Munck Wilson Mandala: The Dallas IP Firm That Faced Off Against Intel

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At a Glance

Origin & Founder History

Munck Wilson Mandala has grown into one of the more substantial dedicated technology-and-IP practices headquartered in Dallas, now spanning offices in Austin, Houston, and Marshall, Texas — Marshall being another historically significant East Texas patent-litigation venue — along with Los Angeles and South Florida locations. William A. Munck serves as Global Managing Partner and Chair of the firm’s IP section, having been recognized in Best Lawyers in America annually since 2011. Gregory M. Howison, another senior IP partner, brings over 41 years of legal experience and nearly a decade as a design engineer in high-frequency digital and analog communications before entering law — direct technical experience that predates his 1981 SMU J.D.

Practice Concentration

The firm’s IP practice covers the full lifecycle: patent prosecution and litigation across software, telecommunications, e-commerce, and semiconductor systems, trademark and copyright work, and trade secret litigation, alongside a growing focus on AI-related legal issues — data governance, AI deployment, and the patent and regulatory questions that come with it. Howison’s individual practice has included major patent portfolios covering voice messaging, video conferencing, and neural networks, and he has served as lead counsel before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The firm frames itself as combining decades of hands-on AI development experience with patent, litigation, and regulatory expertise — a claim of genuine technical fluency rather than translation between engineers and lawyers after the fact.

Track Record

Notable litigation history includes serving as lead counsel for MOSAID Technologies in an eleven-patent case relating to semiconductor manufacturing technology against Intel — a substantial, named engagement against a major technology company. The specific outcome of that litigation was not independently confirmed for this profile. The firm is ranked in the IAM Patent 1000, a guide regarded as a definitive resource for identifying leading patent expertise, and in IP STARS, a specialist guide to IP law firms and practitioners worldwide.

Client Voice

Chambers USA client feedback describes the firm’s IP team as offering “thoughtful advisers who are easy to work with” and as “more thorough and in-depth than anyone I’ve worked with,” with specific praise for the team’s ability to make technical matters easy to interact with — Cathryn Berryman was specifically noted for this in her copyright and trademark work with nonprofit, healthcare, and start-up clients. Phillip Philbin, chair of the firm’s business litigation practice, was described by a Chambers respondent as “a respected trial attorney” who is “great communicator, responsive and is very practical.”

Beyond the Courtroom

In Dallas specifically, the firm has ranked as a U.S. News Best Law Firm across an unusually broad set of categories: commercial litigation, copyright law, corporate law, employment law, insurance law, litigation/construction, litigation/intellectual property, litigation/labor and employment, litigation/patent, mergers and acquisitions, patent law, sports law, technology law, and trademark law — a breadth reflecting a genuinely full-service Dallas practice rather than a single-category boutique.

Recognition

William A. Munck has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America continuously since 2011, one of the longer sustained recognition streaks documented in this Dallas IP category. Gregory Howison is also individually recognized in Best Lawyers in America and is a registered U.S. Patent Attorney admitted before the Federal Circuit. Chambers USA ranks the firm’s Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets practice in Texas. These are attributed to their respective conferring organizations (Best Lawyers, Chambers, IAM, IP STARS).

Texas Legal Backdrop

Marshall, Texas — where MWM maintains an office — became one of the most significant patent-litigation venues in the country in the 2000s and 2010s due to favorable local rules and jury pools for patent plaintiffs, a legacy that continues to shape where technology companies choose to litigate. Semiconductor and neural-network patent claims, an area of the firm’s specific experience, require examiners and litigators fluent in the underlying computer science — the same fluency the firm cites as central to its current AI practice. None of this is legal advice; a technology company facing a patent dispute should consult counsel about venue strategy and the technical demands of a specific case.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Munck Wilson Mandala’s differentiator is scale combined with genuine technical depth — a 47-Super-Lawyer-attorney firm with an IAM Patent 1000 ranking, a documented history of major patent litigation against companies like Intel, and attorneys with real pre-law engineering careers rather than purely legal training layered onto unfamiliar technology.

The honest trade-off is that a firm of this size and reach carries a correspondingly different fee structure and engagement model than a boutique — a startup with a single trademark filing or a modest patent application may find a smaller, more cost-focused practice a better fit for routine prosecution work. For a technology company facing significant patent litigation, an AI-related legal question, or building a substantial IP portfolio requiring both prosecution and litigation depth, MWM’s scale and documented track record are genuine assets.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (munckwilson.com), including its patents, offices, and attorney biography pages for William Munck and Gregory Howison, Chambers USA client-feedback profiles, IAM Patent 1000 rankings, U.S. News Best Law Firms data, Super Lawyers listings, and State Bar of Texas licensing records. The MOSAID v. Intel case reference and client-feedback quotations are drawn from Chambers’ independently gathered client interviews.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

This profile is an independent editorial article published by Awesome Attorneys. Awesome Attorneys does not endorse, recommend, or warrant any lawyer or law firm profiled on this site, and inclusion in this series is not paid placement. Facts in this profile were researched from public sources as described in the Methodology & Sourcing section and are current only as of the research date.