Best Law Firms in Texas for Litigation - Intellectual Property

Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing or AZA, is home to true courtroom lawyers who provide clients with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation including energy, trade secret, intellectual property, construction, and business dispute cases.

AZA earned a coveted rating for its work in Texas commercial litigation in the 2014 -2021 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, published by Chambers and Partners which is recognized worldwide for its prestigious guides to the legal profession. AZA was named First-Tier in Commercial Litigation in Houston by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America in their rankings of the nation’s Best Law Firms. Likewise, AZA was named a Recognized Firm by Benchmark Litigation—the definitive guide to America’s leading litigation firms and attorneys.

In 2015, AZA was recognized as one of only 10 boutique firms nationally by Law360 for successfully challenging the nation’s biggest law firms. The list of Top 10 Boutiques includes firms that are on par with the biggest firms but less expensive and more accessible to clients. Likewise, AZA was named among the “Most Feared Law Firms” by corporate counsel at major U.S. companies, as surveyed by the leading legal research group BTI Consulting. The 40 firms across the country on the 2015 list were chosen on the basis of extensive interviews with 300 general counsel and in-house litigation counsel at top-spending companies and organizations. In addition, AZA was chosen the 2015 and 2019 Litigation Department of the Year by the publishers of Texas Lawyer newspaper. The annual honor recognizes the Texas-based litigation firms that have excelled during the previous year based on courtroom results. Just three general firms are chosen statewide for having the top litigation departments.  AZA, a powerhouse with fewer than 40 lawyers, claimed the top spot in the small-firm category. 

Dedication to clients, coupled with the ability to prevail in the courtroom before judges and juries alike, is why so many general counsel across the U.S. know AZA. It’s also why corporate counsel have named AZA one of the law firms with the best client service of those serving the Fortune 1000. In fact, AZA has been hired on many occasions by the same companies the firm has prevailed against at trial.

More than 900 legal professionals in 26 offices across the country collaborate seamlessly at Barnes & Thornburg to field the right team for you. As one of the 100 largest law firms in the United States, we put our collective experience across legal disciplines to work so you can conduct business in today’s changing marketplace. For more information, visit us online at www.btlaw.com.

Burns Charest's founders were partners and attorneys at some of the finest commercial litigation boutiques in the nation. In 2015, Warren Burns and Daniel Charest came together to build a new, aggressive platform to pursue their clients’ interests.

We know that experience matters to clients and judges. And we have it. Our lawyers have actually tried a complex class action to verdict, served as co-lead counsel in multi-district litigation, secured a $106 million judgment in the first of the 2008 mortgage meltdown cases to go to trial, obtained significant settlements in royalty-owner disputes, and regularly represented individuals and businesses in complex, bet-the-company cases.

We currently serve as co-lead counsel in national antitrust and commodity class actions. We represent numerous royalty owners in disputes against oil and gas giants. We serve hundreds of individuals whose lives have been threatened by exposure to asbestos. And we are helping landowners clean up decades of environmental damage.

We have a strong team. Our lawyers are some of the most experienced and talented of their generation, and we are happy to match our credentials against others.

Our focus is on the future. We believe firmly that our nation’s legal system was designed to protect individuals and businesses from the wrongdoing of others and to assure a level playing field. As lawyers, we have an incredibly important role to play in making that system work for our clients. And we will not shy away from a fight to protect their interests.

We are Burns Charest LLP. 

Practice Areas:

• Antitrust
• Arbitration
• Asbestos
• Business Disputes
• Class Actions & Consumer Protection
• Energy
• Environment
• Intellectual Property
• Toxic and Mass Tort Litigation
  

CM Law, formerly known as Culhane Meadows, was founded in 2013 through a visionary alliance of four attorneys who came together to build a different kind of law firm. The founding attorneys had collaborated for more than 15 years at several prominent national firms and shared a common vision: create a firm built around exceptional legal talent, strong client relationships, and a more efficient approach to delivering legal services.

From the beginning, CM Law was designed to challenge the traditional law firm model and focus resources where they matter most—on clients and their legal needs.

How is CM Law different from the traditional law firm model?

CM Law was founded on the belief that clients should not have to pay for the high overhead and inefficiencies traditionally associated with large law firms.

We leverage emerging technology and innovative ways of working to deliver sophisticated legal services efficiently, while avoiding unnecessary expenses such as extravagant office space, excessive support staff, elaborate artwork, marble columns, and other overhead that does not add value to the client experience.

Our approach allows us to remain focused on what matters most: providing high-quality legal counsel, responsive service, and meaningful value to our clients.

What does it mean to be a Client Minded Advocate® at CM Law?

At CM Law, we recognize that every legal matter exists within a larger business context. Whether a client is a growing business or a sophisticated in-house legal department, legal issues are often connected to broader objectives—including market demands, financial considerations, regulatory requirements, organizational culture, diversity and inclusion, and social or marketing goals.

