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Austin lawyer Tommy Jacks closes office, moves to large corporate firm

He has represented hundreds of women who sued silicone breast-implant maker Dow Corning Corp.; he was a key negotiator in a $1 billion settlement in 2002 ...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Tommy Jacks, an elite trial lawyer who has worked on far-reaching personal injury and business litigation for more than three decades, has closed his Austin firm and moved to Fish & Richardson PC, a national firm best known for its work in patents and other forms of intellectual property.

Jacks, who shut down his firm at the end of 2007, said the move will give him "a bigger and better platform" to handle business litigation.

"It gives me a lot more resources and a lot more responsibility," said Jacks, who is of counsel to the Austin office of Fish & Richardson. The Boston-based firm has 450 lawyers in 10 offices nationwide, including Dallas, and one in Germany.

Fish & Richardson President Peter Devlin said Jacks will "enhance our general business litigation services."

Jacks said the firm asked him to expand its ability to do some business cases on a contingent fee basis rather than billing by the hour, as is still the practice for most litigation.

In recent years, a number of Texas law firms with high-tech clients have structured fee deals that give them a percentage of revenue derived from a company's patents, or taking stock in a company in lieu of fees.

"The hourly fee is still alive and well, but at the same time, a lot of business clients, even big ones, are interested in on occasion having lawyers have a stake in the litigation as well," Jacks said. "All companies are now watching their litigation budgets very carefully."

Jacks will help the firm choose which business cases best fit the contingent-fee model.

"It takes a careful eye on the front end to know which cases are potentially good candidates," he said. "I've been a contingent fee lawyer for more than 35 years. I know the drill. It seems like a good fit."

Jacks has been active in Texas legislative debates on workers' compensation and tort reform issues and is a former president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

His cases have included some of the biggest legal and policy issues of the day. His former firm, Mithoff & Jacks LLP, helped secure millions of dollars from a statewide tobacco settlement for Texas counties and hospital districts in 1998. He has represented hundreds of women who sued silicone breast-implant maker Dow Corning Corp.; he was a key negotiator in a $1 billion settlement in 2002 that settled thousands of lawsuits against Sulzer Medica Ltd., whose Austin orthopedics division produced faulty hip and knee implants; he has won several "toxic tort" settlements against companies for pollution-related illnesses.

He also has cases pending against Merck & Co. related to health problems plaintiffs say were caused by its arthritis drug Vioxx.

In the 1970s, Jacks formed a firm with Lloyd Doggett, who was then a young state senator from Austin and is now a Democratic U.S. representative who represents part of Central Texas. In 1988, Jacks teamed up with Houston plaintiffs' lawyer Richard Mithoff; that firm split in 2005, and Jacks led his own small firm until joining Fish & Richardson.

relder@statesman.com; 445-3671

GETTING TO KNOW ...

William T. 'Tommy' Jacks

Born:Waco, 1945

University of Texas School of Law, 1971

1972-73: litigation attorney with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, a public interest firm founded by Ralph Nader.

1974: joins Kidd & Doggett

1975: forms Doggett & Jacks with Lloyd Doggett

1988: forms Mithoff & Jacks with offices in Austin and Houston

2005: starts Jacks Law Firm in Austin

2008: joins Fish & Richardson

Board Certified in Civil Trial Law and in Personal Injury Trial Law, Texas

Board of Legal Specialization

President of Texas Trial Lawyers Association, 1990-91

Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers

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