Rick Strange is shareholder and is a member of the firm’s Litigation Section and the Oil and Gas Litigation and Commercial Litigation Practice Groups.  He is Board Certified in Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law, and Civil Trial Law.  Rick first joined the firm in 1985.  He was a shareholder and head of the firm’s Litigation Section when Governor Perry appointed him to the 11^th Court of Appeals in 2005.  Rick served as a Justice on the Court for five years and returned to the firm in 2011.

AREAS OF CONCENTRATION

Oil and Gas Litigation

Both as a Justice and attorney, Rick has been involved in several complex oil and gas cases involving operational, title, and environmental issues.  Rick has successfully represented clients as lead counsel in jury trials involving environmental claims stemming from alleged contamination of groundwater by produced fluid spills, clients who have been sued because of fatalities or other serious injuries, and clients with title disputes.

Commercial Litigation

Rick has also been actively involved in commercial disputes and has represented clients in State and Federal Court, including Bankruptcy Court.  For example, Rick represented clients whose business was threatened by a former partner.  Rick successfully convinced a jury that a binding partnership existed and that the other party breached that agreement and committed fraud.  Rick successfully maintained the client’s position when the former partner filed for bankruptcy.

Appellate Practice

Prior to his appointment to the Eleventh Court of Appeals, Rick argued cases in both State and Federal Appellate Courts.  During his five years on the bench, Rick wrote several hundred published opinions and was chosen by his peers to serve on the Board of the Texas Center for the Judiciary, an organization tasked with providing education to Texas Judges.