Leading Texas Patent Trial Lawyers Nicholas Mathews and Erik Fountain Join Gibson Dunn’s Premier IP Litigation Practice
Firm News | October 1, 2026
Gibson Dunn announced today that Nicholas (Nick) Mathews and Erik Fountain have joined the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group as partners in Dallas. The addition of Nick and Erik to Gibson Dunn unites one of the country’s leading Texas patent trial teams with the nation’s premier IP litigation practice.
Gibson Dunn’s Intellectual Property Group is widely recognized as the nation’s leading IP litigation team, handling—and winning—some of the most significant intellectual property disputes across the country. In the past year alone, Gibson Dunn’s IP team has earned the industry’s highest honors, including The American Lawyer’s IP Litigation Department of the Year, Law360’s IP Practice Group of the Year, and Managing IP’s Patent Disputes Firm of the Year. Nick and Erik’s arrival further strengthens Gibson Dunn’s national IP trial team and its already formidable Texas patent litigation bench.
Their arrival also builds on Gibson Dunn’s market-leading litigation practice in Texas, which features exceptional first-chair trial lawyers who have secured significant courtroom victories in Texas and across the country, including a record $667 million jury verdict and a victory in the second-ever trial in the newly established Texas Business Court. The American Lawyer named Gibson Dunn its Texas Regional Litigation Department of the Year in 2025.
Nick is a nationally recognized first-chair patent trial lawyer who, together with Erik, has a long track record of success in major patent trials in Texas. The pair joins Gibson Dunn following an extraordinary string of courtroom successes, securing complete defense verdicts in three consecutive jury trials in the Eastern District of Texas over the past year. Most recently, in August 2026, Nick and Erik led the trial team representing AT&T, Ericsson, and Nokia in ASUS Technology Licensing Inc. et al. v. AT&T Inc. et al., securing a complete defense verdict in a case in which the plaintiffs had sought $436 million in damages.
Nick and Erik focus on high-stakes patent litigation and represent some of the leading technology companies in the world. Earlier in their careers, Nick and Erik both served as law clerks to the Honorable J. Rodney Gilstrap, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall—Nick clerked for the court during Judge Gilstrap’s first year on the bench.
“Nick and Erik are exceptional trial lawyers—highly respected and highly successful in Texas and beyond,” said Josh Krevitt, Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. “Their track record of jury trial victories in Texas is extraordinary and speaks to the caliber of trial lawyers they are. We have admired and worked closely with Nick and Erik for years, and we are thrilled that they are joining our national IP litigation team.”
“Nick and Erik are a perfect fit for our group, because they are outstanding trial lawyers with a demonstrated ability to win the cases that matter most to clients,” said Kate Dominguez, Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. “Our IP team has tremendous momentum across the country, and their arrival adds even greater depth to a trial bench that is already handling some of the most consequential patent disputes in the market.”
“Gibson Dunn has the leading IP practice in the country, with an incredible collection of trial lawyers and an exceptional record of success in the courtroom, handling major IP disputes,” said Nick. “The opportunity to join forces with Gibson Dunn’s deep bench of outstanding trial and appellate lawyers across the country—and to bring that collective strength to clients’ most significant IP disputes—is incredibly exciting.”
“We have long admired Gibson Dunn’s IP litigation practice—both its extraordinary group of trial lawyers and the successes they have achieved in high-stakes IP disputes,” said Erik. “Nick and I wanted to be part of that. We are coming to Gibson Dunn with tremendous momentum in Texas, and the opportunity to combine our trial experience with the talent, national reach, and winning record of this team is incredibly exciting.”
About the Intellectual Property Practice Group
Gibson Dunn’s Intellectual Property Practice Group is recognized as the nation’s leading IP litigation platform, representing clients in high-stakes patent, trade secret, trademark, and copyright disputes in courts and tribunals across the country. Its lawyers regularly handle major trials in the nation’s most active patent venues and combine deep trial capabilities with nationally recognized appellate, technology, and industry experience. Over the past year, Gibson Dunn’s IP team has earned the industry’s highest honors, including being named The American Lawyer’s IP Litigation Department of the Year, Law360’s IP Practice Group of the Year, and Managing IP’s Patent Disputes Firm of the Year, while earning a Band 1 nationwide ranking for Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets from Chambers USA.