Schiffer Hicks Johnson PLLC

Website: https://shjlawfirm.com
Managing partner: Andrew Hicks
Number of partners: 8
Number of lawyers: 19

Firm Overview:
The firm was founded in 2007 by lawyers from Vinson & Elkins and King & Spalding who saw a demand for sophisticated, efficient, non-conflicted litigation services in the Houston market. Since then, it has grown into a 17-lawyer litigation and arbitration boutique with national and international reach. Over the past 10 years, the firm's lawyers have defeated billions of dollars in claims for defendants and collected more than $500 million for plaintiffs in the areas of energy, healthcare, construction, corporate and securities litigation, and appellate work. They routinely prevail at trial before federal and state courts throughout the United States and represent clients in domestic and international arbitrations.

Main Areas of Practice: 

Trial:
Led by managing partner Andrew Hicks and founding partner Logan Johnson, the trial team tries cases for both defendants and plaintiffs—from market-leading companies to venture funds, startups, and individuals—with particular expertise in multidistrict litigation, mass tort cases, and oil and gas/energy industry cases. In the past year alone, they have represented a number of major oil and gas players (including Exxon Mobil) in big-ticket disputes that stand to significantly impact industry operations.

Partners: 8
Total fee earners: 19

Notable work:  

• Representing Apache Corporation in a dispute with Castex Energy Partners, the joint owner of a large-scale oil and gas construction project in South Louisiana. Apache alleged that Castex owed millions of dollars in unpaid joint interest billings related to their assets. In response, Castex filed a counterclaim arguing that Apache had been grossly negligent or engaged in willful misconduct in its role as operator, resulting in construction costs for a processing plant that exceeded the authorized budget amount by more than $100 million.
• Representing the litigation trustee in the sprawling, three-year bankruptcy case against Lubbock, Texas-based Reagor Dykes Auto Group, which was one of the fastest-growing auto dealerships in the country before it collapsed. As special litigation counsel to the debtors, and now as counsel to the trustee for the liquidating trust, the SHJ team has filed multiple claims seeking more than $100 million on behalf of the Reagor Dykes bankruptcy estate and creditors’ trust.
• Representing Atlas OBO Energy LP in a large dispute with Ovintiv USA Inc., the successor entity of Encana Oil & Gas. The dispute is multifaceted, encompassing claims arising from failure to pay joint interest billing to the mechanics of horizontal drilling to construction of the Model Form Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) promulgated by the American Association of Professional Landmen.
• Representing Devon Energy Corporation and Devon Energy Production Company, L.P. (“Devon”) in a far-reaching indemnity dispute with Chevron U.S.A. Inc. regarding decommissioning costs for federal offshore oil and gas leases off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. The genesis of this dispute stretches back 30 years when Devon and Chevron’s predecessors entered into multimillion-dollar purchase and sale agreements for the transfer of the subject leases.

Key clients:  

• Apache Corporation
• Reagor Dykes, LP Creditors Liquidating Trust
• White Star litigation trust
• Devon Energy Production Company LP
• Atlas OBO Energy LP
• NexTier Oilfield Solutions
• Exxon Mobil Corporation
• Eni Petroleum US LLC
• XTO Energy Inc.
• Great Northern Midstream
• Western Midstream

Contacts:
Andrew S. Hicks, Managing Partner
[email protected]
+1 713 357 5152

Logan E. Johnson, Founding Partner
[email protected]
+1 713 357 5161

Appellate:
The firm's lawyers have an exceptional track record of overturning adverse decisions and preserving victories in civil cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars. Headed by partners Marc Tabolsky and Penelope Nicholson, they have represented clients in appellate proceedings in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and federal Circuits and in the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as in the Supreme Court of Texas, intermediate Texas appellate courts, and various other state appellate courts. Their experience extends to issues that arise at the trial court level (such as matters relating to jury instructions, jury questions, and dispositive motions) in addition to mandamus actions and amicus briefs.

Partners: 2
Total fee earners: 19

Notable work:  

• Represented SWN Production Company, one of the largest oil and gas producers in West Virginia, in a recent appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that addressed the application of the Tawney (Estate of Tawney v. Columbia Natural Resources LLC) rule.
• Representing Uretek (USA) Inc. in a breach of contract and tort claims case arising out of Uretek’s alleged breach of a license agreement related to a ground stabilization process.
• Represented Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's in a case arising out of a 2013 well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, after which the client was forced to pay over $48 million to its insured, the well operator.

Key clients:  

• Glacier Park Iron Ore Properties
• SWN Production Company LLC and Equinor US Onshore Properties Inc.
• Over 250 plaintiffs in one of three lawsuits that are part of multidistrict litigation related to claims against over 50 defendants for flood-related damages that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey
• Uretek (USA) Inc.
• Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's

Contacts:
Marc S. Tabolsky, Partner
[email protected]
+1 713 255 4111

Penelope E. Nicholson, Partner
[email protected]
+1 713 357 5159

Practice Areas: 

• Appellate
• Arbitration
• Construction
• Energy
• Healthcare
• Mass Tort & Product Liability
• Trial

Office: 

Address: 700 Louisiana St. #2650
Houston, TX 77002

Email: [email protected]
Tel: +1 713 357 5150