Willie Wood became a partner in Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.'s Houston office in 1993. He concentrates his practice on the defense and prosecution of U.S. and international commercial, business litigation and arbitration cases, with an emphasis on energy industry matters.

Since his arrival at the firm in 1984, Mr. Wood has been involved in the trial and arbitration of numerous cases of domestic and international origin, obtaining defense verdicts when defending, and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements when prosecuting.

Mr. Wood has prosecuted and defended claims involving breach of contract, tortious interference, state and federal antitrust, common law and statutory fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets, negligent misrepresentation, business disparagement, state and federal securities actions, product liability, nuisance, trespass, conversion, insurance coverage, corporate governance, breach of fiduciary duty, shareholder oppression, and qui tam. He has litigated these claims arising from a variety of U.S. and international contractual arrangements, including:

• Area of mutual interest agreements
• Asset purchase and sale agreements
• Confidentiality and exclusivity agreements
• Earnout agreements
• Energy based incentive/bonus compensation agreements
• Exchange agreements
• Drilling contracts
• Farmout agreements
• Gas purchase and sale contracts
• Crude oil trading agreements
• Geophysical/Seismic data acquisition and use agreements
• Joint exploration agreements
• Joint operating agreements
• Joint venture agreements
• Letters of Intent
• LNG agreements
• Manufacturing agreements
• Oil and gas leases
• Partnership and joint venture agreements
• Pipeline construction contracts
• Pipeline operating agreements
• Power purchase and sale agreements
• Preferential rights and right of first refusal provisions
• Production sharing contracts
• Processing agreements
• Refinery construction contracts
• Shareholder agreements
• Stock purchase and sale agreements
• Transportation and exchange agreements  

Typical claims litigated include disputes relating to price redetermination provisions, oil and gas royalty obligations, representations and warranties, purchase price adjustments, take or pay provisions, capital contribution obligations, oil and gas well drilling obligations, implied lease covenants, delivery of goods requirements, force majeure provisions, right of first refusal provisions, trade secret protection, contract termination provisions, indemnity obligations, and corporate and partnership governance issues.

Mr. Wood's active trial, arbitration and litigation practice also includes advising clients on litigation avoidance strategies, and litigation preparedness in connection with disputes that appear likely to result in litigation. He also assists clients in internal, federal and state investigations and enforcement actions.

His practice often involves evaluating and addressing competing (and often conflicting) dispute resolution, forum selection and choice of law provisions, and parallel proceedings in state, federal and bankruptcy courts, and arbitral tribunals.

He has litigated matters on behalf of domestic and foreign corporations and other entities and individuals involved in the energy, real estate, brokerage, insurance, banking, manufacturing, retail, construction, agriculture, and food products industries. He works with an extensive network of industry consultants and with legal practitioners in foreign jurisdictions.

In connection with his international practice, Mr. Wood has worked on matters involving the following countries:  Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador, England, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq (Kurdistan Region), Israel, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Spain, Syria and Venezuela.

Mr. Wood's domestic practice has involved working in various state, federal and bankruptcy courts, and involved proceedings in the following states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

His Texas practice has included litigating cases in the following Texas counties: Bell, Bexar, Brazoria, Brooks, Cameron, Dallas, Duval, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Hidalgo, Jefferson, Jim Hogg Liberty, Live Oak, Matagorda, Montgomery, Nueces, Potter, San Patricio, Starr, Tarrant, Taylor, Travis, Tyler, Val Verde, Victoria, Webb and Wharton.

Mr. Wood is a senior member of the firm's Energy Practice Group, Co-Chair of the firm's Energy Litigation Practice Group and Co-Chair of the firm's Latin America Practice Group.  He serves on the firm's elected Policy Committee.

Over the past five years, Mr. Wood has been representing energy companies in litigation and arbitration matters involving Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and West Virginia exploration, development, production, gathering, processing, fractionation, transportation, power generation, physical and financial trading and marketing activities, and involving unconventional resource plays in the Barnett Shale, Marcellus Shale, Haynesville Shale, among others. 

