Tom Melsheimer, Managing Partner of Winston & Strawn’s Dallas office, has been described as “one of the most sought after trial lawyers in the country” by the publishers of The American Lawyer, “a celebrated storyteller” by the founder of The American Lawyer, and as a “game changing ringer” by another national legal publication. He has remarkably broad and extensive jury trial experience; Tom has tried civil cases involving patents, antitrust, securities fraud, product liability, breach of fiduciary duty and energy. He has tried criminal cases involving health care fraud, bank fraud, public corruption, and kidnapping. Tom is also the author of a widely acclaimed book on trying cases before a jury, On the Jury Trial.
Tom was lead trial counsel for billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban in the widely publicized insider trading case, in which the jury cleared Mr. Cuban of any wrongdoing following a three-week trial. Tom’s work in the largest Medicaid fraud case in Texas history was featured in a 15-part series authored by acclaimed legal journalist Steven Brill and published by the Huffington Post in 2015. Tom’s $178 million jury trial win on behalf of the plaintiff in IRCC v. NL Industries, et al., included nearly $150 million in punitive damages. The jury award in the breach of fiduciary duty case was named one of the Top Verdicts of 2009 by The National Law Journal (NLJ), in addition to being recognized as one of the year’s three largest verdicts in Texas and the year’s largest verdict in Dallas County.
After a seven week jury trial in 2019, Tom successfully obtained the only acquittal in a 21 defendant federal health care fraud case involving allegations of $40 million in bribes and kickbacks. The so-called Forest Park case was the largest health care fraud investigation ever undertaken by federal authorities in Texas.
Tom has been named “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Dallas Bar Association and TEX-ABOTA (2014). Law360 has honored him twice, naming him “MVP of the Year” in 2014, and a “Trial Ace” in 2015. In 2018, Tom was named one of three finalists for Texas Lawyer’s “Attorney of the Year” award, and recognized by Chambers USA as a leading Texas attorney in the areas of intellectual property and general commercial litigation.
Education/Alumni: University of Texas, J.D., 1986
Last Updated September 2019
