Jones Day mourns the loss of Chris Maynard, who passed away on September 12, 2024. Chris spent his entire legal career at the Firm and played a key role in many successful trials. In 2017, Chris asked to be assigned full time to Jones Day's Border Project in Laredo, Texas, where he became one of the most knowledgeable lawyers in the country on immigration law related to asylum. His dedication to the Project was unsurpassed, from mentoring junior lawyers to building the data management systems used in Laredo to track and measure the work of the Project. Chris went to extraordinary measures to advocate for justice, and he will be deeply missed.
Chris Maynard is an experienced litigator focused on internal and SEC investigations, antitrust issues in IP litigation, and pro bono matters.
Chris has been dedicated to managing the day-to-day operations of the Border Project after leading a team that obtained relief for one of the earliest clients engaged in the project. He also has had substantial roles in internal investigations and related government investigations of Volkswagen AG and Wal-Mart, Dell, and others. He has obtained summary judgment, affirmed by the Fifth Circuit where members of a cellular communication standard-setting organization were alleged to have conspired to remove technology from a standard. He was a member of the trial team that resulted in a take nothing bench verdict for Texas Instruments, affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court, regarding claims that Texas Instruments had materially breached a cross-license agreement. He also helped achieve favorable resolution of federal class action and opt-out lawsuits and state indirect purchaser class action lawsuits alleging a price-fixing conspiracy in In re Methionine Antitrust Litigation.
Chris has represented a number of pro bono clients — unaccompanied minors in immigration matters and federal prisoners seeking commutation through the Clemency Initiative. Two of the latter received commutations on the Obama Administration's penultimate day. He is a member of the Texas State Bar and Dallas Bar Association. He is a graduate of Leadership Arts and helped create the Leadership Arts Alumni Association and the Patricia A. Porter Fellowship in Arts Management.
Experience
- Case Western Reserve University (J.D. magna cum laude 2001; Order of the Coif; Executive Articles Editor, Law Review); The University of Oklahoma (B.A. 1998)
- Texas and Ohio