Austin

Duane Morris attorneys have longstanding ties to the Texas legal and business communities and have been practicing law in the state for many years. The firm’s Austin office further aligns Duane Morris’ domestic footprint with the robust high-technology and energy sectors in Texas. Clients benefit from our presence in the Texas capital and in Houston and Dallas, along with the firm’s global breadth of services and experience representing public entities, large corporations, middle-market companies, emerging growth companies and entrepreneurs.

As the capital city of Texas, Austin is home to several key regulatory agencies, including the Texas Railroad Commission, the Public Utilities Commission of Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, that affect many of the firm’s energy clients. Duane Morris understands the business and legal challenges faced by clients doing business Texas, throughout the United States and around the world, and continues to enhance the firm’s exceptional client service. 

Range of Services

Intellectual Property and Patent Litigation

Duane Morris’ intellectual property (IP) lawyers recognize the importance of clients’ intellectual capital to the success of their businesses and understand how to uphold IP rights to increase opportunities for clients to enhance market share. Members of the firm’s IP practice have played pivotal roles in the development of IP law and their ranks include highly trained patent attorneys with backgrounds in biosciences, materials, chemicals, polymers, electronics and telecommunications. Their experience includes trademarks and copyrights, patents, licensing agreements and brand protection, domestic and international.

Duane Morris lawyers have substantial experience across the U.S. in all areas of IP litigation, including jury trial experience on behalf of IP owners and accused infringers in patent, trademark, trade dress, copyright and trade secret cases. The firm’s IP attorneys have also represented clients in mediation, arbitration, inter partes proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and before appellate courts concerning IP matters.

Complex Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Lawyers in Duane Morris’ Trial Practice Group represent clients in all types of complex commercial litigation, from inception through trial and appeal. Duane Morris litigators are experienced in an array of areas, including securities, antitrust, intellectual property, environmental and real estate disputes. Members of the Trial Practice Group work closely with the firm's corporate and bankruptcy lawyers and often represent financial institutions. The firm's attorneys have represented numerous international and national manufacturers in all forms of products liability and toxic tort litigation, including defense of product class actions, serving as national coordinating counsel, lead counsel, regional counsel or local counsel. Duane Morris also represents both individuals and corporations facing federal and state allegations of criminal conduct, including fraud, environmental crimes, securities violations, RICO violations, trade espionage and a variety of business-related offenses. In addition to representing clients in U.S. forums and before international tribunals, the firm also provides counsel on settling disputes without conventional litigation by using alternative dispute resolution and advises on methods to anticipate and avoid litigation.

Energy and Natural Resources

Duane Morris’ energy lawyers include leading practitioners who have been involved in the field for decades, including former in-house lawyers for leading global and national energy companies, leaders of energy industry trade groups and former regulatory officials. Their experience spans every sector of the energy industry, including domestic and international drilling, oil and gas, pipelines and refineries, and power and renewables. We have a keen understanding of both the commercial and the legal aspects of each matter we handle, enabling us to provide solutions and creative approaches others might not see. Our clients include major international oil and gas companies, power companies, consumers, lenders, investors and governments. Our energy attorneys regularly counsel clients on domestic and cross border transactions, litigation, regulatory matters, project development, facility construction, financing and government relations and policy matters.

Renewable Energy and Sustainability

Environmental and climate change concerns have highlighted the need to develop low-carbon energy sources. The investment in and development of renewable energy resources, both for electric power production and for fuel consumption, affect every business sector throughout the global economy. In today’s market, utility companies, renewable energy developers, commercial real estate developers, venture capitalists, tax investors, lenders, equipment manufacturers, installers, inventors and owners of intellectual property, and all energy consumers require knowledgeable counsel to help them negotiate the opportunities that are coupled with new laws and regulations.  Duane Morris attorneys bring extensive insight in this area and understand the current key market drivers, including financial incentives and stimulus bill funding, as well as the significant compliance obligations impacting renewable energy projects. We possess the business experience and creative legal thinking necessary to help clients achieve their “green” objectives. 

