Liz Klingensmith

With more than a decade of litigation experience, Liz has tried multiple cases to verdict, arbitrated and mediated disputes with favorable results.

Liz advises clients in Texas and Oklahoma in various commercial disputes, including those arising from oil and gas leases and assignments, joint operations, joint accounting, mergers and acquisitions, preferential rights or areas of mutual interests, surface use accommodation and damages, oilfield services and equipment, seismic operations, equipment and pipeline failure, nuisance, quiet title, surface and subsurface trespass, hydraulic fracturing, mineral liens and theft of trade secrets.

Liz helps clients resolve disputes across multiple industries: energy, exploration and production, oilfield services, transportation, construction, banking, real estate, and professional services, involving claims for breach of contract, negligence, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, post-judgment enforcement, theft of trade secrets, breach of contract, tortious interference, conversion and declaratory judgment.

• Won anti-SLAAP motion to dismiss in dispute arising from statements regarding former employee on behalf of employer.
• Successfully resolved $42 million tortious interference counter claim arising from the purchase of North Dakota oil and gas assets out of a bankruptcy sale following pre-trial hearing.
• Won arbitration award for $4.3 million on behalf of a pipeline company against a large valve manufacturer for damages, costs and attorney’s fees incurred as a result of an inline inspection tool becoming lodged in a defective valve.
• Arbitrated a $40 million dollar dispute arising from cost overruns related to a Gulf of Mexico development project against a foreign corporation and domestic subsidiaries.
• Secured a take nothing judgment following a bench trial against plaintiff engineering firm related to the procurement and commissioning of oilfield service equipment.
• Tried to jury verdict a contract dispute arising between former executives and successor-in-interest oil and gas company following a merger involving compensation and benefits.
• Successfully obtained favorable settlement on behalf of employer against former employee in a dispute arising from misappropriation of trade secrets.

• Memberships and Associations:
  • Immediate past chair, Houston Bar Association, Oil, Gas and Mineral Law Section
  • Executive, Membership, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee Member, Institute for Energy Law
  • Former chair, Young Energy Professionals (“YEP”) Committee, Institute for Energy Law
  • Former co-chair, ABA Section of Energy Litigation Committee
• Publications:
  • Litigation Module Chair, IEL Annual Oil and Gas Conference, 2019.
  • “Frac Hit Litigation: Where Horizontal Meets Vertical,” Moderator, IEL Young Energy Professionals Conference, 2018. Moderator.
  • “The Shale Energy Revolution: A Lawyer’s Guide,” Editor and Contributor, ABA Energy Litigation Committee, 2015. Editor and contributor.
  • “Bright Lights, Big Oil,” The Houston Lawyer, 2014. Co-author.
  • “Things That Go Bump in the Night: Litigation Risks That Leave Oil and Gas CEO’s Sleepless,” Oil and Gas Monitor, 2014. Co-author.
  • “Drilling into Ambiguities in Oil and Gas Law,” Law360, 2012. Co-author.
  • “A Watched Pot Never Boils: Keeping Boilerplate Provisions from Bubbling Over,” The Houston Lawyer, 2010. Co-author.
• Honors & Awards:
  • Selected to the Texas Rising Stars list by Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters) in Energy & Natural Resources, General Litigation, Business Litigation, 2013 – 2017.
  • “Yellow Rose of Texas,” commissioned by Governor Perry, 2010.