Internationally, over the same time period, Mr. Wood has represented energy companies and other owners of oil and gas interests in connection with oil and gas exploration and development activities in Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Kurdistan/Iraq, Nigeria, Oman and Syria.

Recent matters litigated involved amounts in controversy in excess of $1 billion (from the plaintiffs and the defense side of the docket), and other recent matters have involved amounts in controversy of $400 million, $300 million and $90 million.

Representative Energy Industry Cases

• Tried to a jury verdict a case involving claims by holders of an oil and gas interest in undeveloped lands claiming loss of an opportunity for development of leasehold. Plaintiffs claimed they could have drilled seven Wells and claimed damages of over $50,000,000. Jury delivered a complete defense verdict. (Starr County, Texas)
• Tried to a jury verdict a case involving claims for royalty underpayments; breach of the duty to reasonably develop the lease premises; breach of the duty to protect the leasehold from drainage; breach of the duty to market gas as a reasonably prudent operator for a declaratory judgment on royalty clause language; plaintiffs asked the jury for $225,000,000. Jury awarded a portion of the damages claimed on the drainage and development claims and returned a defense verdict on other claims. (Zapata County, Texas)
• Tried to a jury verdict a case involving breach of duty to protect the leasehold from drainage; bad faith pooling; slander of title and tortious interference. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff clients and a judgment in the clients' favor was entered. (Wharton County, Texas)
• Tried to a jury verdict a case on behalf of a natural gas transmission company involving take or pay and ratable take provisions in a natural gas purchase contract. (Federal District Court, Amarillo, Texas)
• Tried to a jury verdict a case involving a dispute between the operator of a prolific oil and gas field and a working interest owner alleging that the operator failed to drill additional development wells and failed to implement a gas cycling program. (Hardin County, Texas)
• Litigated and obtained a multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of a plaintiff oil and gas company against a defendant seller of oil and gas properties. The case involved common law fraud and statutory fraud claims arising out of the plaintiff's purchase of oil and gas properties based on represented reserve numbers. (Arbitration-AAA)
• Litigated and obtained a multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of a plaintiff gas purchaser in a case involving a gas producers' breach of an unfavorable gas sales agreement involving production in Louisiana and Arkansas. (Harris County, Texas)
• Litigated and obtained a multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of a major independent energy company in a matter involving theft of trade secrets relating to drilling activity in a shale gas play. (Federal District Court, Houston, Texas)
• Represented a major gas transmission company in Bolivia in connection with claims resulting from the construction of a large diameter pipeline transporting gas from Bolivia to Brazil. (ICC Arbitration, seated in Montevideo, Spanish language)
• Represented a power generating company in Guatemala regarding claims relating to a power purchase agreement. (Arbitration under UNCITRAL Rules, seated in Miami, Spanish language)
• Represented an oil and gas mineral owner in a claim by an oil and gas lessor to preferential right to leases. (Tens of millions of dollars in dispute)
• Represented an oil and gas interest owner in obtaining a multi-million dollar settlement attributable to his interest in a major oil and gas field in West Africa.
• Represented a major international energy company in a dispute over the termination of a contract to sell an oil and gas concession in Oman. (LCIA Arbitration, Seated in London)
• Represented an independent oil and gas exploration company in arbitration, litigation and alternative dispute resolution proceedings, relating to a shareholder's agreement, a participation agreement, a farmout agreement and a joint operating agreement with respect to a dispute with the holder of the exploration license in a property offshore Nigeria. (AAA/ICDR Arbitration; State District Court in Dallas County for interim equitable proceedings)
• Representing an energy company over its ownership and operating rights in an oil and gas concession in Ecuador. (Harris County, Texas)
• Representing an international oil and gas exploration and production company in connection with disputed payments based on oil production and gas processing accounting issues, including issues involving PSC/Service Contract delineation and relinquishment issues.
• Represented an international energy company in a dispute involving an area of mutual interest agreement and a production sharing contract in the Kurdistan Region in federal Iraq.
• Litigated dispute relating to conflicting claims of title to oil and gas properties in Starr County, Texas, including related litigation and arbitration, bankruptcy proceedings, state and federal appeals, and receivership and injunctive proceedings. (Harris County, Bell County, Starr County, Federal District Court (Houston), Bankruptcy Court (Houston), San Antonio Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
• Represented a major independent oil and gas company in defending claims by family members claiming an undivided mineral interest to lands in Brooks County, which interest is claimed to be derived from land titles over one century old. Case dismissed in the district court; dismissal affirmed in San Antonio's Court of Appeals. (Brooks County and San Antonio Court of Appeals)
• Represented a Canadian-based manufacturer and marketer of agricultural products in paralleled AAA Arbitration and California Federal and State Court Litigation in a matter concerning warranties and representations made in connection with the purchase and sale of a fertilizer plant and associated facilities. A primary issue in the case involved whether a gas purchase contract conveyed in the sale of assets contained a gas warranty provision that required seller of gas to deliver to the fertilizer plant all of the gas needed for the plant to operate at full capacity.