That is why our attorneys approach each matter with an understanding of the client’s bigger picture. Rather than viewing a legal issue in isolation, we work to understand the business objectives behind it and develop practical strategies that help our clients achieve those goals.

How does CM Law bring together the right legal talent for its clients?

We cultivate cross-disciplinary, client-centered teams of attorneys with extensive legal experience and real-world business knowledge. By drawing on the collective capabilities of attorneys across practices and industries, we can assemble teams that are tailored to the specific needs of each client and matter.

This collaborative approach allows our clients to benefit from the depth and breadth of a full-service national law firm while maintaining the personalized attention and responsiveness they expect from their trusted legal advisors.

What role does inclusion play at CM Law?

Inclusion is fundamental to who we are—not simply concepts we discuss, but principles reflected in the way our firm is structured and operated.

As the largest national, full-service, women-owned and managed law firm in the United States, CM Law is proud to demonstrate its commitment through action. Our demographics and growth tell an important part of that story, as does our unique, objective, and fully transparent compensation system.

We believe meaningful inclusion requires more than statements or initiatives. It requires creating an environment where talented attorneys have opportunities to succeed, contribute, lead, and be recognized for the value they bring to the firm and our clients.

What makes CM Law’s approach successful?

Ultimately, our success is driven by our people and our commitment to our clients. We are privileged that so many business owners and in-house legal departments trust CM Law with their legal needs. That trust is a reflection of the exceptional legal work, responsiveness, business-minded perspective, and personal commitment of our attorneys.

Our model is intentionally designed to put those qualities at the center of the client experience—combining sophisticated legal counsel with efficiency, collaboration, transparency, and a genuine understanding of what our clients are trying to accomplish.

Founded in 1997, Texas-based Hicks Thomas LLP is a premier litigation firm representing plaintiffs and defendants across the nation with offices in Houston, Austin, Beaumont and Amarillo, Texas, and Sacramento, California. The firm provides in-depth experience in cases involving oil and gas, environmental, complex commercial, toxic tort, construction, products liability, corporate governance, securities, banking, insurance coverage, transportation, trade secrets and business litigation.

Practice Areas:

• Appellate Practice
• Business Litigation
• Commercial Arbitration
• Environmental Litigation
• International Arbitration
• Construction Litigation
• Offshore Energy Litigation
• Oil & Gas Litigation
• Securities Litigation
• Toxic Torts
• Trade Secrets
• Transportation Litigation
• Labor and Employment Litigation

Kelly Hart & Hallman has been a trusted provider of comprehensive legal services to some of the most innovative and successful businesses, individuals, and governmental entities in the country for over four decades. Our exceptional lawyers and exceptional clients have been instrumental in our continued success. Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP, also known as Kelly Hart, is a leading business-to-business law firm offering a wide range of legal services. With a team of more than 160 attorneys specializing in over 20 substantive areas of the law, we deliver creative and strategic legal solutions to address our clients’ most intricate business challenges.

Our esteemed client base includes Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, individuals, foundations, investor groups, and governmental entities, all of whom rely on us for their legal needs. Our extensive areas of practice encompass administrative law, appellate law, aviation law, banking and finance law, business reorganization and bankruptcy law, corporate and securities law, energy law, environmental law, estate planning and probate, government enforcement and investigation, health care law, intellectual property and technology law, labor and employment law, litigation, nonprofit organizations, oil and gas/energy law, public finance law, real estate law, tax law, transportation law, and water law.

At Kelly Hart, we are committed to delivering exceptional legal representation and value to our clients, utilizing our depth of knowledge and experience across various legal disciplines.

Anthony Magee is an Oxford-educated, former English barrister, who has practiced law in Dallas since 1993. His practice encompasses all types of complex disputes, particularly proceedings in federal courts and before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board, trademark applications in the Trademark Office and petitions at the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board.

Anthony Magee's experience includes representing both plaintiffs and defendants in commercial litigation and patent and trademark infringement litigation in a wide range of businesses and services, including telecommunications, media publishing, technology education, aviation, business management software and technologies, medical devices, tissue engineering, semiconductors and health care management systems.

He has worked extensively in complex litigation and arbitrations relating to large-scale information technology outsourcing contracts and many other types of business disputes, including professional partnership disputes, contractual and trade secrecy disputes relating to professional sports teams, and litigation relating to real estate, commercial mortgage-backed securities, and auction rate securities.

McDermott Will & Schulte is an international law firm serving businesses, institutions and individuals across a wide range of legal matters. With offices throughout the United States and Europe, including Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Frankfurt and Washington, D.C., the firm advises clients on complex transactions, regulatory concerns, litigation and industry-specific challenges. Since first earning attorney recognition in 1983, the firm has continued to build a broad legal practice shaped by changing markets and evolving client needs.

The firm is known for its work in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, tax law, health care law, intellectual property and high-stakes litigation. Its attorneys also counsel clients in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence law, fintech, privacy and data security, biotechnology and life sciences. McDermott Will & Schulte represents clients ranging from growing companies to multinational organizations, helping them navigate business decisions, disputes and regulatory matters with practical legal guidance.

