Elizabeth D. Flannery

I'll research this attorney's background and the tracked case.

Let me verify a few specifics: the tracked SEG/Jinko matter, the trade-secret trial, and her PTAB role.

Elizabeth D. Flannery (also styled Elizabeth Durham Flannery / "Liz Flannery") is a partner in Baker Botts L.L.P.'s Houston office and co-chair (sector chair) of the firm's Energy IP Practice Group. Her patent litigation practice is anchored in the energy and oilfield services sector — drilling, completions, well stimulation and proppant handling, subsea production equipment, and fuel/logistics systems — with additional experience in life sciences (nucleic acid sequencing and clinical genetic testing), consumer goods, and computer technology (including directional drilling software). She handles both infringement litigation and trade secret misappropriation cases, and her firm bio also describes a substantial counseling practice (freedom-to-operate, licensing, joint development agreements). The one tracked appearance, SEG Manufacturing Inc. et al. v. Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co. Ltd. et al., extends that portfolio into solar: it relates to N-type TOPCon solar cell/module technology. Note a caption discrepancy worth flagging — public reporting shows JinkoSolar as plaintiff in the parallel Southern District of Texas infringement action (4:25-cv-05226) against SEG entities, while a related PTAB petition (IPR2026-00230) is captioned SEG Solar Inc. v. Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., with SEG as petitioner. The tracker's "plaintiff / lead counsel" designation likely reflects the declaratory-relief or IPR posture rather than a conventional affirmative infringement suit; the district court action itself has been described as a defense matter in her firm bio.

Side preference. Her professional bio states she has tried cases "both in asserting [clients'] IP rights and defending them from allegations of infringement," and the record bears that out: she has obtained plaintiff-side verdicts and also spends substantial time as defense counsel and IPR petitioner. Recent public matters skew defense/Petitioner-side (solar module manufacturer, fuel technology providers, oilfield logistics), while earlier work includes affirmative infringement claims. The single tracked appearance is too small a sample to infer a genuine plaintiff/defendant preference, and there is no indication she works for NPEs/PAEs — her clients appear to be operating companies in the energy, life sciences, and solar sectors.

Firm context. Baker Botts is the only firm identified in the authoritative data, and no prior-firm history surfaced in the sources reviewed; she has been licensed in Texas since 2004 and is consistently listed at Baker Botts' Houston office (One Shell Plaza). She is listed among Baker Botts' ranked IP practitioners by Chambers and was named to Lawdragon's 500 Leading Litigators in America (2026 edition, IP litigation with an energy focus) and recognized in Best Lawyers (Patent Law; Trade Secrets Law) since 2025. She is not in-house.

Notable matters and PTAB/IPR experience. PTAB work is a genuine feature of her practice, not an occasional one — she appears as lead counsel in multiple IPRs. Verified outcomes include: Solaris Oilfield Site Services v. Masaba (PTAB decision announced January 2026), where all 25 claims of U.S. Patent No. 11,780,689 covering sand-handling equipment were cancelled as obvious; Permian Global/Manticore Fuels v. Fuel Automation Station (three IPRs, final written decisions February 26, 2025), where all claims of all three asserted oilfield fueling patents were held unpatentable, with the parallel Western District of Texas case stayed; and a Wyoming proppant-silo IPR in which all asserted claims were cancelled. She is also listed as lead counsel for Halliburton Energy Services in IPR2023-00558 against U.S. Well Services. On the district court side, her firm bio reports a $34 million jury verdict for a major oilfield services provider in the Northern District of Texas (composite packers, bridge plugs, frac plugs); a judgment of non-infringement on eight asserted patents in a directional drilling software case that then settled during jury deliberations on her client's counterclaims; a defense verdict after a four-week Harris County trade secret trial that Law.com reported (May 2021) as the longest in-person IP jury trial of the pandemic era, affirmed on appeal; a March 2020 Delaware jury verdict for a nucleic acid sequencing technology developer affirmed by the Federal Circuit; and representation of The Regents of the University of California in a patent ownership action against Genia Technologies (N.D. Cal.), dismissed with prejudice in 2018. The specific damages figure and several trial results rest on the firm's self-reported experience page rather than independent coverage, so treat them as firm-asserted unless separately confirmed.

Bar and education. Admitted in Texas (2004); registered before the USPTO (Reg. No. 59,509); admitted to the Federal Circuit and the N.D., S.D., E.D., and W.D. Tex.; J.D., University of Michigan Law School (2004); B.A. in Chemistry and Political Science, Rice University (2001).