McKool Smith Austin Leader Jumps to Caldwell Cassady & Curry
Litigator Kevin Burgess rejoined former McKool Smith colleagues at Dallas trial boutique Caldwell Cassady & Curry, because he hopes to do more contingency-fee litigation.
April 29, 2020 at 05:46 PM
2 minute read
Kevin Burgess, principal in Caldwell Cassady & Curry in Dallas.
Looking to do more contingency-fee litigation, Kevin Burgess, who was managing principal of McKool Smith's Austin office, has joined his former colleagues at Dallas trial firm Caldwell Cassady & Curry.
Burgess was also a member of McKool Smith's firmwide management committee before his move April 1. The name partners at his new firm—Brad Caldwell, Jason Cassady and Austin Curry—used to practice at the midsize at McKool Smith as well.
"I've always been rooting for these guys behind the scenes. I've always wondered how nice it would be to work with them," Burgess said. He added that McKool Smith is a "wonderful firm" with excellent trial lawyers.
Burgess said at this point in his career, after 20 years at McKool Smith, he wanted to practice at a smaller firm with a mindset to "more aggressively pursue contingent-fee cases." He said about 70% of the litigation he's handled over the years has been on a contingent basis or alternative fee arrangement.
Burgess works on business disputes and patent infringement litigation. He was on the trial team that won a $10.6 million jury verdict in 2018 for client PanOptis in a patent infringement lawsuit against Huawei Technologies in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Caldwell said his firm does commercial litigation and IP litigation, in a mix of contingency-fee work and hourly work. While it does some defense work, Caldwell said, the firm "identifies very closely" with individuals and small companies that cannot afford to pay hourly rates to take on the big entity that is infringing on their patents.
Caldwell Cassady hires selectively, Caldwell said. With new principal Burgess, the firm has 14 lawyers.
Burgess said he will split his time between Dallas, where Caldwell Cassady's office is located, and his home in Austin.
Mike McKool, chairman of McKool Smith, did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on Burgess' departure. The Dallas-born firm had 146 lawyers last year, according to the NLJ 500 ranking of U.S. law firms by head count.
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