McDermott Will & Schulte has earned recognition across numerous practice areas in Best Law Firms rankings, including bankruptcy and restructuring, employment law, real estate law, securities regulation, patent law, antitrust law and international trade and finance law. The firm also has 357 lawyers recognized by Best Lawyers, reflecting peer-reviewed acknowledgment across a broad range of legal disciplines.

Clients turn to McDermott Will & Schulte for counsel that is strategic, business-minded and tailored to the industries they serve. Whether handling cross-border transactions, intellectual property disputes, health care compliance or complex commercial litigation, the firm focuses on delivering clear legal solutions that align with each client’s long-term objectives.

Miller Fair Henry PLLC is a leading law firm with 4 lawyers recognized by Best Lawyers across 4 practice areas. The firm's tenure with Best Lawyers began in 2018. Having lawyers recognized in Best Lawyers' purely peer review process emphasizes the lawyers credibility and reputation for their practice amongst their peers in their practice area and region. It displays professional validation of the legal talent that Miller Fair Henry PLLC has on their team. The firm has lawyers recognized in practice areas including: Litigation - Intellectual Property, Litigation - Patent, Intellectual Property Law and Commercial Litigation.

Miller Fair Henry PLLC is also ranked by Best Law Firms in 2 practice areas. The Best Law Firms rankings are founded on a time-tested and transparent research process that has remained consistent since Best Lawyers launched it in 2010. Miller Fair Henry PLLC has 2 rankings in 2 practices. Echoing their Best Lawyers awards and team of top legal talent.

Founded in 1990 by noted trial lawyer Mark Lanier, The Lanier Law Firm is recognized as one of the premier trial law firms in the United States. The firm’s experienced trial attorneys represent companies and individuals across the country from offices in Houston, New York, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth.

The firm’s vast trial experience includes substantial verdicts in cases involving asbestos exposure and mesothelioma, serious personal injuries, product liability, dangerous drugs, business fraud, and other civil litigation. The firm also is noted for its work defending some of the country’s largest companies. For example, in 2016, Mr. Lanier won two federal trial jury verdicts that together totaled more than $1.5 billion in litigation over metal-on-metal hip implants manufactured by DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., a subsidiary of New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson. In April 2014, Mr. Lanier and the firm won a record verdict against pharmaceutical giants Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Eli Lilly & Co. over the dangerous side effects of the diabetes medication Actos, which ranked as the 7th largest verdict in U.S. history. More recently, Mr. Lanier secured a historic $4.69 billion verdict against Johnson & Johnson in the first trial verdict to affirm the link between asbestos-laden talcum powder and ovarian cancer.

Although record-setting legal victories are a firm trademark, the primary focus remains with Mr. Lanier’s original vision to provide “the highest quality legal care delivered in an honest, professional manner to enrich the lives or businesses of our clients.” Every attorney at The Lanier Law Firm is committed to solving clients’ problems while working toward favorable legal resolutions.

Mr. Lanier serves as the firm's lead litigation counsel and is recognized as one of the nation’s top trial lawyers. In addition to his Best Lawyers in America recognition, Mr. Lanier was named Lawyer of the Year in Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions by Best Lawyers and has been highlighted among the top 10 attorneys in Texas in the annual Texas Super Lawyers magazine, and featured in Texas Lawyer’s “Go-To Guide” as the state’s premiere personal injury attorney and as one of "The 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century."

The National Law Journal has recognized Mr. Lanier as one of the nation's Top 10 Trial Attorneys on two different occasions and highlighted him as one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers in America" and one of the "Decade's Most Influential Lawyers." Following his victory in the nation’s first trial over the pain medication Vioxx, Mr. Lanier was described in The New York Times as “one of the top civil trial lawyers in America.”

Chambers USA and The Legal 500 ranked The Lanier Law Firm among the nation's leading firms for work in Plaintiffs' Product Liability and Mass Tort Class Actions. Editors of The National Law Journal named The Lanier Law Firm among its list of Elite Trial Lawyers and as the nation's top-ranked law firm in the area of Medical Device Litigation.

A strong supporter of his alma mater, Mr. Lanier earned his law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1984. He remains active at Texas Tech by serving on the Law School's Foundation Board and was previously honored as the Texas Tech University School of Law Distinguished Alumnus.

Another hallmark of The Lanier Law Firm is its dedication to professional and community involvement. Mr. Lanier is the founder of the Christian Trial Lawyers Association, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create a network of principled attorneys to minister to others through civic-minded endeavors. Mr. Lanier also serves on the board of trustees for the Committee for Economic Development, a group of business and education leaders committed to improving the growth and productivity of the U.S. economy and greater opportunity for all Americans.

All the firm’s attorneys and staff support numerous local charities, including Houston’s SIRE therapeutic equestrian centers, Los Angeles’ Midnight Mission, the San Francisco non-profit Legal Services for Children, and New York’s Bowery Mission Children of Bellevue.

"It's More Than A Case. It's A Cause."