Andrea Fair Named Intellectual Property Attorney of the Year Finalist by Texas Legal Awards

Honors celebrate those with ‘indelible mark on the legal landscape of Texas’

LONGVIEW, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Trial lawyer Andrea Fair of Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, has been selected as a finalist by the Texas Legal Awards for Intellectual Property Attorney of the Year.

The Texas Legal Awards, published by American Lawyer Media, celebrates trailblazing attorneys who the company says have left an “indelible mark on the legal landscape of Texas,” not only shaping the law but achieving extraordinary outcomes for their clients.

Ms. Fair has garnered a national reputation for securing multimillion-dollar results in intellectual property and patent cases, some of which have been named top verdicts in the state and nationwide.

Among Ms. Fair’s list of courtroom wins for this year is an $847 million verdict on behalf of General Access Solutions Ltd. in a patent infringement case against Verizon. The verdict was the result of a five-day trial in the Eastern District of Texas, where jurors found that Verizon infringed upon two of General Access’s patents related to wireless technology. The jury awarded $583 million for the infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,230,931, which covers beamforming, and $264 million for the infringement of U.S. Patent No. 9,426,794, which is related to hotspots.

Only two weeks prior, a Texas federal jury ordered Amazon to pay nearly $122 million for infringing on internet advertising technology patents owned by AlmondNet Inc. The Waco jury determined that Amazon's advertising platform violated two of AlmondNet's patents, which focus on personalized ad targeting. Ms. Fair served as local counsel, assisting with jury selection and presenting both the client representative and AlmondNet’s damages expert during the case.

Ms. Fair is no stranger to accolades, having earned repeat recognitions from The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch and Texas Super Lawyers.

The Intellectual Property Attorney of the Year winner will be announced in October.

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.