Caldwell Cassady & Curry, the Dallas-based commercial litigation and intellectual property law firm founded by three former McKool Smith attorneys, has brought on another veteran trial lawyer from the top-flight litigation shop.
Kevin Burgess, who was the managing principal of the Austin office and a member of the firmwide management committee at McKool Smith, is the first principal-level lateral hire in the history of Caldwell Cassady & Curry.
He is the ninth principal and 14th attorney overall at the boutique, which represents Match Group in its intellectual property dispute with dating app rival Bumble Trading Inc. that is in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Burgess says Caldwell Cassady & Curry’s business model and culture were important factors in deciding to join the firm.
“They have built a great firm and we represent the same types of clients in the same types of cases. I also appreciate the fact that they’re willing and able to work on a contingency basis just like me,” he said. “I’ve known Brad, Jason and Austin since we all worked together at McKool Smith. They are excellent lawyers and even better people.”
Firm principal Brad Caldwell first met Burgess 19 years ago when Caldwell interviewed for a summer clerkship in McKool Smith’s Austin office. The two worked together quite a bit over the next several years.
One patent case in particular is still “etched” in Caldwell’s mind. He describes it as “the rare patent case that requires you to obsess over bloody gloves and pork ribs.” It was also the case where Caldwell put on his first trial witness. He credits Burgess with jumping in shortly before trial, mentoring him and playing a key role in winning a $250 million verdict.
“I’ve known for many, many years that Kevin is wicked smart, very talented and a person I’d love to stand next to in the practice of law,” Caldwell said. “In my mind, Kevin is someone you create space for if he’s willing to join your firm.”
Burgess earned his law degree and a doctorate in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University. After law school, he clerked for Judge William C. Bryson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He then moved to Austin in 1999 to join Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, where he practiced for one year before jumping to McKool Smith.
The most recent case Burgess tried was a 2018 win on behalf of PanOptis against Huawei in the Eastern District of Texas. The jury awarded his client $10.6 million in damages after finding that Huawei willfully infringed multiple PanOptis patents that cover wireless communications and video-coding technology. The trial court also awarded PanOptis an additional $2.6 million in enhanced damages.
Burgess says the jury’s verdict was particularly gratifying for his client and trial team because of a number of challenges, including the fact that his client did not invent the original technology.
“There were several different products involved and the patents covered cellular communications and video encoding technologies that were unfamiliar to the jury,” Burgess said.
“Also, we decided not to call any inventors to the stand, which was a first for me. That meant we had to present a compelling story without any firsthand accounts of the ‘eureka moments’ that led to the technology and why the inventions were so important.”
Burgess is the sixth former McKool Smith attorney to join Caldwell Cassady & Curry. He has a client list that includes ParkerVision, SEVEN Networks, Odyssey Wireless and i4i.