© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate – (July 10) – Becoming one of Texas’ most respected IP lawyers was a dream come true for Hilda Galvan, who is a first generation high school graduate in her family.
This week, a new dream came true for her when she became Jones Day’s next partner-in-charge of the firm’s Dallas office.
Galvan is an anomaly in a world where law firm leaders who are both minorities and women are few and far between, but at Jones Day, she’s not the first Hispanic woman to lead one of the firm’s Texas offices.
The first is her predecessor, Pat Villareal, who has stepped down as Dallas partner-in-charge to devote more of her time to her securities litigation practice. Villareal served in the position for three and a half years.
Galvan, who has been at Jones Day for 18 years, officially assumed her new role Wednesday.
Before becoming partner-in-charge, Galvan was the hiring partner of the Dallas office. She is also the coordinator for the firm’s Texas IP practices and has served on the firm’s advisory committee.
Galvan said finding a replacement Dallas hiring partner is on her to-do list, and she anticipates that another partner will take on her coordinator role.
A big focus for Galvan as Dallas partner-in-charge will be to continue Jones Day’s “vision for Texas,” which she described as building on the synergy that the firm’s Dallas and Houston offices have with Jones Day’s multiple global offices.
“We have 41 offices all over the world… and Texas is becoming more and more international,” she said. “Texas companies are moving out to the rest of the world, and international companies are coming to Texas.”
Galvan said the greatest accomplishment in her career isn’t a particular item, but rather it’s where she is in her career.
“There are not a lot of senior women who practice patent litigation,” she said. “To be one of them and to be well-respected is my greatest career accomplishment.”
As one of the few Hispanic women in the legal industry who plays a significant leadership role at a law firm, Galvan said she hopes her new achievement as Dallas partner-in-charge will inspire more attorneys – regardless of their background – to develop a can-do mindset.
“Given my background, I’d like for folks to look at that and say, ‘If she can do it, there’s not any reason I can’t,’” Galvan said. “I want women to think that, men to think that, and lawyers of color. It can be done.”
Galvan grew up in El Paso, a city she described as predominantly Hispanic with very traditional values in regard to the distinct roles that men and women play. Although neither of her parents graduated from high school, Galvan said they were still big believers in education for their children, and they encouraged her and her siblings to pursue subjects they were interested in.
Always a lover of math and science, Galvan began programming at a young age. In high school, through the help of an educational engineering youth outreach program conducted by the University of Texas at El Paso, Galvan explored her options and decided that she wanted to be an engineer. She received her electrical engineering degree from UT El Paso in 1985 (and was one of the few women in her program), and got a job at Southwestern Bell in the IT department.
Five years later, she decided to pursue a law degree, and received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1993.
Now she is one of the most successful and respected patent litigators out there. She focuses her work on complex, high-stakes patent litigation across various technologies, including semiconductor equipment and processes, telecommunications, computer technology, software and Internet applications and circuit design.
She has defended clients in various patent infringement cases, including private software company giant SAS Institute, DIRECTV, Apple, Compass Bank and Sensus.
Though it was not a courtroom win, Galvan said the case she is most proud of was a patent infringement dispute involving her client Sercel, which is a French seismic acquisition equipment company.
Sercel was accused of infringing a Houston-based company’s patent for sensors that measure oil and gas. Although the jury sided in favor of the Texas company, Galvan said she was able to significantly minimize the damages found liable by her client. By doing so, Sercel submitted Galvan’s name for recognition as a top defender in the Dallas area.
“Sometimes you measure success on, ‘Did I win or did I lose?’” she said. “You take losses hard, but it was a win at the end of the day because the client believed it was.”
Galvan’s favorite thing about Jones Day, she said, is that it is a firm willing to give all of its attorneys opportunities, and then leaves the rest up to them to succeed.
“Oftentimes, you’re not fortunate enough to get the opportunity – it’s up to you to go out and make it happen, and you don’t always get that,” she said. “[Jones Day] is willing to give all of its lawyers an opportunity. It’s another reason why I’m partner-in-charge: they gave me the opportunity to succeed in this role.”
If there’s one thing Galvan admires about the legal industry, it’s the amount of pro bono that attorneys voluntarily dedicate to the less fortunate in their communities. But if she could change one thing about the profession, it would be getting rid of the motive to become a lawyer for the money – something she sees often with law students.
“If you’re going into the legal profession because you want to make money, it’s the wrong reason,” she said. “You have to have a passion for the law – or doing transactions or putting businesses together.
“If you went into [law school] for the right reasons, you’ll come out of it O.K.”
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