McKool Smith Principal Robert Manley has been inducted as a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (IATL), an invitation-only fellowship of leading trial lawyers from the United States and around the world. The induction took place during the Academy’s 2026 International Meeting in Paris and Cannes, France.
Founded in 1954, the Academy limits its membership to 500 active trial lawyers in the United States, along with more than 150 Fellows from 30 other countries. Fellowship is extended by invitation only, and only after a vetting process that includes both peer and judicial review, to lawyers who have distinguished themselves by their skill in the courtroom and by careers marked by professionalism and integrity.
Robert is also a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, into which he was inducted in 2025.
Robert has over 33 years of experience trying high-stakes, high-profile cases across the nation. His courtroom achievements include several defense and plaintiff verdicts, as well as a VerdictSearch “Top 100 Verdict.” Most recently, he helped lead the McKool Smith team that secured a $1.4 billion settlement for the State of Texas against Meta Platforms/Facebook. The settlement was announced on July 30, 2024, and is the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single state.
Robert also served as lead trial lawyer for the plaintiffs in a will contest dispute that made the front page of The Wall Street Journal. He has successfully tried a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, fiduciary duty, investor fraud, trade secret, commercial matters, and insurance coverage disputes. That record has earned Robert recognition across major legal directories, including Lawdragon, Benchmark Litigation, and Chambers USA, which rates him a Band 1 trial lawyer in Texas.
Robert has spent much of his career training the next generation of trial lawyers as the Program Director of the Dallas Trial Program for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.
Robert lives in Dallas with his college sweetheart, Dana Bradford Manley. He is an alumnus of the University of Tulsa, Southern Methodist University School of Law, the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, and the Pushkin Institute in Moscow.
With more than 130 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York, and Washington, D.C., McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America’s leading trial firms. The firm has secured 18 nine-figure jury verdicts and 16 eight-figure jury verdicts, obtaining more VerdictSearch and The National Law Journal “Top 100 Verdicts” than any other law firm. McKool Smith represents clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, insurance recovery, and white-collar defense matters.
