Alpha Delta