Mike McKool, a Founder and Chairman of McKool Smith, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Texas Lawyer at the 2014 “Texas Verdicts Hall of Fame" reception held in Dallas on November 20, 2014.
"I want to thank the editors of Texas Lawyer for recognizing me with this lifetime achievement award. It’s such an honor," said Mr. McKool. “Over the past 40 years, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to represent a long list of industry-leading clients, and work with as well as litigate against many of the country’s best trial lawyers. This award is a testament to the unwavering support that I have received from my law firm, colleagues, and family over the years. I’m humbled by the recognition.”
Since founding McKool Smith in 1991, Mr. McKool’s leadership and courtroom achievements have helped the firm grow into a national litigation powerhouse. The firm’s courtroom successes are well-documented by VerdictSearch and The National Law Journal, which publish an annual listing of the “Top 100 Verdicts” in the United States. McKool Smith has won more “Top 100 Verdicts” over the last seven years than any other law firm. Since 2007, the firm secured nine nine-figure jury verdicts, as well as eight eight-figure jury verdicts, amounting to more than $2.4 billion in awards for firm clients. Also, according to Lex Machina, since 2000, McKool Smith has won more damages in patent litigation than any other law firm in the country.
Over the past 40 years, Mike McKool has tried more than 100 jury trials and secured billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients, which include major airlines and companies from the industrial, energy, telecommunications, and banking sectors, among others. He is consistently recognized as one of the country’s leading trial lawyers by legal directories such as The Legal 500, Lawdragon, and Benchmark Litigation, to name a few. In Chambers USA, he is ranked Band 1 in both commercial and intellectual property litigation. His Band 1 national ranking for “Trial Lawyers” puts him among an elite group of only 27 practicing trial lawyers in the country. In Chambers Global, he is again recognized as one of the country’s most esteemed trial lawyers, where he is ranked Band 1 in patent litigation, placing him among the top ranked 18 lawyers in the United States. Recently, he was named the 2015 Dallas Bet-the-Company Litigation “Lawyer of the Year,” by Best Lawyers in America.
Click here to view the feature article on Mike McKool as published in Texas Lawyer’s Verdicts Hall of Fame special supplement on December 1.
With more than 185 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C., McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America’s leading trial firms. Over the past eight years, the firm has secured nine nine-figure jury verdicts, as well as eight eight-figure jury verdicts. The firm has also won more National Law Journal and VerdictSearch "Top 100 Verdicts" over the last seven years than any other law firm in the country. Courtroom successes like these have earned McKool Smith critical acclaim and helped the firm become what The Wall Street Journal describes as “one of the biggest law firm success stories of the past decade.” McKool Smith represents leading clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and white collar defense matters.