Construction Group

Duane Morris construction lawyers assist clients in addressing the legal challenges of engaging in the design, development, financing, performance and management of major construction and government procurement contracts. Our group has special experience working on complex, high-visibility projects in major U.S. cities. Our national practice includes attorneys who regularly represent public and private owners and developers, prime contractors and subcontractors, construction managers, equipment suppliers, architects/engineers and other design professionals, and sureties. This breadth of experience enables us to handle the complete spectrum of issues arising before, during and after project completion.

White-Collar Criminal Litigation

Duane Morris counsels both individuals and corporations facing federal and state allegations of criminal conduct. The firm's lawyers advise clients accused of Medicare/Medicaid fraud and abuse, environmental crimes, securities violations, criminal tax fraud, fraud in government procurement, RICO violations, trade espionage and a variety of business-related offenses. Duane Morris attorneys also have extensive experience leading internal investigations.

Information Technology and Telecommunications

Duane Morris has assembled a dedicated group of attorneys possessing specific industry knowledge and interdisciplinary skills to address the transactional, finance, regulatory and dispute resolution aspects of structuring and implementing a wide range of information technologies and telecommunications projects.

Health Law

Duane Morris' Healthcare Practice Group represents a wide range of healthcare providers in regulatory, transactional and litigation matters. The firm's clients include providers such as hospitals, nursing facilities, assisted living centers, ambulatory surgery facilities and physician groups, as well as ancillary practice providers such as physical therapists, occupational therapists, massage therapists and dentists. Duane Morris lawyers provide a full range of legal services to the operators of health facilities and providers of healthcare in all phases of their operations. The firm also represents nonprofit corporations providing healthcare advisement and related services.

Corporate

Members of the Corporate Practice Group advise clients in connection with mergers and acquisitions, public and private offerings of equity and debt securities, corporate finance, corporate compliance, corporate governance and taxation. Our attorneys have experience in negotiated acquisitions and divestitures, and defense against takeover attempts. The firm has experience with venture capital and private equity transactions, and works with many clients in developing and implementing creative strategies to accomplish their corporate finance and acquisition objectives.

Duane Morris’ presence in Austin, Houston and other major U.S. markets, along with our international network, enables our lawyers to provide the level of experience and fully integrated coverage needed in both domestic and cross-border transactions. We represent clients in a wide range of securities matters, including public offerings of debt or equity securities, as well as private offerings ranging from start-up financings and bridge offerings prior to initial public offerings to major placements of private limited partnerships or limited liability companies. The firm’s attorneys represent clients in a myriad of securities offerings and regularly advise public companies on compliance with ongoing reporting obligations and other securities laws, including Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance.

Insurance – Corporate and Regulatory Practice

The Duane Morris interdisciplinary insurance industry practice includes more than 100 lawyers in 25 offices and handles complex corporate, M&A transactional, regulatory and litigation matters in all sectors of the insurance industry in the U.S., London and Asia. Duane Morris attorneys handle property and casualty, life, workers’ compensation and reinsurance matters. Duane Morris lawyers also advise on related areas of law, such as tax, antitrust, SEC, market-conduct and internal investigation issues, including international investigations. The practice group includes former general counsel and executives of major international insurance and reinsurance companies, including both mutual and stock companies. Duane Morris has worked successfully with federal and state regulators nationwide on many diverse matters ranging from routine insurance regulatory problems, to multi-state M&A transactions, and complex market-conduct examinations.

Employment Law and Management Labor Relations

Duane Morris' lawyers represent employers of all sizes in a broad spectrum of labor and employment matters, including equal employment opportunity compliance and litigation, statutory compliance and litigation defense and employment termination. The firm's attorneys provide a full range of labor relations services, representing clients in union-organizing campaigns, proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, negotiations of labor contracts and disputes over labor contract provisions. The group assists employers in protecting their proprietary information and in enforcing noncompetition and nonsolicitation agreements. Duane Morris lawyers emphasize policies to prevent employment problems through problem prevention programs and services, including seminars and workshops, customized training programs and employment practice audits.

For More Information

For more information, please contact Bert Greene or any of the lawyers referenced in the Attorney Listing.