Intellectual property lawyer Natalie Alfaro Gonzales has joined Yetter Coleman as a partner, the Houston boutique announced Tuesday.
Gonzales was previously a partner at Baker Botts, where she co-led the firm’s energy tech sector.
Her hiring is a “strategic addition,” said Tracy LeRoy, a Yetter Coleman management committee member, who described Gonzales as a “dynamic, leading IP litigator” in the state.
Jeff Andrews, leader of the firm’s IP practice group, added: “Expanding our group’s footprint in high-stakes, sophisticated intellectual property litigation is a critical initiative for the firm.”
LeRoy and Andrews praised Gonzales for her litigation experience, as well as community service efforts. Gonzales has served in the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston, the Texas Minority Counsel Program and the women in tech, law and policy group ChIPs.
Gonzales worked for Baker Botts as a summer associate in 2008 and returned to the firm in 2010. She clerked for Chief Judge Leonard E. Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas after graduating from the University of Houston Law Center. Gonzales has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas.
“Yetter Coleman’s reputation in the courtroom is unmatched,” Gonzales said. “I am excited to work with the team to strengthen the firm’s IP trial practice further.”
Below is The Lawbook’s interview with Gonzales.
You were with Baker Botts almost your entire legal career, right? What made you decide to leave?
I started my Baker Botts career as a summer associate in 2008, clerked for one
year after law school, and began as an associate in 2010. Baker Botts is a great
law firm with an incredible IP team. I always said it would take a very unique
opportunity to pull me away from Baker Botts and that unique opportunity
presented itself this year. Yetter Coleman offered an opportunity to expand the
firm’s footprint in IP litigation while also growing and elevating my IP trial practice
at one of the nation’s premier trial boutiques.
What was it about Yetter Coleman that attracted you?
Yetter Coleman’s reputation in the courtroom is unmatched and the lawyers are
top-notch. Fit was a critical consideration for me. Yetter Coleman’s team,
including Yetter’s IP Trial Practice leader Jeff Andrews, offered a welcoming and
collaborative culture that was the perfect fit for my personality and practice. I
could not be more excited to join the Yetter team and work with Jeff and the team
to further strengthen the firm’s IP trial practice.
What were some of your biggest legal successes during your time at Baker Botts?
Some of my biggest legal successes at Baker Botts were pre-trial as a direct
result of good lawyering, strategic motion practice, and creative arguments. For
example, in a competitor patent and trade secret case, we represented the
plaintiff in both the district court case and in defending against an attack of our
client’s patent at the PTAB. Our strategic wins throughout the case resulted in a
winning eve-of-trial settlement. I also recall a great result in a patent case where
we obtained a judgment of invalidity for indefiniteness during Markman, resulting
in a complete dismissal. More recently, a series of tactical wins defending a
patent infringement case, including a successful transfer and favorable Markman
ruling, ultimately led to settlement at a fraction of the plaintiff’s starting demand.
Last, but certainly not least, was a favorable settlement of a false advertising case
three days into trial, at the end of our case-in-chief as the plaintiff.
What trends are you seeing in IP litigation?
Everyone is talking about the drop in the number of patent cases filed, but it
appears the cases that are filed are higher-value and are driving an upward trend
in damages awarded at trial. Over the last several years, we saw an increase in
the use of litigation funding in patent cases, which led to increased scrutiny and
litigation funding disclosure requirements in some courts. Latest reports show
litigation funding is in a state of flux due to a dip in deal commitments.
Will you please tell us about your work in professional Hispanic organizations and other diversity initiatives and why is your involvement in those important to you?
I have served on the Board of the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston (HisBA)
for many years and served as its President last year. HisBA is important to me
because it aims to not only advance Hispanic lawyers in our profession, but also
support the next generation of lawyers. HisBA does that in two critical ways
–first by providing scholarship dollars to high school, college and law school
students, and second by providing much-needed mentoring directly to the
pipeline. If experienced lawyers do not make time to mentor and train our next
generation of lawyers, we will not see desperately needed progress in diversity
and inclusion. The Texas Minority Counsel Program and the Foundation for
Advancement of Diversity in IP Law have similar missions and initiatives for a
broader group of underserved communities.
The FTC just came down with its ban on non-competes. What are clients asking you about the impact of this ban and what are you telling them?
Because the FTC’s rule is currently being challenged, it’s important for clients to
monitor the progress of those lawsuits and consider the potential impact a
noncompete ban will have on their trade secret policies and procedures. If
noncompete agreements are off the table, clients will want to take a closer look at
their confidentiality, non-disclosure, and non-solicitation agreements to ensure
they provide as much protection as possible against disclosure of trade secrets
and other IP theft. Clients would also be wise to take inventory of trade secrets,
increase measures to safeguard those trade secrets, and take care to limit
disclosures as necessary and appropriate for the particular technology at issue. It
is also as important as ever to make sure client employee policies and
agreements regarding confidentiality and trade secrets are adequate and most
importantly, understood and acknowledged by employees.
What types of questions are you getting from clients on the use of AI?
Many of my clients’ questions on the use of AI have centered on the benefits
associated with developing internal AI systems and the risks associated with
building, testing, and maintaining those in-house systems. In addition, as AI is
quickly evolving and copyright law plays catch up, clients are keeping track of
the rapid developments in AI and the copyright litigations related to advanced
generative AI that are likely to shape the future of both AI and copyright law.