

Garland "Land" Murphy
Partner
lmurphy@skv.com
Practice Areas
Education & Clerkship
- J.D., summa cum laude, Pepperdine University School of Law (2005)
- B.A., summa cum laude, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
- Law Clerk to the Hon. Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2005-06
Biography
Garland “Land” Murphy loves finding the right answer for his clients. He has a knack for quickly identifying a dispute’s key questions and then answering those questions efficiently. Land devotes to his clients the same dogged determination and attention to detail that allowed him to graduate as the valedictorian of his law school class and to receive the highest score on the February 2007 Texas bar exam.
Land is dedicated to obtaining the same exceptional results for his clients from pre-suit dispute resolution through trial and to final appeal. And Land has obtained outstanding results for his clients through jury trials, arbitrations, administrative proceedings, and appeals, with substantial experience representing clients in the energy industry and in trade secret and non-compete cases.
Representative Matters
- BPX Operating v. Crimson Exporation. Won jury verdict and $3.3 million judgment for operator in dispute over unpaid joint interest billings. Affirmed on appeal.
- Vitol America v. Targa Channelview. Won $158 million judgment for Vitol against Targa after a 19-day state court bench trial, believed to be the longest Zoom trial to date in Texas. The case arose out of Targa’s failure to reimburse Vitol’s prepayments when Vitol terminated the contract for Targa’s failure to meet Startup of a splitter facility. Affirmed on appeal.
- Southbrook Development v. Diversified Site-Work. Secured jury verdict and $6.48 million judgment for property owner client in case about theft of property and breach of a settlement agreement.
- Successfully defeated request for judicially created non-compete after 5-day temporary injunction hearing for artificial lift company client.
- Stroud Production v. Hosford. Defended exploration and production company in case alleging intentional washout of overriding royalty interest, securing reversal of jury verdict in court of appeals.
- Green Bank v. Petrohawk. Defeated summary judgment on claim for second payment of oilfield vendor’s invoices based on factoring agreement with bank, resulting in dismissal of suit.
- Secured anti-SLAPP dismissal of defamation and business disparagement suit against finance executive who publicized collusion settlement between plaintiff and Texas attorney general.
Admissions
- State Bar of Texas
- State Bar of Arkansas
- State Bar of California
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- United States District Court for Western District of Arkansas
- United States District Court for Colorado
- United States District Court for the Central District of California
- United States District Court for the Northern District of California
- United States District Court for the Southern District of California
Publications
- Rick Houghton & Garland “Land” Murphy, Jurisdictional Discovery, The Advocate, Winter 2021, Vol. 97
Awards
- “Rising Star” by Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers, 2010-2016
- “Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers, 2020-2022
- “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation, 2015-2022