Theresa Dawson

Theresa Dawson

Senior Counsel

Theresa M. Dawson is Senior Counsel to Carter Arnett. Theresa’s practice is focused primarily on high-stakes patent and complex commercial litigation. Theresa has successfully represented more than 200 clients in federal courts nationwide in patent disputes involving a wide range of technologies, including e-commerce, computer software and hardware, semiconductors, Bluetooth technology, IoT, encryption, telecommunications, network architecture, and mobile applications. Theresa’s intellectual property litigation practice has involved multiple appeals, including arguing cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Federal Circuits. Theresa has also successfully handled numerous inter partes review matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Theresa was Of Counsel at the Dallas office of Fish & Richardson P.C. for several years prior to joining Carter Arnett. As Of Counsel at Fish, Theresa 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 and multiple jury trials. Theresa’s civil litigation experience also includes several years of experience as an attorney at a prominent plaintiff-side intellectual property law firm in Dallas, where she handled the firm’s appellate matters, primarily related to patent litigation, emphasizing 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 her B.S. in Business Management and M.S. in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University. Prior to law school, Theresa gained several years of experience as a software programmer and analyst.

In her free time, Theresa enjoys spending time with her two daughters, Kailey and Phoebe, and running.

 

Honors and Distinctions

  • Selected for inclusion in Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers® Rising Stars (Texas), 2015 & 2016
  • Named to list of top patent defense attorneys representing defendants in new patent cases in the United States by Managing Intellectual Property (2018)
  • Ranked the #73 Best Performing Patent Litigation Attorney for representing Defendants, the #63 Most Active Patent Litigation Attorney Overall, and the #22 Most Active Patent Litigation Attorney for representing Defendants in Patexia’s Patent Litigation Intelligence 2023
  • Selected for inclusion The Best Lawyers in America® (2024)

Professional Associations and Community Involvement:

  • Dallas Bar Association
  • State Bar of Texas

Published Works & Speaking Engagements

  • Presenter, “Intro to Intellectual Property,” TexasBarCLE, In-House Counsel 101, San Antonio Texas, August 2, 2023

Practice Areas

  • Appellate
  • Complex Commercial Litigation
  • Inter Partes Review
  • Patent Litigation
  • Copyright Litigation
  • Trademark, Copyright, and Media 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 Texas
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin