Craig Smyser

Craig Smyser tries and appeals a broad range of complex business and personal injury cases.

• Mr. Smyser has tried more than 50 cases to a jury verdict, with trials in both state and federal courts.
• Mr. Smyser has arbitrated dozens of cases, domestic and international.
• Mr. Smyser has recovered verdicts and settlements in excess of half a billion dollars.

Mr. Smyser is a member of the American Law Institute, the International Society of Barristers, and has been designated as a “Super Lawyer” every year since 2003, making the list of “Top 100 Houston Super Lawyers,”and “Top 100 in Texas.” He has also served as the President of the Houston Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates as well as President of the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas appointed Mr. Smyser to the SDTX Attorney Admissions Committee in 2012 and reappointed him twice to serve as Chair.

Mr. Smyser has authored numerous articles on contracts and commercial litigation and co-authored a text book on Texas Contract Law with Professor David Dow. Prior to law school, Mr. Smyser served as a reporter at the Houston Chronicle, where he became the youngest Political Editor in Chronicle history, after he began on the police beat working the lobster shift from midnight to 8 a.m. where he was part of the team that won national UPI and AP awards for outstanding coverage of a major crime story. 

Mr. Smyser’s current and recent representations include:

• McKesson Corporation – Lead Counsel in the Texas opioid litigation; Texas MDL Liaison Counsel for
  entire Distributor Defendants’ group.
• BNSF Railway Co. – Lead Counsel as plaintiff in multiple arbitrations with an integrated retail and power
  generation company.
• Shell Offshore, Inc. – Lead Counsel in accounting and contract disputes with other major oil companies
  over operation of offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Cheniere Energy, Inc. – Lead Counsel as plaintiff and defendant in a dispute with Parallax Enterprises,
  Inc., Tellurian, Inc., and certain related individuals regarding breach of a note and tortious interference
  with a contract.
• Black Elk Litigation Trustee – Lead Counsel as plaintiff in multiple lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions to
  recover, among other damages, more than $100 million fraudulently transferred to Platinum Partners and
  others.
• Counsel for individual defendant in the Travis Scott/Astroworld MDL.

Mr. Smyser has been lead counsel in some of Houston’s – and the nation’s – largest, most important and
heavily publicized matters.

• Lead counsel for former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow in more than 100 civil cases around the country.
• Lead counsel for Yukos International UK B.V., the international arm of the former Russian oil company,
  Yukos Oil, dismantled by the Russian Government after Yukos’ CEO Mikhail Khodorovsky became a
  political opponent of Vladimir Putin, in various matters in the United States.
• Lead trial counsel for Schlumberger Technology Corp in action against former in-house counsel for
  breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, misuse of confidential information, and breach of
  fiduciary duty.
• Co-lead counsel for David’s supermarkets case against a Fortune 50 company. Obtained a $450 million
  jury verdict.
• Lead counsel for the City of Houston in multiple matters, including obtaining a mandatory injunction of
  behalf of the City in State District Court, reversal of a temporary injunction entered in federal court against
  the City, defeating a request in federal court for a Temporary Restraining order against the City’s “Safe
  Clear” ordinance, and representing the City and Houston Sports authority in negotiating a confidential
  settlement related to construction of the Toyota Center.