A year or so ago, former U.S. District Judge Alan Albright realized he was ready to make the next — likely the final — move in his long career in the world of patent and intellectual property litigation.
“I started really missing being a trial lawyer and the practice,” Albright, who officially retired Aug. 31, told The Texas Lawbook in an interview Tuesday. “I’d watch during trials and lawyers would do something, and I would be old and grumpy and I would text my clerks: ‘They should have done this,’ or ‘That’s stupid.’”
Albright, a former patent litigator who dramatically altered the national patent infringement legal landscape in 2018 when he made Waco and the Western District of Texas one of the hottest jurisdictions in the world for intellectual property litigation, officially retired Monday. He announced Tuesday that he has joined A&O Shearman as a partner in its Austin office.
During his eight years on the federal bench, Albright oversaw thousands of patent infringement cases and 55 patent trials. He said he was most proud of mentoring his law clerks, while noting that in-depth examinations of his judicial record show that plaintiffs and defendants won nearly equally often in his courtroom.
Albright said a small handful of law firms were on his shortlist, but A&O Shearman stood out because it has an Austin office — “I wanted to stay in Austin” — and the firm’s global reach, its IP expertise and its excitement to have him join its ranks.
“Every time I met a new group of A&O Sherman lawyers, I liked them better,” he said. “I’m like, oh my God, these are all great people.”
“The only thing I compare the enthusiasm they show to me is my dog, Mandamus, when I get home at night,” the retired judge said. “He’s the only one that’s been as enthusiastic about me as the firm has been in a long time.”
Albright said the “quality of people was exceptional.”
“In the patent space, I learned that A&O is one of the top firms in Germany, which is one of the real hot spots right now for patent litigation,” he said. “Now let me promise you, I’m not going to appear in any court in Germany or the UK, but … the opportunity to represent clients and work with lawyers of this quality all over the world was great.”
“After eight years talking to over 100 juries, I really felt like I would be uniquely positioned to talk to clients, not only in the United States, but in Europe and in Asia, about how to prepare themselves for litigation in the United States and really be a good counselor from the time they either chose to file a lawsuit or a lawsuit was filed against them,” Albright said. “I think I could really do a good job of predicting for them what would happen, depending on where they were. I’m pretty familiar with most of the more important patent venues in the United States.”
Thad Behrens, managing partner of A&O Shearman’s Texas operations and co-head of the firm’s commercial litigation practice, said Albright joining the firm “is really a dream come true.”
“Not only does he add the obvious patent trial heft to our already market leading IP litigation practice, but he has a trial lawyer’s mindset and a mentoring point of view. And that’s just going to be a huge benefit to not only our clients around the world, but to our lawyers who are going to be raising their game in the courtroom. All of those things are hugely valuable.”
Behrens said Albright’s hiring is impactful across its offices in 47 countries.
“We’re deeply embedded with clients around the world,” he said. “And you’ve reported a lot about the phenomenon of migration of within the U.S. to Texas, both in terms of companies and banks. What gets overshadowed a bit is the level of foreign direct investment in Texas. And so when we go around the world talking to our clients about what the value proposition is in Texas, one, they already know, and two, they tell us they’re coming and what they really want is to have lawyers here on the ground who are of the stature of the partners that they deal with in their own countries.”
“Our ambitions for Texas growth are large. And you’ve seen some recent hires — you’re going to see more. And IP litigation is one of those market-leading litigation practices that we need nationally,” Behrens said. “And to have Judge Albright join the ranks is going to be a huge thing for us.”
Emily Westridge Black, the managing partner of A&O Shearman’s Austin office, said that Albright’s hiring “shows the commitment that we have to IP litigation, but also to Texas.”
“For the types of clients that we serve, IP litigation is a massive, massive part of their litigation budget. It is a board-level concern, and they need people with Judge Albright’s stature advising them on that,” Black said. “For us, as a platform, Texas is really critical. A lot of our key clients are here. The ones that aren’t here are on their way here. And we are really trying to build and have made great strides toward building a team that can service every client fully in Texas. We are full-service here, and we are growing as quickly as we can.”
Albright, who is 66, said he is operating on a “five-year horizon,” with a softer target of stepping away when he turns 75.
“My plan is to build up the firm, the Texas offices and hopefully others with really high-quality IP trial lawyers,” he said. “And I couldn’t go to any of them and say, ‘Please come to A&O Sherman,’ regardless of how good a firm it is, if I didn’t plan on being here. Now, whether or not the firm will keep me for five years, you know, that we’ll see.”
“I have a great commitment from the firm that, in my opinion, we need to do everything we can at this point to help younger lawyers,” Albright said. “I really love the idea that if a young lawyer is about to take a deposition, or about to do his or her first Markman [hearing] or about to argue a first motion in a court, that they can call me and talk to me for an hour or so. And [I can] really hold their hand and prepare them. That to me is what we have to do for the next generation. I’m very excited about doing that, too.”