• Representing an oil and gas exploration and production company in a dispute over termination of an exploration agreement, and the alleged misappropriation and use of seismic and other geologic data. (Harris County, Texas)
• Represented a gas producer and power generating company with respect to a dispute over the right to produce gas from a city landfill and to convert the gas to power for sale to a utility. (McLennan County, Texas)
• Represented a defendant operator/lessee in connection with a claim by the plaintiff/lessor that the lessee failed to protect the leasehold from drainage. The case was settled after the voir dire examination. (Duvall County, Texas)
• Represented a seller of oil and gas properties as a creditor in a Bankruptcy Court trial on the issue of the value of developed and undeveloped properties and reserves in connection with the debtor's request to continue as a going concern versus liquidating under Chapter 7. (Bankruptcy Court - Houston
• Obtained a temporary injunction on behalf of an operator (an independent international oil and gas company) enjoining a non-operating working interest owner from wrongfully putting the other working interest owners to an election on a proposed ten-well drilling program. Succeeded in obtaining a final summary judgment interpreting the operating agreement in the operator's favor. Court awarded the operator all attorneys' fees requested. The case was upheld on appeal on all points. (Harris County, Texas)
• Litigated a "material change in financial condition clause" with respect to a retail electric power supply contract in Harris County District Court and at the Public Utility Commission.
• Litigated a wholesale power purchase contract on behalf of power purchaser, involving lost profits resulting from the wholesale power supplier's breach of its supply obligations. (State Court, Harris County, Texas)
• Litigated a case on behalf of major gas transmission company's trading subsidiary relating to a force majeure condition (icing of otherwise navigable waterways) excusing a failure to deliver a barge cargo of natural gasoline products. (Federal District Court - Houston)
• Litigated a case regarding force majeure defenses to gas delivery obligations resulting from serious supply shortages caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (Harris County, Texas)
• Representing a natural gas and power trading and marketing company in prosecuting an action against a trading counterparty's allegations that the company should have delivered full quantities of gas to it, despite the force majeure events that disrupted the gas markets after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. The case involves the interpretation of the force majeure provision in the standard NAESB form natural gas trading contract widely used in the United States.
• Litigated a case involving force majeure defenses to performing liquids exchange obligations at tailgate of a fractionation plant that experienced feedstock shortages resulting from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (Harris County, Texas)
• Representing owner of liquids processing, fractionating, and transporting facilities in a dispute over alleged non-performance of exchange agreement, obligations which non-delivery was caused by the damage to energy infrastructure resulting from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. (Harris County, Texas)
• Litigating a dispute involving crude oil sale and exchange transactions impacted by a 2008 Hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. (Harris County, Texas)
• Litigated a dispute involving a force majeure clause under a natural gas purchase/sale contract relating to a natural gas pipeline's inability to deliver gas during extended freezing conditions in Louisiana. (Harris County, Texas)
• Litigated a dispute between a non-operator and an operator relating to the operations proposal provisions in an operating agreement regarding the construction of a gas pipeline and concerning the operator's conduct in submitting an inflated AFE (Authority For Expenditure) on a proposed development well and on a gas gathering facility. (Harris County, Texas)
• Defending a False Claims Act case on behalf of gas pipeline and gas marketing company defendants involving allegations that defendants knowingly mismeasured and undervalued natural gas produced from Federal and Indian lands and leases leading to underpayment of royalties to the United States. The case was recently dismissed in a multidistrict litigation proceeding in the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming, and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal.
• Litigated a purported national class action case involving allegations that defendants failed to accurately measure gas produced from lands other than Federal or Indian lands. (Stevens County, Kansas)
• Represented a large independent oil and gas company in a multi-defendant case involving allegations of aquifer pollution allegedly resulting from oil and gas activities. (Starr County, Texas)
• Litigated a matter involving operations issues relating to a water-flood hydrocarbon recovery project. (Dallas County, Texas)
• Defending entities involved in gas and power trading in connection with disputes arising out of supply and price volatility, and claims of unfair competition.
• Litigated numerous cases involving take-or-pay provisions in natural gas purchase contracts.
• Litigated numerous gas contract dispute cases involving the interpretation of gas pricing, price redetermination, delivery and measurement provisions.
• Litigated numerous cases involving the interpretation of royalty clauses and division orders as respects a lessee's obligations to a lessor.
• Litigated numerous cases involving the implied covenant to market as a reasonably prudent operator.
• Litigated numerous cases involving the duty implied in oil and gas leases to reasonably develop the leased premises and to protect the leasehold from drainage.

