

Hector R. Chavez
Partner
hchavez@skv.com
Education & Clerkship
- J.D., Harvard Law School (2011)
- B.S., Electrical Engineering, cum laude, Columbia University School of Engineering & Applied Science (2006)
Additional Languages
- Spanish
Biography
Hector Chavez maintains an active general civil litigation practice representing defendants and plaintiffs in complex lawsuits, arbitrations, and appeals. His areas of focus have included patent litigation, trade secrets, commercial disputes, energy litigation, and white collar defense.
Hector relishes practicing law in Houston, a diverse town chock full of engineers, entrepreneurs, and other hard workers. Hector’s engineering background helps him distill issues of technology in order to tell his client’s story, educate judges and juries, and deliver successful results both in the courtroom and at the negotiation table. He also draws from his international background and experience to provide legal advice and victories to his clients based in Latin America and abroad in various complex litigation and intellectual property disputes.
Mr. Chavez received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, where he specialized in signals processing, received Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors, and was chosen as a baccalaureate speaker at graduation. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2011, where he was a Cravath International Fellow and edited the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French and Portuguese. In his spare time, Mr. Chavez participates in mentorship efforts, local scholarship grants, and the governing executive committee for Houston’s Honorable Nancy F. Atlas Intellectual Property Inn of Court.
Representative Matters
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LITIGATION
- Win favorable outcomes for defendant and plaintiff corporations in patent infringement lawsuits.
- Defend against and sue under federal and state law trademark and unfair competition cases in state and federal courts
- Win favorable settlements in trade secret misappropriation cases
- Successfully represent individuals and companies in IP licensing disputes
- Represent clients in copyright infringement lawsuits
ENERGY LITIGATION
- Represent energy companies in gas processing and midstream disputes before state and federal courts
- Obtain favorable rulings and outcomes for mineral interest owners in oil and gas lease and royalty disputes
INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC COMMERCIAL DISPUTES
- Represent Latin American companies and individual defendants in complex litigation and arbitrations
- Argued and won jurisdictional, choice of law, and forum non conveniens disputes before United States federal courts
- Tried and won corporate governance cases for nonprofit business organizations
- Represented hospital systems in cases involving contractual disputes, securities regulations, intellectual property violations, and civil rights defenses
Associations
- Nancy Atlas IP Inn of Court (Barrister; Executive Committee Member 2017 – Present)
- Houston Intellectual Property Law Association
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
Admissions
- State Bar of Texas
- United States District Court for the Southern, Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of Texas
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- Court of Federal Claims
Publications
- Co-author, On the role of context and prosody in the interpretation of ‘okay’ (Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), January 2007)
Speaking Engagements
- “Legal Ethics and Data Security” (SKV Decoding Cybersecurity in the Legal Industry)
- “Developments on Venue in Texas Federal Courts” (University of Houston / HIPLA Fall Institute)
- Alumni Engineering Forum Presenter (University of Houston)
- “Intellectual Property: A Crash Course on Protecting Your Ideas,” (Rice University)
- “Litigation Funding in IP Cases” (University of Houston / HIPLA Fall Institute)
Awards
- Texas Future Star (Benchmark Litigation, 2015 – 2023)
- 40 & Under List – South (Benchmark Litigation)
- Texas Rising Star – Intellectual Property Litigation (Super Lawyers, 2017-2021)
- Cravath International Fellow (Harvard Law School, 2011)