Michael Pegues
Vice Chair
Michael D. Pegues, chair of the Intellectual Property Litigation practice and board member at Polsinelli, draws upon over 30 years of patent litigation and federal circuit experience to advocate on behalf of his clients. Michael’s expertise ensures that his clients’ intellectual property portfolios and technology assets — core assets to any industry — are protected as they achieve their business objectives. His extensive litigation experience includes advocating on behalf of both domestic (from California to New York, Illinois to Texas) and foreign clients.
Michael currently serves as adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law and Texas A&M University School of Law, where he teaches the course entitled, “Race and Intellectual Property.” The course examines the relationship between race and intellectual property law, policy and principles through a critical race theory lens. He is also community-minded, with service as a trustee of the St. Philip’s School and Community Center, Parish Episcopal School and the St. Mark’s School of Texas among other community-based organizations.
Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® for Patent Law in 2020, Michael is credited with a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rating, Texas Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers of Dallas, and the Inaugural African American Dynamic Lawyer. In 2018, the Texas Minority Counsel selected Michael for the Trailblazer of the Year, a recognition appropriately illustrating Michael’s career which includes the Black Alumni of Southern Methodist and the University’s School of Engineering’s Hall of Leaders’ Emerging Leader and the Sam Winstead Volunteer of the Year Award for the Town North YMCA of Dallas, Texas, 2012.
Michael was first appointed as commissioner to DHA’s Board of Commissioners in August 2020. His belief that affordable housing is necessary for any society to truly achieve its full potential is what inspired him to join the board. Michael understands that without stable housing, opportunities become limited, thus making life difficult. Currently serving as vice chair, he’s motivated to be part of the solution that brings opportunity and success — as well as mental and physical well-being — to his neighbors, with DHA providing critical support that all citizens deserve. During his term, he wants to help provide and expose DHA residents to additional options as they discover the opportunities that help them move beyond DHA properties.
The work of DHA, Housing Solutions for North Texas, supports our citizenry’s continued positive contribution to society, Michael emphasizes. His commitment comes from the knowledge that housing support is a springboard for securing the socioeconomic stability necessary for a family’s long-term achievement of goals, both individually and collectively. Michael is proud to be a part of an organization whose goal is to make us all better.
Prior to starting his legal career, Michael was a stress analyst in the aerospace industry. Upon graduating from law school, Michael was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Richard A. Schell of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
