Catherine has been a civil litigation paralegal for more than 35 years.
She has been the first chair paralegal in hundreds of jury and non-jury cases in federal and state courts involving intellectual property, environmental, legal malpractice, oil and gas, insurance receivership, employment, administrative and other complex civil business disputes.
Catherine has developed many of the forms, procedures, systems and techniques used within the firm and in federal and state courts in the trial of complex, multiparty and eDiscovery/document-intensive litigation. She has served as instructor for a post-graduate course for paralegals, and she is a frequent guest lecturer on litigation paralegal practices.
Her notable experience assisting trial teams as first chair paralegal include:
- Successfully representing Planned Parenthood in hotly contested injunction hearing in federal court to prevent the State of Texas from cutting Medicaid dollars to Planned Parenthood prior to jury trial on the merits.
- Successfully representing the nephew beneficiary and executor of a $10 million estate in a will contest by purported illegitimate son claiming “adoption by estoppel.” Representing a health advisory company in a constitutional taking suit against the State of Texas; obtained $10 million jury verdict for the client.
- Defending a foreign company sued for infringement of a patent involving multiphysics modeling software. Successful on merits based upon Markman construction; trial court affirmed by Federal Circuit.
- Defending the Texas State Board of Insurance in a $22 million attorneys’ fee claim for wrongful prosecution of individuals in an insurance company takedown resulting in take-nothing judgment against the state board.
- Defending a foreign company in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by a Fortune 100 company seeking more than $5 million in damages/injunction for control of the telecommunications splicing market. Federal court jury returned a favorable verdict invalidating two of plaintiff’s patents due to obviousness and anticipation and invalidating several claims of another patent for indefiniteness.
- Representing owner of next-generation technology company relating to the clarity of flat-panel televisions in a lawsuit against a foreign multinational corporation concerning compliance with a license agreement.
- Defending a California-based startup company against patent infringement and misappropriation of trade secret claims relating to semiconductor technology used in cellphones. The case was successfully tried to a jury in federal court.