Biography

Liz Klingensmith is a trial lawyer companies call when commercial, energy, construction, and trade-secret disputes threaten core assets, operations, or significant financial exposure. With more than 20 years of litigation experience, Liz leads clients through every stage of the dispute-resolution process, from pre-suit risk assessment and litigation strategy through discovery, dispositive motions, trial, arbitration, mediation, and appeal, with a focus on protecting enterprise value and achieving business-critical results.

Liz has tried multiple cases to favorable verdicts and judgments and has achieved advantageous results in arbitration, mediation, injunction proceedings, and dispositive-motion practice. She is valued for turning complex technical and commercial facts into clear trial themes that can be understood by judges, juries, arbitrators, and opposing parties.

Her trial record includes co-leading a five-week jury trial in a bet-the-company construction and energy dispute involving the design and construction of a crude distillation facility. The trial resulted in a favorable verdict for her client, the judgment affirmed by the Fifth Circuit, and the defeat of more than $100 million in counterclaims.

Clients rely on Liz when disputes require courtroom judgment, business pragmatism, and steady leadership under pressure. She develops disciplined strategies that identify leverage, simplify complex facts, preserve options, and position cases for trial or favorable resolution while advancing broader commercial goals. She is often brought into matters when the stakes are high, trial is approaching, prior strategy needs to be reassessed, or the business needs direct, responsive advice to make clear decisions in real time.

Liz represents clients across multiple industries, with deep experience in the energy sector from upstream to downstream, from engineering and construction to operations, and from hydrocarbons to renewables and chemicals. Her work frequently involves complex transactions, operating assets, construction projects, trade secrets, and commercial relationships where the outcome can affect business continuity and enterprise value.

Representative Matters

• Co-lead trial counsel for a contractor in a bet-the-company dispute with the owner over the design and construction of a crude distillation facility. After a five-week jury trial, Liz obtained a favorable verdict that resulted in the judgment affirmed by the Fifth Circuit and defeated more than $100 million in counterclaims.
• Lead trial counsel in a week-long bench trial arising from the procurement and commissioning of a vapor recovery unit, resulting in a take-nothing judgment for the client.
• Won summary judgment for an oil and gas company in an Oklahoma quiet-title action resulting from expiration of an oil and gas lease.
• Handled nuisance and environmental claims arising from oilfield operations and alleged contamination; upstream oil and gas disputes involving leases, exploration and development, royalties, operator removal, and asset acquisitions and divestitures; oilfield operations and equipment failures; downhole failures; and engineering, procurement, and construction disputes.
• Second chair in a week-long arbitration involving significant cost overruns on a Gulf of Mexico development project against a foreign corporation and its domestic subsidiaries.
• Co-lead trial counsel in a two-week jury trial arising from a train derailment, obtaining a verdict that significantly mitigated the client’s damage exposure.
• Lead trial counsel for an oil and gas company in a dispute arising from the purchase of oil and gas assets out of bankruptcy. Immediately after the pretrial hearing and on the verge of jury selection, Liz achieved a favorable resolution that resulted in immediate dismissal of a $42 million counterclaim.
• Lead trial counsel in securing a temporary injunction for a scrap-metal company against a former employee arising from theft of confidential information.
• Lead trial counsel in a week-long jury trial involving breach of an employment agreement.
• Lead trial counsel in securing a favorable settlement for an employer against a former employee arising from misappropriation of trade secrets.
• Won dismissal for lack of jurisdiction for a Canadian company in a dispute arising from the sale of goods to a U.S. company.
• Won anti-SLAPP dismissal for an employer in a dispute arising from statements regarding a former employee.
• Second chair in a week-long arbitration arising from a personal injury caused by misuse of a forklift in a warehouse.
• Second chair in a week-long jury trial between former executives and a successor-in-interest oil and gas company following a merger involving compensation and benefits.
• Second chair in a week-long arbitration involving an inline pipeline inspection tool that became stuck in an underground pipeline due to a defective valve improperly installed by a valve manufacturer, resulting in an award plus attorney’s fees and costs.
• Defended oil and gas producer against nuisance claims arising from health and property impacts allegedly caused by drilling operations.
• Trial team member in a month-long jury trial in Cameron, Louisiana, arising from environmental remediation and alleged contamination related to legacy oilfield operations.
• Trial team member in a two-week jury trial arising from theft of trade secrets.

Professional Organizations

• Director, Art League Houston, September 2025-present
• Executive Committee, Institute for Energy Law, 2018-present
• Institute for Energy Law Annual Energy Law Conference Co-Chair, 2023-2024
• Past Chair, Houston Bar Association, Oil, Gas and Mineral Law Section, 2020-2021
• Past Chair, Young Energy Professionals (“YEP”) Committee, Institute for Energy Law, 2018-2019
• Litigation Module Chair, IEL Annual Oil and Gas Conference, 2019

Awards

• Selected to the Texas Super Lawyers list by Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters) in Energy & Natural Resources, General Litigation, Business Litigation, 2021–present.
• Selected to the Texas Rising Stars list by Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters) in Energy & Natural Resources, General Litigation, Business Litigation, 2013–2017.
• “Yellow Rose of Texas,” commissioned by Governor Perry, 2010.

Publications

• “Frac Hit Litigation: Where Horizontal Meets Vertical,” Moderator, IEL Young Energy Professionals Conference, 2018.
• “The Shale Energy Revolution: A Lawyer’s Guide,” Editor and Contributor, ABA Energy Litigation Committee, 2015.
• “Bright Lights, Big Oil,” The Houston Lawyer, 2014. Co-author.
• “Things That Go Bump in the Night: Litigation Risks That Leave Oil and Gas CEOs Sleepless,” Oil and Gas Monitor, 2014. Co-author.
• “Drilling into Ambiguities in Oil and Gas Law,” Law360, 2012. Co-author.
• “A Watched Pot Never Boils: Keeping Boilerplate Provisions from Bubbling Over,” The Houston Lawyer, 2010. Co-author.