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James Payne is a legal writing specialist with two decades of experience in financial litigation and issues of international economic law.  He is Special Counsel to firms litigating financial derivates and commodities cases. These cases include the largest settlements in that field. His writing clarifies complex financial issues into targeted advocacy accessible to various audiences. In addition, James translates legal discovery from three foreign languages into original English language work product.

At WCL, Professor Payne created the International Legal Studies Program (ILSP) writing curriculum to deploy new techniques that scale student capacity to write sophisticated legal arguments.  Alumni of his curriculum are a community whose members write for international law firms, organizations, courts and foreign ministries.  In addition, Professor Payne also coaches several WCL teams in international and US advocacy competitions.  Also, Professor Payne was the ILSP Associate Director from 2021-2022.

Before WCL, James served at the US Court of International Trade (USCIT) and the Supreme Court of Alabama. He also achieved the finals in five national and international moot court competitions.  James earned a JD from WCL, an MA (International Economics), and is the valedictorian of his LL.M. class at the University of Amsterdam (NL), where he earned 1st place in the faculty debates on public international law.  In 2008, James co-founded InTrust Global Investments and its’ INDI Fund, winner of the Inter-American Development Bank’s Beyond Banking Award for best new socially conscious platform, and subject of the documentary Changing the Paradigm.

Beyond WCL, James is a guest lecturer at academic institutions, is a trained classical guitarist, and is a Researcher in advocacy at the Folger Shakespeare Library.  James is licensed to practice in New York, Alabama, and before the USCIT.