Benchmark Litigation has recognized Mike McKool and Douglas A. Cawley and among the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America” in the publication’s 2018 edition. The attorneys were selected based on the strength and consistency of positive client/peer feedback, as well as their proven achievements at bench and jury trials.
Benchmark Litigation is the only directory to focus exclusively on the U.S. litigation market. The publication's identification of the leading U.S. trial attorneys and firms is the result of extensive interviews with private practice lawyers and in-house counsel. Benchmark Litigation is published by Euromoney Institutional Investor, a leading international business-to-business media group.
As chairman and a founder of McKool Smith, Mike McKool is largely responsible for creating what The Wall Street Journal describes as “one of the biggest law firm success stories of the past decade.” Over the course of his 40-year career, Mike has tried more than 100 jury trials and developed an enhanced understanding of the psychology that governs how juries decide cases. He was recently recognized as The American Lawyer's "Litigator of the Week" following his success as lead counsel for legendary music producer Quincy Jones in securing a $9.4 million jury verdict against the Michael Jackson estate in a breach of contract and royalty dispute. Mike has been profiled as one of the Top 50 trial lawyers in the nation by Law360, which recognized his “reputation as one of the country’s top trial lawyers.” The article notes that he is “one of the best closers in the business” and “clients bring him in when a trial appears inevitable and they can't afford to lose." He is also described as having “unrelenting focus and preparation in the run-up to a trial, which is rare in its intensity.” He has received Texas Lawyer Lifetime Achievement Awards for both "Professional Excellence" and "Top Verdicts Hall of Fame." He has also received Benchmark Litigation’s Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding achievements in the legal profession and was awarded the Dallas Bar Association “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been selected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to serve on the Federal Circuit Advisory Council.
For more than 40 years, Douglas Cawley has been engaged in the trial of complex cases and has handled major intellectual property matters throughout the United States and across the globe. He has secured six “Top 100 Verdicts” that have amounted to more than $1 billion in verdicts for the firm’s clients. Mr. Cawley has been recognized as a “Trial Ace” by Law360, which noted that his “list of victories is replete with multimillion-dollar verdicts won against some of the deepest pockets in the corporate world,” and that “you can chalk [his] more than $1 billion in patent victories up to his way of wooing juries.” He has also been recognized as the Dallas "Patent Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers, "Outstanding IP Litigator (Texas)" by Managing IP, and "Litigator of the Year (South)" by Benchmark Litigation. Mr. Cawley is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the American Bar Association Section on Intellectual Property Law.