John Hempill

John Keville is the Office Managing Partner for the firm's Houston office and is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group.

John has been lead trial counsel in patent litigation matters in several technologies, including mechanical and chemical oilfield technologies, electronic devices, software and web-based technologies, and digital signal processing. He has tried a broad range of cases to juries, judges, and arbitration panels, representing both plaintiffs and defendants and has argued appeals to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Fifth Circuit. In 2021, his teams obtained two jury verdicts of patent validity, infringement, and willful infringement in plaintiff’s patent cases, and twice received mentions in The American Lawyer Litigator of the Week. John has litigated patent-related antitrust cases, including cases involving failure to disclose patents to standard-setting organizations and Walker Process antitrust claims. He has also been lead counsel in several technology-driven litigations, including obtaining a top-ten national verdict in a 2015 trade secret case, and other cases related to the Internet involving trespass, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and the free speech rights of Internet posters.

He also counsels clients on intellectual property enforcement and procurement matters, litigation strategy, settlement negotiations, and licensing.

Helping others pro bono, John has been lead counsel in several significant cases, including defending the rights of disabled students and employees, and obtaining permanent injunctive relief providing Covid protection to geriatric prisoners with co-morbidities.