Payne&Fears

Tel: 949.797.1212
Fax: 949.851.1212
jlp@paynefears.com

James L. Payne is a partner at Payne & Fears LLP where he specializes in the representation of companies in all aspects of employment law and related civil litigation, including wage and hour litigation and consulting, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, labor management relations and union arbitrations.  Mr. Payne has a practice focus in the subfield of wage and hour law, as both an advisor and litigator.  He has served as the lead litigation counsel in dozens of wage and hour class action cases ranging in size from a few hundred to over 250,000 putative class members.

Mr. Payne is ranked by his peers as a Southern California Super Lawyer, one of the Top 50 Super Lawyers in Orange County, California, and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of labor and employment law.  He is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Section of both the American Bar Association and the Orange County Bar Association.

Mr. Payne lectures extensively to business, civic and legal groups on topics relating to labor, employment and trade secrets law.  For twenty years, he has served regularly as an author and lecturer for the University of California’s Continuing Education of the Bar on the subject of labor and employment law.  While in law school, Mr. Payne served as Articles Editor of the Loyola Law Review and was a member of the Saint Thomas More Law Honor Society.

Mr. Payne serves as a pro bono Arbitrator for the Orange County Bar Association’s Mandatory Fee Arbitration Program.  He is a Founding Member of the Orange County Bar Foundation, Society of Fellows, and is a partner in the Southern California Special Olympics.

Prior to forming Payne & Fears LLP, Mr. Payne was a partner in the Employment Law Department of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.  He previously served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Thomas Tang, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.