Professionals

John Irvine is a partner in the litigation practice group of Porter Hedges. He has more than 40 years of 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.

Mr. Irvine represents both plaintiffs and defendants in litigation in both state and federal courts throughout the country and in Europe. He has also 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 the lead counsel in an antitrust case brought by the European Commission, managing Mead's litigation and supervising its antitrust and other compliance programs. Prior to that, Mr. Irvine was a prosecutor and tried more than 125 felony jury trials to verdict. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Harry W. Wellford in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

Mr. Irvine was selected for inclusion in Texas Super Lawyers in Business Litigation from 2003-2008 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 more than 25 years. Mr. Irvine is also featured in the 2008 and 2009 issues of Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition magazine for Business Litigation.

• Substantial experience representing companies' audit committees and individual officers and directors in FCPA investigations and counseling.
• Representation of independent oil and gas exploration and production company and its Board of Directors in federal and Texas state class action merger litigation arising out of sale of company where plaintiffs alleged sale price and process were flawed.
• Representation through trial 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 through trial of defendant in an antitrust action brought by the Commission of the 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 defendant in Specialty Steel Piping Antitrust litigation.
• 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 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.
• Counsel 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.

• Martindale Hubbell AV Rated Attorney
• State Bar of Texas, Member
• Houston Bar Association, Member (Director, Antitrust Section 1990); Treasurer, Securities Litigation & Arbitration Section, 2011 -
• American Bar Association, Member of 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, Member of South Texas Chapter (President, 2001)
• Tennessee Bar Association, Member
• Memphis Bar Association, Member
• Shelby County Bar Association, Member
• International Association of Defense Counsel, Member
• Defense Research Institute, Member
• College of the State Bar of Texas, Member
• American Bar Association, Life Fellow
• Texas Bar Foundation, Sustaining Life Fellow
• Houston Bar Foundation, Sustaining Life Fellow
• American Arbitration Association Panel of Arbitrators
• National Association of Securities Dealers Panel of Arbitrators
• U.S. Chambers of Commerce, Member of the Council on Antitrust Policy for over 20 years