Mr. Steven G. G. Schortgen

Steven Schortgen is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group and an Office Managing Partner in the firm's Dallas office.

Areas of Practice

Steven has deep, first-chair experience in complex intellectual property litigation of all kinds, from patent and copyright to trade secret and trademark. He writes and speaks frequently on copyright, trade secret and patent issues as they relate to software and technology clients. Because he previously personally published commercial software, Steven provides special insight into litigation issues in computer and computer-related industries and often litigates software and software-as-services claims.

As a natural extension to his intellectual property practice, Steven is particularly experienced in non-competition and non-disclosure agreements and the issues surrounding departing employees, including forensic investigations of computer and computer-related media.

Steven writes and counsels extensively in the area of electronic discovery.

Honors

Selected by D Magazine as one of the Best Lawyers Under 40 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 2002 and 2006

Litigation - Patent, Best Lawyers in America, 2016 and 2020

Named by Law & Politics as a Texas Rising Star, 2004-2006, 2008-2009

Insights

Articles

•Co-author of more than a half-dozen sections concerning intellectual property claims, Texas Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms, Thomson West, Second Edition, 2001
• Two Bites of the Trade Secret Misappropriation Apple, Texas Lawyer, May 2000
• Conducting Discovery in America While Winding Up a European Concern, Butterworths Atkin's Court Forms, Second Edition, Volume 10 (British equivalent of Moore's Federal Practice), 2000
• The Almost Perfect Crime: Using Misappropriation to Fill the Gaps in Unfair Competition Law, Texas Lawyer, September 1999
• Dressing Up Software Interface Protection: The Application of Two Pesos to 'Look and Feel,' Cornell Law Review (awarded third place in the Brand Names Foundation's national competition for the best overall article in the field of trademark law)

Media Mentions

•Movers & Shakers Feature
The Deal, 04.20.2018
•Sheppard Mullin Opens Dallas office
World Intellectual Property Review, 04.17.2018
•Sheppard Mullin opens up shop in Dallas
World Trademark Review, 04.17.2018
•Sheppard Mullin Enters Texas Market With Dallas Office
Law360, 04.16.2018
•Sheppard Mullin Officially Opens Dallas Office
The Texas Lawbook, 04.16.2018
•Sheppard Mullin Launches Dallas Office
Texas Lawyer, 04.16.2018

Speaking Engagements

• The Seven Deadly Sins of Outsourcing Litigation, University of Texas Technology Conference, 2012
• Update On Trade Secret Law: Shedding Light on a Marshy Landscape, Texas Bar CLE, 2012
• Protecting Your Intellectual Property, State Bar of Texas Essentials of Business Law 2012 forum
• Valuation In Complex Intellectual Property Matters, Dallas Bar Association, 2012
• Cloud Computing: Lessons from the Trenches, DFW General Counsel’s forum, 2011
•More than three dozen speeches on electronic discovery and evidence for various continuing legal education seminars, including the State Bar of Texas e-discovery workshop
• Developments in Electronic Discovery, U.S. Department of Energy annual contractor’s conference
•Quoted in Making Rain on the Net, ABA Journal
•Quoted in The Zubulake Road Show, ABA Journal
• Intellectual Property and E-Business, Sage U.S. Software Developer's Conference
•Texas Technology, quoted multiple times on various intellectual property and litigation matters