Profile: Willem G Schuurman

Patents

Biography: Patents

Bill Schuurman joined Vinson & Elkins as a partner in 1998, in the intellectual property section in the Austin office, after a distinguished career with Arnold White & Durkee in Austin, Texas. Mr Schuurman is a seasoned litigator and has won almost every patent litigation and trade secrets litigation case that he has handled. He is skilled in, and has extensive experience in, all aspects of pre-litigation and litigation preparation and strategy, trial preparation, Markman hearings, and all other phases of both jury and bench trials. Mr Schuurman has been successful in securing dispositive claim constructions in all but a few of well over 50 patent Markman hearings. He also has substantial experience and success in handling appeals to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Although his technical background is in the chemical and chemical engineering fields, he has successfully handled many patent litigations in the mechanical, medical, electrical, semiconductor, software and biotechnology fields. Mr Schuurman had substantial experience in patent preparation and prosecution early in his career before focusing his practice on litigation.

Mr Schuurman has been widely recognised as a leading lawyer in intellectual property litigation and patent litigation by Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business; The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers; Chambers USA: America's Leading Business, The Best Lawyers in America; Legal Media Guide: Guide to the US Best of the Best; Texas Monthly as a "Texas Super Lawyer"; and by Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading Patent Law Experts. He was the recipient of the "Best of Bar Award", given by the Austin Business Journal in 2006.

Mr Schuurman obtained his BS in 1962 and LLB in 1964 from the University of Cape Town; and received his JD, magna cum laude, from South Texas College of Law in 1981.