John Irvine has over 35 years experience representing corporations, partnerships, and individuals in complex litigation and arbitration matters, including antitrust, securities, intellectual property, insurance, real estate, tax, white collar criminal defense, and internal corporate investigations. He has been selected as a “Texas Super Lawyer” in Business Litigation in every survey conducted by Texas Monthly, and has been listed in Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law, and Who's Who in the Southwest for over 25 years. Mr. Irvine is also featured in the 2008 issue of Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition magazine.

Following his service as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Harry W. Wellford, Mr. Irvine was a prosecutor and tried to verdict over 125 felony jury trials. Since then, Mr. Irvine has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in litigation in both state and federal courts throughout the country and in Europe. Additionally, Mr. Irvine has arbitrated securities, commercial, intellectual property and employment matters before tribunals of the American Arbitration Association, the National Association of Securities Dealers, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. For three years, he served as Assistant General Counsel-Litigation for The Mead Corporation, then a FORTUNE 150 company, resolving antitrust class action litigation, as lead counsel in an antitrust case brought by the European Commission, managing Mead's litigation and supervising its antitrust compliance program.

Representative Experience

• Representation of defendants in antitrust class action involving the specialty steel piping industry.
• Representation of defendants in antitrust criminal and class actions involving the corrugated container industry.
• Representation of defendant in an antitrust action brought by Commission of European Community involving the international wood pulp industry.
• Representation of defendants in Department of Justice, Antitrust Division investigation of motion picture industry.
• Representation of individuals in securities fraud actions brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Representation of companies and individuals, both plaintiffs and defendants, in securities fraud litigation.
• Representation of audit committees and other special committees of corporate boards of directors with regard to internal investigations and the defense of securities litigation. 
• Representation of companies and individuals, both plaintiffs and defendants, in litigation and arbitration involving securities broker/dealers.
• Representation of defendants in criminal prosecutions involving income tax evasion, antitrust, FCPA, securities fraud, government fraud, bank fraud, and customs violations.
• Representation of owners of business in securities fraud litigation involving roll-ups.
• Representation of foreign motion picture producers in copyright litigation.
• Representation of companies in trade secret, copyright and trademark cases.
• Representation of companies and individuals in trade secret litigation.
• Representation of defendants in multiple actions, both criminal and civil, by the Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service and the State of Texas, involving the alleged failure to pay state and federal fuels taxes.
• Representation of individuals in complex and novel trials in both state and federal court involving land use restrictions and related claims of discrimination.
• Representation of both insurers and insureds in insurance coverage litigation.
• Counsels clients with regard to antitrust and other compliance issues, including benchmarking and trade association issues.
• Representation of gas pipeline company in multi-party case involving damages to gas turbines in co-gen plant allegedly caused by hydrocarbon liquids in the gas stream.

Professional / Civic Affiliations

• Martindale Hubbell AV Rated Attorney
• Member of, and has held leadership positions with, the American Bar Association, Litigation Section (Intellectual Properties Litigation Committee, Co-Chair, 1996-1999; Strategic Planning Task Force, 1999-2000; Trial Practice Committee, Co-Chair, 2000-2003; Task Force on the Judiciary, 2003-2004; Committee on Corporate Counsel, Vice Chair, 1989-1991); Federal Bar Association, South Texas Chapter (President, 2001); Texas Bar Association, Houston Bar Association (Director, Antitrust Section 1990); Tennessee Bar Association, Memphis and Shelby County Bar Associations, Young Lawyers' Division (Vice President, Treasurer)
• Member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, the Defense Research Institute, the College of the State Bar of Texas, and a Sustaining Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and the Houston Bar Foundation
• Currently serving on the American Arbitration Association Panel of Arbitrators and the National Association of Securities Dealers Panel of Arbitrators
• Member of the Council on Antitrust Policy for the U.S. Chambers of Commerce for over 20 years
• Member, Houston Symphony Orchestra Board of Trustees, Governing Director
• Member, Coronado Club, Champions Golf Club and The Briar Club
• Member, Promontory Ranch Club, Park City, Utah

News

• 2008 Super Lawyers Announced (9/17/2008)
• Seventy percent of Porter & Hedges' Attorneys Named as 2007 Texas Super Lawyers (9/17/2007)
• 27 Porter & Hedges' Attorneys Named as 2006 Texas Super Lawyers (9/25/2006)

Publications

• Section Editor of The Corporate Litigator.

Events

• Speaker on various litigation topics at conferences sponsored by the American, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, Houston, Memphis and Chicago Bar Associations, the Federal Bar Association, the Conference Board, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the International Construction Super Conference, London.
• Co-chair, American Bar Association, Litigation Section, Judicial Division Bench-Bar Conference (1/1/2004).
• Co-chair, American Bar Association, Litigation Section's Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting and CLE seminar (2/1/2003 and 2/1/1991).
• Testified on antitrust matters before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.