LONGVIEW, Texas – Accomplished East Texas trial lawyers Johnny Ward and T. John Ward of Longview-based Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, once again are being recognized by their peers in the legal community as two of the state’s top attorneys on the annual Texas Super Lawyers list published in Texas Monthly magazine.
Firm founder Johnny Ward is named to the 2015 list based on his work in intellectual property litigation. Mr. Ward has earned a place on the Texas Super Lawyers list every year since 2003 thanks to nominations from other lawyers.
Former federal judge and of counsel at Ward, Smith & Hill, Judge Ward also is recognized in the 2015 edition based on his work in intellectual property cases. He has been selected to the list each year since retiring from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in 2011.
The Texas Super Lawyers list recognizes the state’s top attorneys based on more than 70,000 peer nominations and extensive editorial research. No more than 5 percent of Texas lawyers are selected each year.
Johnny Ward’s track record in intellectual property trials includes a $31.5 million patent infringement verdict won in June on behalf of DataQuill Ltd. against China-based ZTE Corp., the country’s second-largest supplier of prepaid mobile devices. The case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Also in June, Judge Ward helped a whistleblower plaintiff win a $633 million judgment against Trinity Industries Inc. following a 2014 Eastern District verdict in which jurors found that Trinity defrauded the federal government by selling defective guardrails. Trinity’s motion for a new trial was denied in August.
Earlier this year, Ward, Smith & Hill attorneys Claire Abernathy Henry and Wesley Hill were named to the 2015 Texas Rising Stars list of the state’s top young attorneys based on their work in intellectual property litigation.
Longview, Texas-based Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, has tried more than 350 cases to verdict, earning a national reputation in high-stakes claims involving complex commercial litigation, intellectual property law, oil and gas matters, bad faith insurance claims, and serious personal injury claims. The firm frequently assists lawyers nationwide in complex cases before Texas juries.
