Education

J.D., University of Chicago, 1983.
B.A., with general and history department honors, The Johns Hopkins University, 1980.

Court Admissions

State of Texas
The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Ninth Circuits
The U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas

Bar Admissions

Dallas Bar Association
American Bar Associations
State Bar of Texas

Robert Elkin

Principal

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Robert Elkin is a Principal in the Dallas office of McKool Smith specializing in complex commercial litigation and strategic litigation planning in areas such as computer and telecommunications services, antitrust, securities, information technology, and class actions.

Mr. Elkin’s clients regularly seek his representation on their most significant disputes and potential disputes. Over the last decade, he has represented one of the world’s largest information technology companies in its major contract and intellectual property matters. Mr. Elkin has a wide range of experience in cases pending across the country in state and federal court and in arbitration. Representing both plaintiffs and defendants, he has obtained awards, court rulings, settlements, and business solutions worth billions of dollars to his clients. He is an author of Indirect Purchaser Standing in Antitrust Actions: Duplicative Liability in the Energy Industry, 11 ENERGY LAW JOURNAL 185 (1990).

Representative Matters

Electronic Data Systems Corporation. Since 1992, Mr. Elkin has represented EDS, one of the world’s largest information technology outsourcing companies, in its major contract and intellectual property disputes.

In EDS v. Computer Associates, Mr. Elkin represented EDS in a multibillion dollar antitrust, copyright, and contract dispute in Dallas and New York with one of the world’s largest software vendors. After EDS obtained an injunction and defeated the vendor’s attempts to impose court supervision over EDS’s computer operations, EDS obtained an enterprise-wide software licensing agreement on favorable terms. In addition, when EDS’s customers have attempted to avoid their contractual obligations, EDS has called on Mr. Elkin to investigate the issues and develop and implement integrated legal and business strategies to protect its interests. For example, in EDS v. Xerox, Mr. Elkin represented EDS in a contract dispute over Xerox’s attempt to cancel several hundred million dollars in services. After EDS defeated Xerox’s motion to dismiss and upheld the ruling on appeal, the case settled on favorable terms. In EDS v. WorldCom/MCI, Mr. Elkin represented EDS over the course of 5 years in several multibillion dollar arbitrations concerning the impact of the burst of the telecommunications bubble and a change of control contract provision on the parties’ ongoing contractual relationship. The disputes settled with the parties renegotiating their contracts on terms highly favorable to EDS.

All told, Mr. Elkin has represented EDS in customer and supplier disputes that have earned or saved EDS over several billion dollars. He also successfully represented EDS in multiple derivative suits, actions seeking indemnity and insurance coverage, and in state and federal class actions attacking EDS’s merger with Hewlett-Packard Company.

Freescale Semiconductor. Mr. Elkin has represented the leading chip manufacturer Freescale in numerous complex commercial and intellectual property disputes that have resulted in settlements worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Freescale.

Parkland Hospital. When Parkland Hospital’s computerized patient record and billing systems crashed, it hired Mr. Elkin to not only investigate and prosecute claims against Parkland’s IT services vendor, but also obtain a business resolution that successfully terminated Parkland’s contract with the vendor.

Santa Monica Amusements. Mr. Elkin represented the company that owns and operates the Santa Monica amusement park on the Santa Monica Pier when it was sued by Dallas venture capitalists over a failed transaction to buy the park. He successfully prosecuted a motion to dismiss the case.

Gulf South Pipeline Company, LLP. In Wyble v. Gulf South Pipeline, Mr. Elkin represented an interstate natural gas pipeline against a class of landowners seeking to have a court-appointed master take control of the pipeline system due to alleged violations of the Pipeline Safety Act. After the Eastern District of Texas entered a landmark ruling denying the plaintiffs standing to bring most of their claims, the case settled on favorable terms for the pipeline company.

Non-Profit Antitrust and Fiduciary Litigation. Representing the court-appointed guardian of a wealthy mentally incapacitated woman who had been victimized by nonprofit organizations that had assumed control of her wealth and marketed financial products to her, Mr. Elkin obtained a landmark Fifth Circuit ruling that nonprofit organizations could be sued for price fixing under the antitrust laws and, in a related lawsuit for breach of fiduciary duty, obtained a settlement giving the woman financial independence.

Awards & Recognition

He is listed in the guide to the Best Lawyers in America and his peers named him to the Texas Super Lawyers list.

Recent Matters

Paul Derobbio, et al. v. Santa Monica Amusements, LLC, et al.,