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Attorney Advertising. The information on this profile does not constitute legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is formed by reading it. Past results described do not guarantee similar outcomes.
At a Glance
| Firm | Skiermont Derby LLP |
| Key attorneys | Paul J. Skiermont (co-founder), Steven W. Hartsell |
| Office | 1601 Elm Street, Suite 4400, Dallas, TX 75201 |
| Focus | Patent litigation, IP disputes, complex commercial litigation |
| Recognition | IAM Patent 1000 Litigation Firm every year since 2014 (one of only seven Texas firms); LMG Life Sciences/Managing IP “Star in Patent Litigation” (Skiermont, every year since 2012) |
| Motto | “Complexity Simplified” |
Origin & Founder History
Skiermont Derby was formed more than a decade ago by trial lawyers seeking to build a well-run, efficient, focused boutique practice offering the personalized attention of a small firm alongside big-firm trial capability. The firm maintains two offices, Dallas and Los Angeles, with its Dallas team working the Northern District of Texas and its attorneys regularly litigating nationwide in federal and state courts, arbitration forums, and before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Practice Concentration
The firm represents both plaintiffs and defendants in patent infringement litigation across a wide range of technologies, along with related trademark, copyright, and trade secret disputes and other complex commercial cases. Steven W. Hartsell, a registered patent attorney based in the Dallas office, concentrates on patent infringement litigation, patent licensing, and inter partes review proceedings before the PTAB, with reported matters spanning semiconductors, distributed agent architectures, cellular phones, telecommunications, software anti-piracy, medical devices, and optical systems.
Track Record
Hartsell’s reported PTAB matters include representing VIZIO in challenging the validity of a smart-TV-technology patent, representing a patent owner against Sony Group Corp. and obtaining a Final Written Decision finding no claims unpatentable, and serving as lead counsel for patent owner IPA Technologies in multiple IPR proceedings and appeals against both Google and Microsoft. Chambers USA has noted the firm’s attorneys have “obtained business- and life-changing results at trial, on appeal, and on the papers for clients across the country.” Awesome Attorneys did not independently verify every individual case-level financial outcome beyond these publicly reported PTAB and litigation matters.
Client Voice
IAM’s 2016 coverage described Skiermont Derby as practicing “at the very highest level in the patent space” and called the firm a “fearless trial outfit” making a name for itself in high-stakes patent disputes — an independently published trade-press characterization rather than firm-authored marketing copy. Awesome Attorneys did not locate a substantial base of individual consumer reviews, consistent with a firm serving corporate and institutional patent litigants.
Beyond the Courtroom
Hartsell is a registered patent attorney who, when not in the courtroom, plays viola in community orchestras around the Dallas-Fort Worth area — a detail drawn from the firm’s own attorney biography and included here as a note of personal background rather than a professional credential.
Recognition
Skiermont Derby has been named an “IAM Patent 1000” litigation firm every year since 2014, one of only seven Texas firms to receive the distinction, ranking among the top 12 of 26 honored Texas firms. Co-founder Paul Skiermont has been named an LMG Life Sciences/Managing IP “Star in Patent Litigation” every year since 2012, one of only seven Texas attorneys so honored — both are independently researched, editorially curated recognitions rather than pay-to-play marketing placements. Hartsell has also been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for patent law excellence. Awesome Attorneys did not locate a Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification for the firm’s named attorneys, and no “specialist” language is used in this profile as a result.
Texas Legal Backdrop
The firm’s Dallas office sits within the Northern District of Texas, a growing patent litigation venue under the federal Patent Pilot Program, while its attorneys’ PTAB practice proceeds entirely under federal USPTO procedure with strict, non-extendable filing deadlines — most notably the one-year deadline for filing an IPR petition after being served with an infringement complaint. None of this is legal advice; a party facing a new patent infringement suit should evaluate PTAB options promptly given the strict statutory deadline.
Awesome Attorneys Assessment
The firm’s genuine differentiator is sustained top-tier trade-press recognition in a genuinely competitive category — an IAM Patent 1000 litigation-firm ranking held every year for more than a decade, alongside individual “Star” recognition for a co-founder, is difficult to sustain without consistent client results. The honest trade-off is that a boutique this focused on high-stakes patent litigation, competing directly with much larger firms on complex disputes, is generally best suited to substantial commercial matters; a small inventor or startup with a modest dispute may be better served by a firm with a fee structure calibrated to smaller engagements.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was compiled from Skiermont Derby’s public website (skiermontderby.com), Best Lawyers’ published firm and attorney profiles, IAM’s published rankings and trade-press coverage, and Chambers and Partners USA’s firm profile.
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.