Representative General Commercial/Business Litigation Cases

• Obtained a multi-million dollar jury verdict for actual and exemplary damages on behalf of a plaintiff manufacturing company against defendants that interfered with the company's proposed lending transactions. The causes of action included tortious interference with prospective business relations, business disparagement, fraud, violations of the Texas Free Enterprise Act, and breach of contract. (Harris County, Texas)
• Obtained a jury verdict for actual damages and exemplary damages on behalf of a family ranching partnership and one of its partners against the other partner. The case involved causes of action for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. (Harris County, Texas)
• Obtained a complete defense verdict in favor of an investor against allegations made by foreign and domestic companies regarding numerous complex real estate partnerships. The allegations included fraud and breach of contract. (Harris County, Texas)
• Obtained a jury verdict for a manufacturer of concrete products in a breach of contract matter concerning a customer's failure to honor its contract to purchase specially manufactured goods. The case involved unique legal issues arising under the Uniform Commercial Code. (Montgomery County, Texas)
• Tried to a jury verdict a case for a component part manufacturer in a lengthy trial in connection with a case alleging lost profits and lost business value from the alleged defective manufacturers of parts. Jury found in favor of primary client on four issues attempting to hold client responsible for subsidiaries' acts (no alter ego, no agency, no other vicarious liability). The case involved issues relating to the application of Mexican Law.
• Tried an ICC Arbitration matter in Mexico City. The matter involved the Mexican television network's multi-million dollar claim against one of the three largest American television networks for breach of a joint venture. Many of the witnesses testified in the Spanish language.
• Represented a major independent exploration oil production company and members of its board of directors in defending shareholders derivative action allegations of breach of fiduciary duty in connection with company's announced intention to sell business divisions in separate bid processes. (Harris County, Texas)
• Represented a diamond jewelry manufacturer in an action to recover diamond inventory in the millions of dollars from a group of individuals claiming to be partners with the manufacturer. (Federal District Courts - Houston and Atlanta)
• Represented a major electronics/defense firm in a case involving allegations of lost profits resulting from alleged breaches of fiduciary duties and tortious interference with contracts in connection with an alleged joint venture relationship. (Federal District Court - Houston)
• Represented a major manufacturing group in Mexico in a case involving purchase price adjustment issues in multiple PSA transactions with over $400 million in dispute. Case involved parallel proceedings in Mexico City, New York state court, and Arbitration. (Mexico City; New York)
• Litigated a case regarding a shareholder demand to a corporate Board of Directors relating to a disposition of stock in a business.
• Prosecuted and defended numerous cases involving allegations of fraud in stock and asset transactions.
• Prosecuted and defended numerous cases involving claims under asset purchase agreements and stock purchase agreements relating to the representations and warranties made in the agreements and relating to allegations of fraud and other business torts in connection with the transactions.
• Prosecuted and defended numerous cases on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants involving tortious interference, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and other business torts.

