– Major Houston Company Client
Jesse Pierce has more than forty-five years of litigation experience and has tried many types of cases in state and federal courts of Texas and other states. He specializes in civil trials of cases dealing with complex energy and commercial issues. Mr. Pierce is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a Commercial Arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. Mr. Pierce has been inducted into the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. Fellows are selected based on effectiveness and accomplishment in litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels and on the basis of a superior ethical reputation. He is licensed to practice in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
Mr. Pierce represents both plaintiffs and defendants, and has represented clients in many types of complex litigation, including oil and gas, environmental, product liability, interpretation and enforcement of contracts, temporary restraining orders, trade secrets, franchising, real estate, ERISA claims, securities and corporate matters, franchising disputes, copyright and entertainment matters, and a variety of fraud, usury, and Deceptive Trade Practices matters, and has extensive experience in class action litigation. Mr. Pierce frequently lectures at continuing legal education seminars and was a drafter of the Texas Pattern Jury Charges for Oil and Gas Cases.
Mr. Pierce has handled a number of appeals to the Texas Supreme Court. During his first year of practice, he had a successful appeal of a contested probate matter in Hall v. White, 525 S.W.2d 860 (Tex. 1975). He also successfully argued a complex engineering malpractice case involving the design of electronic microprocessor devices in 1993, Texas Instruments, Inc. v. Teletron Energy Mgmt. Inc., 877 S.W.2d 276 (Tex. 1994). He successfully appealed a multi-party lease termination and adverse possession case, Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, et al. v. Pool, 124 S.W.3d 188 (Tex. 2003).
Among the other appeals Mr. Pierce handled during the early years of his practice were:
In the late 1970s, Mr. Pierce began to handle complex oil and gas, land, and commercial cases. He handled a number of cases for major oil and gas companies involving disputes with royalty owners, disputes between operators and working interest owners, disputes relating to purchase and sale agreements, and disputes between gas producers and pipeline companies for clients such as The Superior Oil Company, Texaco, Shell Oil Company, Pennzoil-Quaker State, Mobil Oil Company, Chesapeake Energy Corporation, SM Energy Company, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, and CCI Gulf Coast Upstream LLC. Representative reported cases he has tried and appealed are:
During the 1980s, Mr. Pierce also represented a number of both debtors and lenders in corporate reorganization cases, In re Charter Oil Co., 63 B.R. 662 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 1986).
Mr. Pierce has extensive experience in the trial of environmental cases. In 1991, he represented Monsanto Corporation in the trial and successful appeal of a Superfund case involving over two hundred homeowners, Barras v. Monsanto Co., 831 S.W.2d 859 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1992).
In the late 1990s, Mr. Pierce represented Mitchell Energy Corporation in the trial and successful appeal of several water pollution cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars in claims, Mitchell Energy Corp. v. Bartlett, 958 S.W.2d 430 (Tex. App.— Fort Worth 1997).
Since 2000, Mr. Pierce’s practice has been focused primarily on complex energy and business litigation and appeals. Representative reported cases he has handled are:
“I have known and worked with Jesse Pierce for 20+ years. Jesse and his firm provide the highest level of service and expertise possible. Pierce & O’Neill has been my go-to counsel for decades, and I can without reservation recommend the firm.”
– General Counsel of National Client
“Jesse Pierce of Pierce & O’Neill is one of the finest minds in the legal profession. He is honorable, courteous in even the most trying circumstances and he is trustworthy. Perhaps most of all, he is respected and feared by his adversaries. He is the true scholar, warrior and gentleman of our calling.”
– Major Houston Company Client
“Worked on numerous energy cases with Jesse Pierce at Pierce & O’Neill. Extremely knowledgeable and effective.”
– Co-Counsel at Another Law Firm
“Jesse Pierce of Pierce & O’Neill is the Ben Matlock of the courthouse”
– Client
“He was very professional and courteous and was better than the rest of the attorneys.”
“He’s great, and his integrity shows.”
“I loved him and the way he prevented witnesses on the other side from running away with their testimony. He kept things focused.”
4203 Montrose Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77006
