Intellectual Property
Our intellectual property lawyers have experience across all areas of this legal discipline, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secret law. We work principally in the litigation and trial of patent infringement actions that are filed around the country, including many cases in the Eastern District of Texas. The team’s members possess strong technical backgrounds in such fields as electrical, chemical, mechanical and aeronautical engineering, as well as the biosciences, including some lawyers who have their master’s and doctoral degrees. Our patent cases have encompassed numerous types of technology, including semiconductors, computers, telecommunications, the Internet, pharmaceuticals, oil field equipment, mechanical apparatus, consumer products and business method patents. The group’s senior litigators have more than 30 years of patent litigation experience and have been recognized by a number of legal directories for their successful trial work. This includes the 2013 edition of Chambers USA, in which Sidley is highly ranked in the category of Intellectual Property: Texas. “Sidley Austin continues to go from strength to strength in its IP presence in Texas,” the publication said.
Private Equity and M&A
Sidley’s private equity lawyers possess deep experience across the broad spectrum of private equity transactions, from multibillion-dollar leveraged buyouts to growth equity investments in lower middle market companies. The Dallas team’s work encompasses leading complex transactions such as going-private transactions, “club deals,” sponsor to strategic and sponsor to sponsor deals and other LBOs, multinational carve-out acquisitions, portfolio company bolt-on acquisitions and divestitures, dividend recapitalizations, initial public offerings, private investment in public equities and sophisticated joint venture arrangements.
For our corporate clients, Sidley has a preeminent global M&A practice comprising more than 200 lawyers. Our Dallas team is engaged in the full spectrum of public and private M&A and transactions of all sizes. Our clients include large and small companies, boards of directors, special committees, financial advisors and other participants in corporate transactions.
Our team works seamlessly with the firm’s top-tier Global Finance practice to cover the financing needs of our private equity and M&A clients. Our global finance lawyers have comprehensive experience with all types of financing, and being able to draw on their talent adds tremendous value for our clients. Similarly, our Dallas team works closely with Sidley’s numerous specialty practice areas in order to complement and enhance our clients’ deal experience. We believe it vital to offer clients the full range of these services, as well as to provide assistance in the ongoing regulatory maintenance and compliance of their businesses, in order to effectively and efficiently address their needs.
Global Finance
Our global finance lawyers provide a comprehensive range of syndicated and leveraged finance, asset-based debt finance and structured finance legal services for clients and around the world. These transactions have involved issues unique to a broad range of industries and asset types, including energy, entertainment, healthcare, insurance, real estate, media, lottery awards and structured settlements. Our team has experience with all types of financing, including secured and unsecured senior bank debt, high yield, mezzanine facilities, seller financing, project finance and securitizations. Our group is highly attuned to the ever-changing international landscape, providing our clients with critical, real-time advice on transactions and issues arising out of the global financial market upheaval and the related governmental responses. The firm is consistently recognized as having one of the world’s leading finance practices by such well regarded publications as Chambers Global and Chambers USA.
Complex Commercial Litigation
The complex commercial litigation lawyers in Dallas assist companies, boards of directors and special committees with all aspects of complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts across the country. We focus on class actions, business torts and multi-district litigation, restrictive covenant and trade secrets litigation, bankruptcy litigation, landlord/tenant disputes, post-closing private equity purchase price adjustments and conducting internal investigations. The team’s experience in state and federal securities litigation includes shareholder derivative actions and advising clients on matters under the Texas Derivative Statute, including cash-out mergers. We also handle accounting disputes and related internal investigations for major corporations. The team includes members with decades of experience in advising businesses around the world. Strong advocacy on behalf of clients has earned us recognition from such publications as the Dallas Business Journal and Chambers USA.
Our lawyers also devote their time to providing pro bono services to various communities in Texas and to handling political asylum cases. We also assist with death penalty cases in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama.
