Since they preside over the nation's busiest intellectual property docket in the nation, Eastern District of Texas federal judges have no trouble finding IP law firm jobs—big or small—after retiring from the bench.
In 2011, T. John Ward joined his son's small Longview IP firm, Ward & Smith, after leaving the Marshall Division bench. And David Folsom signed on with Dallas' much larger Jackson Walker in 2012 after leaving the Texarkana Division bench.
And now Leonard Davis, who served as the Eastern District's chief judge until announcing his retirement last year, has just decided to go big. Davis said he will join the large national firm of Fish & Richardson on May 18 [See "Exclusive: Eastern District Chief Judge to Retire," Texas Lawyer, June 23, 2014].
"I've had a number of options and at the end you just go with your gut feeling. Fish has one of the largest patent dockets in the country," said Davis, who has presided over more than 1,700 patent infringement cases since his 2002 assignment assigned to the Tyler Division.
After thinking about it for months, big law just seemed like the best fit, Davis said.
"When they approached me, the more they talked, my experience with one of the busiest patent dockets and a firm with one of the busiest patent dockets in the nation as well as the Eastern District, I decided to go with them,'' Davis said.
While it has yet to be decided whether Davis will work in Tyler or in Fish's Dallas office, he said he'll spend most of offering strategic advice on patent litigation, handling mock Markman hearings and trials, and participating in case evaluations and settlement negotiations.
"I'm looking forward to it. Every old plant needs to be repotted every now and then," said Davis, adding that he had seriously considered focusing on mediation work but cringed at the thought of being stuck in airports after dealing with attorneys who refused to settle.
"Mediation is a worthy calling. If we in the Eastern District had to try all our cases, we'd never survive,'' Davis added.
Tom Melsheimer, managing partner of Fish's Dallas office, said the firm is happy to land Davis.
"We met him in person several times, visited on the phone and just generally made clear our interest and enthusiasm for him joining us," Melsheimer said. "It's a home run for us and I'm confident he is going to enjoy his time at Fish immensely."
Davis said he knows what he's getting into by joining the firm.
"I've had their lawyers in my court for many years. I've seen them win cases and lose cases. They are very nice people and are very collegial in getting along with other attorneys. They don't pick fights unnecessarily,'' he said.
While Davis will likely have many roles at the firm, one of them won't be trial work, he said.
"I spent 23 years as a trial lawyer with a yellow pad on my night stand to come up with closing arguments," Davis said. "I have no desire to go back to work as a trial lawyer."