They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40 - Chris Hogan of Hogan Thompson Schuelke

Please describe two of your most substantial, recent wins in practice.

I was lead counsel in a 2023 high-profile oil and gas trespass case for our client El Dorado Gas & Oil. The trial focused on whether subsidiaries of Energy Transfer should pay for additional plugging and abandoning costs and the lost value of productive formations caused by the injection of acid gas into the properties near my client’s oil and gas leases.

During the two-week trial, I delivered opening and closing statements, conducted voir dire, and cross-examined the defendants’ lead witnesses and primary expert. Following closing arguments, the jury awarded my client and another plaintiff more than $40 million in damages. The trial court later entered a judgment based on this verdict.

Another key energy litigation case I handled was a New Mexico lawsuit for our client Marathon Oil against Chisholm Energy. The case involved a dispute over the ownership of a valuable interest in an oil and gas lease in the Delaware Basin worth millions of dollars.

The ownership question was based on a complex legal question related to title under New Mexico law. After extensive briefing and argument, the trial court agreed with our argument and granted Marathon Oil’s summary judgment awarding it title to the disputed property.

What is the most important lesson you learned as a first-year attorney and how does it inform your practice today?

I spent my first year as an attorney clerking on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith. I got to see firsthand the arguments and styles of attorneys from all over Texas and other parts of the country and see how they worked before not only Judge Smith but other judges with whom he would sit. Attorneys that stretched the truth or argued positions that were not supported did not fare well.

Taking lessons from my clerkship, I’ve learned that to be successful in the law, you need most of all to maintain your credibility before your judge and jury. Once you lose that by stretching the facts or the law, there is little you can do to come back from that failing.

How do you define success in your practice?

Outside of successfully starting our firm, I define success by earning the respect and recognition of my peers and also being able to educate other attorneys on oil and gas law. In 2018, I was appointed by the Texas State Bar to the Pattern Jury Charge Committee for Oil & Gas, which includes some of the state’s leading attorneys to distill and update Texas oil and gas caselaw. I was proud to be appointed at such a young age and have gained invaluable knowledge from being involved.

I’ve also become a trusted attorney for the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA), who has hired me to serve as lead counsel on multiple occasions when presenting amicus briefs to the Texas Supreme Courts and Courts of Appeals. I’ve written briefs for TXOGA on major issues in the Texas oil and gas business: allocation wells (Railroad Commission of Texas v. Opiela), produced-water ownership (Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC), and offset wells (Rosetta Resources Operating, LP v. Martin).

Lastly, I’m a regular speaker at events hosted by the Texas State Bar and Institute for Energy Law. Some topics I regularly present on at industry events and firm CLEs include retained acreage clauses, cotenants without a joint operating agreement, protecting attorney-client privilege in the oil patch, and legal risks related to allocation wells in Texas.

What are you most proud of as a lawyer?

My biggest professional accomplishment is opening my own firm, Hogan Thompson Schuelke, which my colleague Samantha Thompson and I started in our 30s. Most new firms are typically started by older, established lawyers in their 50s or 60s.

We decided to hang a shingle at a much younger age and at a time that was unexpectedly challenging. We opened the firm in February 2020 and immediately found ourselves in facing negative oil prices and an uncertain outlook for our energy-focused law firm. I’m very proud of what we’ve built in just four short years; we now have ten attorneys and handle cases nationwide.

I’m also proud of being able to succeed for my clients without the scorched earth or underhanded tactics that some lawyers unfortunately think help them in their practice. In my experience, such behavior rarely results in better outcomes for the client but almost always increases a client’s expenses; the client is the ultimate loser in such pointless battles. I’m happy to say that some of my best referrals have come from opposing counsel on earlier cases who have recognized that representing your client does not require unethical behavior.

Who is your greatest mentor in the law and what have they taught you?

My first job after law school was clerking for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, who has been the best mentor of my career. I learned more during my year working for him than I have in any other job before or since. Judge Smith is one of the smartest people I know, a great legal mind, and genuinely a good person. He taught me how to be the lawyer that I am today.

Tell us your two favorite songs on your summer music playlist.

“I Can Do It with A Broken Heart” by Taylor Swift – My kids are huge Swifties and would never forgive me if I didn’t list a TS song as #1. And “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen. I know I am roughly a year late jumping on the Morgan Wallen bandwagon, but he is great!

Chris Hogan of Hogan Thompson Schuelke with his wife and three children at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Credit: Chris Hogan and Jonathan Hurtarte/Bloomberg Law