McKool Smith Named a 2015 “Most Feared Plaintiffs Firm” by Law360

McKool Smith has been recognized as one of the country’s “Most Feared Plaintiffs Firms” by Law360, who noted that the firm has “raked in nearly $1 billion in verdicts and publicly available settlements from deep-pocketed opponents” over the past year. 

This is the second time in three years that the firm has earned this distinction. Honorees were selected based on their litigation wins in high-profile or complex cases from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015.  McKool Smith’s recent wins include the following achievements, among others:

• a $15 million verdict for Droplets;
• a $663 million final judgment for relator Joshua Harman; 
• a $36.5 million verdict for the developers of Canyon Ridge Resort; and,
• a $115 million settlement for a group of funds that invested in the failed Fontainebleau Resort and Casino project in Las Vegas.

Also, in February 2015, Bank of America disclosed in a public filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had reached a $300 million settlement with a group of  investors represented by McKool Smith who alleged that the bank breached its obligations as disbursement agent on the Fontainebleau project.  

The firm's feature profile includes commentary from McKool Smith principals Robert Manley, Sam Baxter, and Kirk Dillman, all of whom have secured significant plaintiff wins during the past year.

2015 has proved to be a banner year for McKool Smith. Along with a string of high-profile courtroom wins, in January the firm was named “IP Firm of the Year” by Benchmark Litigation. The firm was also honored by The American Lawyer at the 2015 Global Legal Awards in the “Global Dispute of the Year” category for its achievements in handling investigations related to Swiss tax settlements. McKool Smith’s most recent courtroom victory includes a complete defense win as lead trial counsel for Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. in a dispute against the state of North Carolina concerning ownership rights to a 45-mile stretch of riverbed and four hydroelectric dams on the Yadkin River under the constitutional equal footing doctrine.  With hundreds of millions of dollars of assets in dispute, the key factual question for trial was whether the Yadkin River was navigable for commerce at statehood.  Reconstructing the river’s condition over two hundred years ago, McKool Smith’s team obtained a decisive trial victory on the navigability of the river at statehood.  The Court then granted full judgment in Alcoa’s favor in post-trial motions on September 28, 2015. 

Click here to read the full profile.

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. Since 2006, the firm has secured nine nine-figure jury verdicts, as well as ten eight-figure jury verdicts. The firm has also won more VerdictSearch and The National Law Journal "Top 100 Verdicts" over the last eight 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 clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and white collar defense matters.