From 1983 to 1987, he was an Associate Professor of Political Science at Hillsdale College, where he helped build and expand the small department of history and political science into one recognized nationally for academic excellence.

In 1988, Dr. Payne served as a clerk in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio and in 1990 became a clerk for the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.  He joined the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in 1991 as a Litigation Associate.   Cravath is one of the nation’s premier business firms, with IBM, CBS, and New York’s Chemical Bank as clients.   In his role as associate, Dr. Payne participated in cases involving securities regulation, first amendment law, patent infringement, and corporate governance.   Later, with the Philadelphia firm of Felheimer, Eichen & Braverman, he worked on antitrust, lender-liability, and bankruptcy cases.

Since 1995, he has been a sole practitioner of the law, handling a wide range of cases:   commercial leases, corporate governance, probate litigation, and post-decree divorce matters. Several of his cases have been reported in legal publications.   One of the most important is Ouellette v. The Christ Hospital (S.D. Ohio), which establishes that a claim is not preempted by the ERISA Law where the plaintiff alleges that the negligence of an HMO in establishing financial incentives for cost-containment caused malpractice by a physician.

Dr. Payne’s interest in government and politics is more than academic.  He has been a campaign worker for city council and congressional candidates, a precinct worker for Ronald Reagan’s gubernatorial and presidential campaigns, a regional political director for the Reagan-Bush Committee, and, as a member of the Reagan Transition Team, he helped prepare the final report on multilateral development banking.   Dr. Payne was retained as a consultant to the Office of Cultural and Education Affairs at the United States International Communication Agency (USICA) to research and write a history of cultural diplomacy of the United States.

He has been admitted to practice as a member of the Bar in Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania and is a member of both the Philadelphia Society and the Federalist Society.  He has published articles in political philosophy, arms control theory, and American politics and has been honored with the American Jurisprudence Book Award in Criminal Law and Professional Responsibility.