Long-time IP Lawyer Robert Turner Joins McDole, Kennedy & Williams

by Jessica Huseman, Staff Writer

Robert Turner, who has practiced intellectual property law for 45 years, has left Jones Day’s Dallas office to become a partner at McDole, Kennedy & Williams, PC, a boutique law firm focused on intellectual property and corporate litigation.

“Robert is one of the most respected IP attorneys in North Texas. His 45 years of experience in patent, trade secret, trademark and copyright matters is unparalleled,” said Steve Kennedy, founder and partner at McDole, Kennedy & Williams.

Turner began as a partner at Jones Day in November of 1990. After he turned 65 in 2004, he stepped down and requested to become of counsel. Turner said he is leaving because Jones Day agreed to make him of counsel for an “indeterminate amount of time, and that time was kind of running out.”

Turner said taking the offer at McDole Kennedy & Williams will allow him the flexibility to pursue what he was not allowed to pursue at Jones Day, including mediation and expert witness testimony. It also allows him to keep removed up his teaching position at the University of Texas law school, where he serves as an adjunct professor and teaches a course on the enforcement of intellectual property.

“I really love the opportunity to mold young lawyers,” he said. “It was important to me that I was able to continue to do that, and I’m happy this opportunity allowed me to.”

Turner, who Kennedy calls one of the “most versatile litigators in the profession,” has been practicing IP litigation for more than four decades, with a primary emphasis on patent infringement cases. He has worked in numerous cases as an arbitrator, mediator, special master, technical advisor and consultant or expert witness, and has served as past chairman of the Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar of Texas.

“I respect McDole, Kennedy & Williams’ outlook on the practice of law by recruiting highly respected legal authorities in core areas of commercial litigation, IP and employment law, while maintaining low overhead and charging reasonable fees,” said Turner. “I’m looking forward to helping grow McDole, Kennedy & Williams into one of the leading corporate and intellectual property litigation firms in Dallas.”