DALLAS – The Best Lawyers in America, the longest running peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Mike McKool, co-Founder and Chairman of McKool Smith, the 2013 Dallas M&A Litigation “Lawyer of the Year.”
The publication compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting in-depth, comprehensive surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. Only one lawyer in each practice area in each community is honored as “Lawyer of the Year,” based on high ratings they received for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.
Mr. McKool has earned a national reputation for rigorous case preparation and superlative trial skills. During his legal career of more than 30 years, he has secured billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients. Since founding McKool Smith in 1991, his leadership and courtroom achievements have helped the firm grow from an eleven attorney litigation boutique in Dallas to a national litigation powerhouse with more than 180 trial lawyers. He is consistently recognized as one of the top litigators in the country by leading legal publications, including The Legal 500, Lawdragon, and Chambers USA, where he is ranked as a leading national trial lawyer and “Band 1” in commercial litigation and intellectual property litigation. He is also ranked as a “Band 1” patent litigator in the United States by Chambers Global. Mr. McKool is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a member of the Advisory Council of the Federal Circuit, and serves on the Advisory Board for the “Patent Case Management Judicial Guide,” used by federal district judges. In 2012, he was named "Trial Lawyer of the Year" by the Dallas Bar Association.
With more than 175 trial lawyers working as an integrated team across offices in California, New York, Washington, D.C. and Texas, McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America’s leading trial firms. The firm has been recognized by The National Law Journal and VerdictSearch for winning more Top 100 verdicts than any other U.S. law firm during the past three years. McKool Smith represents leading clients across a broad range of practice areas, including complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and white collar defense.