Representative Toxic Tort Litigation Cases

• Tried to a successful defense jury verdict (seven weeks of trial) a wrongful death, personal injury and property damage matter involving allegations of aquifer pollution resulting from operations at a landfill. The case involved 480 plaintiffs, though only 9 were tried in the first case. (San Patricio County, Texas)
• Represented a major refiner in a multi-plaintiff personal injury and neighborhood property damage case resulting from a hydrofluoric acid gas release. (Brazoria County, Texas)
• Represented a major oil and gas industry equipment manufacturer in a multi-plaintiff and multi-defendant case involving alleged birth defects resulting from pollution emissions from "maquiladoras" along the Rio Grande River. The case involved legal issues implicating Mexican Law. (Cameron County, Texas)
• Represented a major international grower, processor and marketer of food products in cases involving over 25,000 banana workers from 25 countries (including Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama and Ecuador) claiming sterility and other injuries from exposure to a pesticide containing 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane ("DBCP"), with one case filed in Jim Hogg County involving 1,500 Honduran plaintiffs. (Numerous Texas state district and appellate courts and federal district and appellate courts)
• Represented a major refiner/chemical manufacturer in cases involving benzene and other potentially hazardous substance exposure at refinery worksites.
• Represented an international oil field services company in a case involving allegations of property damage allegedly resulting from industrial plant emissions.
• Represented a major international consulting firm in a case alleging mismanagement of clean-up activities on a Federal Superfund site.

• American Bar Association
• Houston Bar Foundation, Life Fellow
• Houston Bar Association
• State Bar of Texas
• Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
• International Bar Association

Mr. Wood is admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court, United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Districts of Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court.

• American Board of Trial Advocates, Associate Member
• Chambers USA, one of the top Energy attorneys in Texas (2005 - 2010)
• "Texas Super Lawyer," Law & Politics (2006 - 2009)
• "Leading Lawyer," The Legal 500 US (2007 - 2009)
• The Best Lawyers in America

• Co-author with Laura McMahon, “Bienvenidos a Texas – article on Diversified Latin American Practices,” LatinLawyer Magazine, June 2007
• Co-author with Anibal Sabater, “CAFTA - New Horizons For Free Trade Agreements,” LatinLawyer Magazine, May 2007
• Contributing author, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. 2007 Trends in Energy Litigation, 2007
• Contributing author, “Dispute Resolution in 46 Jurisdictions Worldwide,” Getting the Deal Through, Texas Chapter, 2005-2009
• Contributing author, “Private Entities Now Allowed to Participate in Gas Development Projects,” Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Latin America Update, June 2006
• Contributing author, “Back to the Future: A New Wave of Nationalizations in Latin America,” Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Latin America Update, May 2006
• “Court Shopping: How to Get Your Case Heard Stateside,” LatinLawyer Magazine, October 2005
• Contributing author, “Issues Impacting the Energy Industry After the Hurricanes,” State Bar of Texas Oil, Gas, and Energy Resources Law Section Report, December 2005
• Contributing author, “Current Trends in Energy Litigation,” State Bar of Texas Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Section Report, December 2002
• Contributing author, “Energy Reform in Mexico: New Opportunities for Energy Companies?” Latin American Law & Business Report, February 2002

1984 - J.D., University of Houston School of Law
1981 - B.B.A., Accounting, Texas A&M University

While in law school, Mr. Wood was an associate editor of the Houston Law Review.

• University of Houston Law Foundation, President
• University of Houston Law Alumni Association, Past President
• American Heart Association, Houston Chapter, Board of Directors
• West University Little League, Board Member (2006 - 2009)
• Texas A&M 12th Man Foundation, Athletic Ambassador