John Kenney's practice involves litigation of complex business cases, including those involving intellectual property and other technical and scientific issues. He has handled and tried cases, arbitrations, and administrative proceedings and hearings in many state and federal courts in the United States, the Virgin Islands, and several foreign countries. Over the years, this has included cases involving patents and other intellectual property, product liability, oil and gas, environmental, antitrust, securities fraud and other contract and general business issues. He also advises clients concerning matters involving intellectual property law and products liability law.
John regularly practices before all federal district courts in Oklahoma, including the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, located in Oklahoma City; the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, located in Tulsa; and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, located in Muskogee. He has also tried cases in numerous federal district courts around the country and handled appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and other U.S. Courts of Appeal throughout the United States.
He currently serves as leader of the firm's Litigation Practice Group and is a past leader the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group. He has also served on the firm's board of directors.
Before attending law school, John was employed as an engineer with Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Staunton, VA, and Norman, OK, and as a project engineer by University Associates, Inc. After law school, he worked as a litigation associate at Baker & Botts in Houston, TX, before returning to Oklahoma and joining McAfee & Taft.
John is an inventor of United States Patent No. 5,773,757, U.S. Patent No. 6,026,376, U.S. Patent No. 6,381,583, U.S. Patent No. 7,156,306, U.S. Patent No. 7,503,496 and U.S. Patent No. 7,703,682.
In addition to being appointed on two occasions as a temporary judge on the Oklahoma Court of Appeals (attorney-staffed panels), John has served on various appointed committees and panels for the U.S. District Court for the Western of Oklahoma, including the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Committee, Merit Magistrate Judge Selection Committee, Arbitration Panel, and Early Neutral Evaluation Panel.
John’s achievements in the areas of intellectual property law and litigation have earned him inclusion in Chambers USA Guide to America's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America and Oklahoma Super Lawyers, where he has been named to the prestigious list of "Top 50 Oklahoma Lawyers." He has been identified by Benchmark Litigation as a "Litigation Star." He is also a frequent speaker and continuing legal education teacher on matters related to trial practice, evidence and intellectual property law.
In 2008, John was inducted as a Fellow into the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is also the recipient of the 2005 John Shipp Award for Professionalism by the Ruth Bader Ginsburg American Inn of Court and the 1988-1989 “Most Outstanding Member Award” by the Oklahoma County Bar Association.