Mr Earl Austin > Baker Botts L.L.P. > Dallas, United States > Lawyer Profile
Baker Botts L.L.P. Offices
2001 ROSS AVENUE
DALLAS, TEXAS 75201-2980
TEXAS
United States
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Mr Earl Austin
Work Department
Litigation
Position
Senior Counsel
Career
With more than 25 trials in eight states, Earl Austin has a national trial practice representing Fortune 500 corporations in complex commercial, class action and mass tort litigation, with a particular focus on the life science and health care industries.
Mr. Austin has more than 35 years of experience representing a variety of life science and health care companies in a wide range of civil litigation matters. Mr. Austin has served as national trial and coordinating counsel for several major pharmaceutical companies in class action and mass tort litigation. He also has handled complex commercial and intellectual property litigation, as well as False Claims Act and related governmental litigation, for a number of life science and health care companies, and also has teamed with the firm’s IP lawyers in Inter Partes Review proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In addition, to his life science and health care practice, Mr. Austin also represents clients in the chemical and technology sectors, and counsels clients regarding manufacturer-supplier agreements, insurance contracts, product labeling and other administrative matters.
Mr. Austin has handled trial and appellate matters in more than thirty states and has assisted Canadian counsel in class action litigation.
Languages
English
Memberships
State Bar of Texas
New York State Bar
United States Supreme Court
United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and District of Columbia Circuits
United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas
Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
Education
J.D., The University of Texas School of Law 1982
with honors
B.J., Journalism, The University of Texas 1979
with highest honors
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
Baker Botts L.L.P. offers a broad practice, acting in matters including fiduciary duty breach allegations, plan administration and management claims, and medical provider claims against employer plans. The firm has a focus on the energy and natural gas sector with clients such as ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Patterson-UTI Energy and Transocean. Practice head Travis Sales, based in Houston, recently represented the Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund, the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association and the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System in ERISA pension plan litigation against the City of Houston. In Dallas, senior counsel Earl Austin has a focus on life science and health care industries, assisting with the firm’s recent work for Aetna Life Insurance Company regarding brand-name medication and health benefits coverage. Christopher Rillo, based in San Francisco, is another key name to note for his experience in ERISA litigation, including ESOPs, plan fees and defined benefit plan litigation.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Energy > Energy litigation: oil and gas
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
Firm Rankings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Energy > Energy litigation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: oil and gas
- Environment > Environment: litigation
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Tax > International tax
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Finance > Project finance
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Real estate > Construction (including construction litigation)
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Real estate > Real estate
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense