Theresa Dawson

Theresa Dawson

Senior Counsel

Theresa Dawson is Senior Counsel to Carter Arnett. Theresa’s practice is focused primarily on high stakes intellectual property and complex commercial litigation. Theresa has represented numerous clients in federal courts around the country in intellectual property disputes involving a wide range of technologies, including e-commerce, computer software, encryption, telecommunications, network architecture, and mobile applications. Theresa’s intellectual property litigation practice has also involved multiple appeals, including arguing cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Federal Circuits.

Theresa was previously Of Counsel at the Dallas office of Fish & Richardson P.C., where she represented clients in complex patent litigation disputes at the federal district and appellate court levels and in the ITC. Prior to joining Fish, Theresa was a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Illinois, where she prosecuted white collar criminal cases and represented the United States in several appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Theresa’s civil litigation experience also includes several years’ experience as an attorney at a prominent intellectual property law firm in Dallas, where she handled the firm’s appellate matters, primarily related to patent litigation, with an emphasis on technology in the semiconductor, electronics, and software industries.

Theresa is a former law clerk for the Honorable Peter T. Fay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Theresa received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois College of Law, where she was an associate editor of the University of Illinois Journal of Law, Technology & Policy. Theresa received both her B.S. in Business Management and her M.S. in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University. Prior to law school, Theresa gained several years’ experience as a software programmer and analyst.

Honors and Distinctions

  • Named to list of top patent defense attorneys representing defendants in new patent cases in the United States by Managing Intellectual Property (2018)
  • Selected for inclusion in Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers® Rising Stars (Texas), 2015 & 2016

Professional Associations and Community Involvement:

  • Dallas Bar Association
  • State Bar of Texas

Practice Areas

  • Patent Litigation
  • Copyright & Trademark Litigation
  • Complex Commercial Litigation

Education

University of Illinois College of Law, Champaign, Illinois, 2006
Juris Doctor

Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, 1993
M.S., Computer Science

Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, 1990
B.S., Business Management

Admissions

  • Illinois
  • Texas
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin