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McKool Smith PC

United States 2025

Overview

Content is provided by the firm.

With more than 150 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, and New York, McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America’s leading trial firms. Since 2006, the firm has secured 11 nine-figure jury verdicts and 13 eight-figure jury verdicts. The firm has won more National Law Journal and VerdictSearch “Top 100 Verdicts” over the last 10 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, insurance recovery, bankruptcy, and white collar defense matters.

MAIN AREAS OF PRACTICE:

Complex Commercial Litigation:

McKool Smith’s commercial litigators handle antitrust, appellate, arbitration, bankruptcy, consumer protection, contract, corporate governance, energy, fiduciary duty, real estate, securities, shareholder, and whistleblower litigation. The firm has represented clients in every conceivable venue, including state and federal trial and appellate courts and domestic and international arbitral forums.

IP Litigation:

Our courtroom track record in intellectual property cases is unrivaled. The firm represents clients in all aspects of intellectual property litigation, including patent litigation, ITC/Section 337 disputes and investigations, copyright, trademark and false advertising litigation, and trade secret disputes. Many of the firm’s attorneys hold technical degrees and have previously worked as engineers or scientists, and our ranks include six former Federal Circuit clerks. McKool Smith was named “IP Firm of the Year” by Benchmark Litigation for the second consecutive year, “Intellectual Property Group of the Year” by Law360 and “Plaintiff IP Firm of the Year” by Managing IP[DB1].

Insurance Recovery Litigation:

McKool Smith’s award-winning insurance recovery practice comprises more than 30 trial lawyers across offices in New York, Texas and California. For more than 30 years, the team has represented corporate policyholders in high-stakes coverage and liability disputes against their insurance providers. Collectively, the firm’s lawyers have obtained more than $10 billion in insurance-related recoveries for clients across a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, chemicals, media and entertainment, pharmaceuticals, financial services, education, and healthcare, among others.

Bankruptcy Litigation:

Our bankruptcy litigators prosecute and defend complex lawsuits arising under bankruptcy and related state and federal laws on behalf of trustees, debtors, creditors’ committees and other parties. The firm also represents clients in complex reorganization proceedings and out-of-court restructurings. McKool Smith’s attorneys have litigated complex multi-party disputes in courtrooms and forums throughout the U.S. and were among the first called before Congress to provide insights on proposed changes to the Federal Bankruptcy Code.

White Collar Defense:

McKool Smith’s white collar practice is led by former federal prosecutors with decades of experience in virtually every type of government enforcement action. We have represented both companies and individuals in a variety of criminal matters, including allegations involving securities fraud, insider trading, bank fraud, tax violations, price fixing and other antitrust violations, racketeering, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), environmental violations, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), government procurement violations, insurance fraud, and political corruption. The firm’s attorneys also regularly serve as court-appointed monitors and guide major corporations, boards and committees through sensitive internal investigations.

International Work:

McKool Smith represents international clients in US courts and international arbitration proceedings. The firm has represented many multinational corporations in countries across the globe, including Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the UK.

Clients:

McKool Smith clients include American Airlines, Ericsson, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), Halliburton, Lennox International, Nationstar, Nokia, ParkerVision, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, TIAA-CREF, TiVo, and Verizon, among many others. [DB1]Verify the latest stats for 2019.

Rankings

McKool Smith PC is nationally ranked in 9 practice areas and metro ranked in 12 practice areas. Best Law Firms rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process.

Read how Best Law Firms ranks firms

National Rankings

Tier 1
Tier 1 for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
Tier 1 for Litigation - Bankruptcy
Tier 1 for Litigation - Patent
Tier 2
Tier 2 for Commercial Litigation
Tier 2 for Litigation - Intellectual Property

Metro Rankings

Austin
Tier 1 for Litigation - Intellectual Property
Tier 1 for Litigation - Patent
Dallas/Fort Worth
Tier 1 for Bet-the-Company Litigation
Tier 1 for Commercial Litigation
Tier 1 for Insurance Law

Highlighted Client Comments

All client comments represent the opinions of the people who provided them. All potential clients are urged to remember that no two cases are ever completely alike and that the result in one case does not guarantee a similar result in another case.
Litigation - Intellectual Property
McKool Smith houses some of the best minds in litigation anywhere. Lew LeClair and Robert Manley are brilliant, relentless and creative trial lawyers who should make anyone worry if they are across the table.
Commercial Litigation
Robert Manley is a master in the courtroom. I've seen him lead a team through bet-the-company litigation in multiple venues at once. He's a great big-picture leader and excellent at distilling complex legal topics into simple to understand concepts that are persuasive at trial. I hope I never have another case like that one but if so I'm calling Robert.

Rankings

National Rankings

Tier 1
Tier 1 for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
Tier 1 for Litigation - Bankruptcy
Tier 1 for Litigation - Patent
Tier 2
Tier 2 for Commercial Litigation
Tier 2 for Litigation - Intellectual Property
Tier 3
Tier 3 for Insurance Law
Tier 3 for Litigation - Banking and Finance
Tier 3 for Litigation - Mergers and Acquisitions
Tier 3 for Litigation - Securities

Regional Rankings

Austin
Tier 1 for Litigation - Intellectual Property
Tier 1 for Litigation - Patent
Dallas/Fort Worth
Tier 1 for Bet-the-Company Litigation
Tier 1 for Commercial Litigation
Tier 1 for Insurance Law
Tier 1 for Litigation - Banking and Finance
Tier 1 for Litigation - Bankruptcy
Tier 1 for Litigation - Insurance
Tier 1 for Litigation - Intellectual Property
Tier 1 for Litigation - Mergers and Acquisitions
Tier 1 for Litigation - Patent
Tier 1 for Litigation - Securities
Tier 2 for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
Tier 2 for Litigation - Antitrust
Houston
Tier 1 for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
Tier 1 for Litigation - Bankruptcy
Tier 1 for Litigation - Intellectual Property
Tier 1 for Litigation - Patent
Los Angeles
Tier 1 for Commercial Litigation
Tier 2 for Insurance Law
New York City
Tier 2 for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
Tier 2 for Litigation - Bankruptcy
Tier 2 for Litigation - Patent
Tyler
Tier 1 for Bet-the-Company Litigation
Tier 1 for Commercial Litigation
Tier 1 for Litigation - Intellectual Property
Tier 1 for Litigation - Patent

Practice Areas

The below are areas of legal specialty volunteered by the firm and do not designate a specialty in which a Best Law Firms ranking is held.
  • Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
  • Bet-the-Company Litigation
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Criminal Defense: White-Collar
  • Insurance Law
  • Litigation - Antitrust
  • Litigation - Banking and Finance
  • Litigation - Bankruptcy
  • Litigation - Intellectual Property
  • Litigation - Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Litigation - Patent
  • Litigation - Real Estate
  • Litigation - Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy)
  • Litigation - Securities
  • Litigation and Controversy - Tax

Individuals Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America®

McKool Smith PC has 21 lawyers recognized for individual performance in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. By receiving this Best Lawyers recognition from their peers for their professional excellence, these lawyers made McKool Smith PC eligible for evaluation for Best Law Firms rankings. For almost two decades, Best Lawyers has awarded these singular accolades, making them the foundation of our Best Law Firms awards. Read more about our Best Lawyers process here.
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Client Comments

All client comments represent the opinions of the people who provided them. All potential clients are urged to remember that no two cases are ever completely alike and that the result in one case does not guarantee a similar result in another case.
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Main Location

Office Locations

Management and Personnel

Managing Principal
David Sochia
Chairman
Mike McKool
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