John Bustamante

Brief Bio

John is a passionate and principled leader with more than 20 years of experience as an intellectual property litigator and advisor. After years in Big Law litigating high-dollar intellectual property cases for Fortune 100 technology companies, John set up his own patent-law shop while simultaneously devoting time and expertise to indigent criminal defense and child protection cases in Bexar County.

He went on to consult with, and later co-found, a boutique IP firm in Austin. John currently focuses on intellectual property litigation and all aspects of complex civil litigation with Grable Martin.

The Rest of the Story

Born in San Antonio, John is the son of a migrant farm worker who became a teacher, county judge and ultimately a congressman, and a teacher who later became a lawyer. He grew up in San Antonio and Arlington, Virginia, attending school in Virginia and coming home for the summers. While in Virginia, John earned the rank of Eagle Scout from the Boy Scouts of America. Once he started high school, John returned to Texas full time.

After graduating with a BS in brain and cognitive sciences (Course 9) from MIT, John decided to go to law school. He graduated from the UT School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 2003. While there, John served as a staff member and eventually Managing Editor of The Review of Litigation.

After law school, John began his legal career at Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper) in Austin, where he focused on intellectual property litigation under the Honorable Alan D Albright, now judge in the Western District of Texas. Shortly after John started working for Judge Albright, he opened the Austin office of Fish & Richardson in 2005 and brought John along as his first associate.

John worked at Fish & Richardson for more than four years, focused almost exclusively on intellectual property litigation. During that time, John represented numerous Fortune 100 companies in patent cases before district courts throughout the United States and before the International Trade Commission. John loved working for Fish, specifically, and intellectual property litigation, more generally, as it allowed him to work on complex technical and legal problems while surrounded by a team of great, intelligent attorneys.

Since his days at Fish, John has worked in a variety of different intellectual property boutiques in Austin, including one he co-founded with a former partner at Fish.  In 2025, John joined Grable Martin to anchor the firm’s entry into patent litigation and work on other complex commercial litigation matters.

John is an active advocate for the City of San Antonio through service as a commissioner and Chair on the Zoning Commission, city liaison for the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association, and co-founder of the Friends of Roosevelt Park, a non-profit community organization. He has two daughters, reads incessantly, and roots for the Texas Longhorns.