McKool Smith

McKool Smith is a U.S. trial firm with more than 175 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York City, Silicon Valley, and Washington, DC.

History

McKool Smith was founded in Dallas, Texas in 1991 by Chairman Mike McKool and Phil Smith. In 1996, the firm expanded into Marshall, in the Eastern District of Texas. McKool Smith launched an intellectual property litigation practice in 2000 with the opening of its Austin, Texas office. The firm enhanced this practice with the addition of an International Trade Commission (ITC) litigation practice and a new Washington, DC office in 2007. This same year, the firm opened an office in New York and added a white collar defense practice. In 2009, McKool Smith expanded into bankruptcy litigation with the opening of its Houston, Texas office. In September, 2011, McKool Smith announced the joining of Hennigan Dorman, a Los Angeles, California-based trial firm specializing in business disputes and IP litigation. The combination added 35 trial lawyers to McKool Smith’s ranks and launched the firm’s first California office. The combined firm, McKool Smith, conducts business as McKool Smith Hennigan in California.^[1]

Currently, McKool Smith represents clients in disputes involving complex commercial litigation, intellectual property (IP), bankruptcy, and white collar defense matters.

Recognition and Rankings

• A larger number of National Law Journal and VerdictSearch “Top 100 Verdicts” over the last five years than any other law firm.^[2][3]
• In 2012, the Chambers USA Guide ranked McKool Smith nationally in IP litigation and regionally in Texas for IP and Commercial litigation. Ten attorneys ranked individually as leaders in their field.^[4]
• In an August, 2012 Wall Street Journal article, McKool Smith is described as "...one of the biggest law-firm success stories of the past decades..."^[5]
• McKool Smith was ranked nationally as a leading firm for Intellectual Property in 2011 by The Legal 500, which stated that the firm is “…very professional and focused…and has its clients’ commercial interests at heart.”^[6]
• McKool Smith Hennigan was ranked a 2010 ‘Best Law Firm in California’ for Intellectual Property Law by U.S. News & World Report. On a national level, McKool Smith Hennigan was ranked for Bankruptcy and Creditor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law.^[7]
• In March 2011, McKool Smith, named one of the Top Four patent litigation firms in the U.S. in 2011 by Managing Intellectual Property magazine, received the publication's 2011 “Patent Case of the Year” honor for securing a $290 million judgment for i4i Inc. against Microsoft.^[8] The judgment was unanimously affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 9, 2011,^[9] and reportedly represents the largest U.S. patent infringement award to be affirmed on appeal.^[10]
• McKool Smith secured two of the ten “Biggest IP Litigation Wins of 2011,” according to Corporate Counsel Magazine, January 2012.^[3]
• The firm was named “IP Firm of the Year” in the Southern region of the United States by Benchmark Litigation magazine, March 2011.^[11]
• McKool Smith was named to The National Law Journal’s ‘Midsize Hot List’ 2009-2011 and to the magazine’s “NLJ 250 List” in 2012.^[12][13]

Notable Matters

i4i Limited Partnership

McKool Smith represents the plaintiff, i4i, in ongoing patent infringement actions against Microsoft (i4i Limited Partnership v. Microsoft Corporation, No. 6:07-CV-113 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas).

Versata Software

McKool Smith represented the plaintiff Versata Software (Versata Software Inc. v. SAP America Inc., 07cv153, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Marshall) in this patent infringement case. A federal jury in Texas found that SAP America Inc. infringed three claims of a Versata patent for product pricing software and awarded Versata $260 million in compensation and $85 million in royalties.^[14]

References

1. "Litigation Firms Planning to Merge" Wall Street Journal (9/1/2011)
2. "Texas Top 20 Verdicts" (PDF).
3. McKool Smith Scores Two of ’10 Biggest IP Litigation Wins of 2011,’ Corporate Counsel Magazine, (January 2012)
4. "Chambers USA Guide Profile".
5. "Patent-Litigation Specialist Diversifies". Retrieved February 7, 2013.
6. "The Legal 500".
7. http://bestlawfirms.usnews.com/firms/mckool-smith/overview/16152/
8. http://www.managingip.com/Article/3003955/North-America-Awards-winners-revealed.html
9. "Supreme Court of the United States Syllabus" (PDF).
10. "Largest Patent Infringement Verdict Ever Affirmed on Appeal". February 23, 2011.
11. "Benchmark Litigation IP Firm of the Year, 2011".
12. "2011 Midsize Hotlist". National Law Journal.
13. "2011 NLJ 250 listing". National Law Journal.
14. Law360, ‘SAP Hit With $345M Verdict In Versata Patent Suit,’ Roxanne Palmer, Portfolio Media Inc., May 13, 2011

External links

• Firm's website