Add Your PerspectiveFebruary 26, 2010

Settlement Perspectives Welcomes Gary Kitchen to A New Role at the Patent Mediation Table

As we go through our careers we all keep a list, whether it’s formal or not — a list of people we’d like to work with again someday. It might be hard work or honesty or an ability to turn an argument, but something puts lawyers on that list. For me, Gary Kitchen is one of those lawyers, so I couldn’t have been more happy to see the recent announcement about his new nationwide patent mediation practice.

This post is a quick welcome to Gary Kitchen to the mediation world — not unlike what Vickie Pynchon and Diane Levin did for me when Settlement Perspectives got its start.

A Patent Mediator with Business Experience

As you can imagine from the title of this blog, on any deal I’m curious about the perspectives of those involved, and Gary’s is tailor-made for patent mediation on a national level. I’ll skip the “former Fortune 50 business executive” blurb from his bio and give you a snippet from a story he told over lunch last week:

I remember when I led a team at SBC [which is now AT&T] responsible for a major, multi-year project in Latin America. It was getting awfully close to the deadline when . . ..

That day I learned something I didn’t know when Gary and I worked together back in the day — Gary has been responsible for projects, P&Ls, teams, and results outside the context of disputes. Perhaps that’s why he works so well with clients — clients who have been responsible for projects, P&Ls, teams, and results outside the context of disputes.

A National Mediator with East Texas Trial Experience

To me, trial experience serves the same purpose as a final exam — not only does it help everyone keep score, but it provides clarity for the process to that point. I know more about Hegel’s dialectic theory because I had to write out my thoughts under pressure for Professor Allen, and I know more about what an auditor is (and isn’t) because I had to cross-examine an expert on it in Judge Rhea’s courtroom. Given the importance I put on trial experience, it should come as no surprise that I tend to look for mediators who have actually been to trial when trial perspective is important.

Back at our lunch, I learned a bit more about what it has been like on patent litigation’s front lines. Gary represented defendants and plaintiffs in trial after trial from McKool Smith’s Marshall office. One of his stories from his time there began:

It wasn’t that long ago when we went to trial on behalf of a defendant seeking to invalidate a patent. Before the jury came back with its verdict, we . . ..

And while it takes more than a few minutes to get the (favorable) verdict out of him, Gary focuses us on how they got there and why trial was the right answer in that case. In the Eastern District of Texas, credibility is built, and maintained, over the long term. Knowledge of the facts, relentless preparation, and civility are rewarded — in trial and in settlement. No wonder Gary has succeeded.

If you get a chance, put Gary’s business, trial and settlement experience to work for you in your next patent dispute. You’ll be glad you did.

Categories: Mediation,Miscellaneous

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