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Akin Gump: The San Antonio Patent Litigator The American Lawyer Named “Litigator of the Week”

When a genetics company’s largest customer sued it for roughly $70 million over an alleged antitrust violation, San Antonio-based Akin Gump partner Kirt O’Neill didn’t just defend the claim — he took the jury the other direction entirely, walking out with a defense verdict on the antitrust claim and an infringement finding on his own client’s patents. The American Lawyer named him Litigator of the Week for it.

Origin and Background

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP’s San Antonio office is located at 112 E. Pecan Street, Suite 1010, San Antonio, TX 78205, confirmed through the firm’s own website and its intellectual property practice group page. Kirt O’Neill, an intellectual property partner based in that office, holds an electrical engineering background and previously worked for a large telecommunications company before practicing law, which the firm cites as the basis for his ability to understand and present technically complex patent cases from district court through the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to the Federal Circuit.

Practice Concentration

O’Neill’s practice concentrates on patent and trademark litigation and other intellectual property disputes, including cases with an antitrust component, with particular technical depth in telecommunications systems and devices, signal processing, and electronics. He has testified frequently as a retained expert witness on patent infringement, validity, and claim construction issues in other litigation, and holds substantive first-chair jury trial experience rather than a purely counseling or prosecution-focused practice. Akin Gump’s broader intellectual property practice group includes more than 45 lawyers across eight domestic offices, giving the San Antonio office access to firm-wide resources on complex or multi-jurisdictional IP matters. See this San Antonio Intellectual Property directory for how this large-firm litigation practice compares to boutique and solo IP practices also serving Bexar County.

Notable Work / Track Record

In a two-week federal jury trial in Madison, Wisconsin, O’Neill led the Akin Gump team representing Inguran LLC, doing business as Sexing Technologies, a genetics company specializing in dairy and beef cattle semen collection and sexing, after its customer ABS Global sued it for Sherman Antitrust Act violations seeking roughly $70 million in damages. The jury found no antitrust violation, and on Sexing Technologies’ countersuit, found that ABS had infringed valid patent claims and materially breached the parties’ agreement — a result that earned O’Neill recognition as The American Lawyer’s Litigator of the Week. It was his second trial win that year on Sherman Act and patent infringement issues on behalf of the same client, following a separate three-week jury trial in Colorado. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published dollar figure for the damages awarded on the infringement and breach findings.

Client Voice

Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published set of itemized, attributed client reviews for O’Neill on consumer legal directories, which is typical for BigLaw litigation partners whose clients are corporations rather than individual consumers who post platform reviews. His most substantive independent validation is the trial outcome itself and the resulting industry recognition from The American Lawyer, a legal trade publication that evaluates litigation results rather than soliciting client star ratings.

Beyond the Courtroom

Awesome Attorneys did not identify separately documented civic or nonprofit board service for O’Neill distinct from his legal practice and published legal commentary, which has included a co-authored Texas Lawyer article examining the potential expansion of worldwide recoverable patent damages following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corp.

Recognition for This San Antonio IP Litigator

Awesome Attorneys did not identify Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification for Kirt O’Neill and does not apply “specialist” language on that basis — and separately notes that TBLS does not currently certify a distinct intellectual property specialty in Texas at all. His clearest independently verifiable recognition is The American Lawyer’s Litigator of the Week designation, a peer-publication award tied to a specific, documented trial outcome rather than a marketing-program listing.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Patent litigation of the kind O’Neill handles proceeds under federal patent law in federal district court, with parallel administrative review available through the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s inter partes review process, and appeals routed to the Federal Circuit rather than Texas appellate courts. Antitrust claims like the one his client defeated are governed by federal law under the Sherman Antitrust Act, while any state-law breach of contract counterclaims filed alongside federal IP or antitrust claims are typically governed by the contract’s own choice-of-law provision. None of this is legal advice; a specific patent litigation, licensing, or antitrust matter should be evaluated by a licensed attorney based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Akin Gump’s clearest differentiator through Kirt O’Neill is documented, high-stakes first-chair jury trial experience with a specific, named, industry-recognized result — not just a claimed litigation practice, but a verifiable trial win covering both a defended antitrust claim and an affirmative patent infringement finding. The honest trade-off is that, as with most large-firm litigation partners, Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published record of consumer-style client reviews, and BigLaw representation of this caliber typically comes with billing rates and case-selection thresholds that put it out of reach for smaller inventors or early-stage businesses. For a San Antonio company facing high-value, technically complex patent litigation who wants a large firm’s institutional resources paired with a partner who has recently tried and won a multimillion-dollar case to verdict, that combination is a reasonable basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Akin Gump’s own website (San Antonio office page, intellectual property practice group page, Kirt O’Neill’s press coverage and insights pages), Legal 500’s attorney profile for O’Neill, and public USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board filings listing him as counsel of record.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP or its attorneys prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.