David Folsom

Practice Areas

Intellectual Property; Trial & Appellate Litigation; Alternative Dispute Resolution

Career

David Folsom is a retired law partner and former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Prior to his retirement in 2023, David was significantly involved with the firm’s intellectual property litigation group and had a thriving mediation and arbitration practice, specifically related to the mediation of patent and complex commercial cases.

David retired from the federal bench in March 2012. He was appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate in 1995, and he served for 17 years in the Eastern District. During his tenure, he conducted over 250 trials and held approximately 75 claim construction hearings. David also served by designation on the Courts of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for the Federal Circuit.

David presided over hundreds of patent infringement cases. A few notable examples included:

- Paice LLC v. Toyota Motor Corp.

- TiVo, Inc. v. Echostar Communications Corp.

- Pioneer Corp. v. Samsung SDI Co.

- DataTreasury Corp. v. U.S. Bank, N.A.

A few of David's other notable cases included:

- Products liability cases such as State of Texas v. American Tobacco Co.

- Class actions such as In re Triton Limited Securities Litigation and McNamara v. Bre-X Minerals Ltd.

- Antitrust cases such as Bell Atlantic Corp. v. AT&T Corp. and Retractable Technologies, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson & Co.

Professional Memberships

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Advisory Council, 2012-2018

American Board of Trial Advocates, 2015

Publications

"Virtual Mediations and Patent Litigation: Lessons Learned and Best Practices," The Texas Lawbook (April 2021)

Education