• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Sign up for email updates
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

  • Appellate
  • Bankruptcy
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Corp. Deal Tracker/M&A
  • GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.
  • Firm Management
  • White-Collar/Regulatory
  • Pro Bono/Public Service/D&I

IP Litigation Pair Return to Bracewell

December 11, 2019 Brooks Igo

Bracewell announced this week that it has fortified its intellectual property team by bringing back a couple of firm alumni.

Austin litigators Michael Chibib and Conor Civins, both graduates of the University of Texas School of Law, have returned to the Texas-based firm after practicing for the past five years at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

Bracewell leaders point out that Texas, and the Western and Eastern Districts of Texas in particular, continues to be a popular venue for patent litigation. Recent data shows that the Western District, which includes Austin and Waco, has surpassed the Eastern District’s decade-plus reign as the most popular jurisdiction in the state for businesses and individuals to file patent lawsuits.

The shift has occurred as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods and the arrival of U.S. District Judge Alan Albright to the Western District of Texas bench in September 2018.

Chibib, who is a former general counsel of the Austin-based alternative energy company Active Power, represents companies in the semiconductor, telecommunications, electronics and software fields. He also has an active post-grant practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Civins handles commercial litigation matters in addition to patent litigation, trademark and trade secret disputes. He has argued before the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Chibib and Civins are two of 10 Bracewell alumni in Texas who have rejoined the Houston-based firm over the past two years after practicing elsewhere. The duo identified three main reasons for their decision to return: the people and culture; the opportunity to better serve their clients, particularly in IP litigation matters in the increasingly active Waco Division of the Western District; and the firm’s strengths as a litigation and transactional firm in the energy and technology sectors.

Bracewell’s newest additions are currently handling a trade secret matter and a trademark matter in the Waco Division of the Western District.

The two lawyers count Trilogy Software, BMC Software, Nautilus and Slyce as clients.

Brooks Igo

Brooks Igo is the publisher at The Texas Lawbook and covers lateral moves.

View Brooks’s articles

Email Brooks

©2025 The Texas Lawbook.

Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specific licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.

If you see any inaccuracy in any article in The Texas Lawbook, please contact us. Our goal is content that is 100% true and accurate. Thank you.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Stories

  • P.S. — Pro Bono Work Honored at State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting
  • Dr Pepper Gets Win Ending $1B Distribution Rights Fight
  • Complications for ‘Die Hard’ Star’s Flight That Netted $1M Award Mostly Upheld by Fourth Court of Appeals
  • DOJ, Boeing Respond to 737 Max Settlement Objections 
  • Merit Street Media Hires Sidley to Lead Bankruptcy

Footer

Who We Are

  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Submit a News Tip

Stay Connected

  • Sign up for email updates
  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Premium Subscriber Editorial Calendar

Our Partners

  • The Dallas Morning News
The Texas Lawbook logo

1409 Botham Jean Blvd.
Unit 811
Dallas, TX 75215

214.232.6783

© Copyright 2025 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.