Connor Bourland

• Appellate counsel and second-chair trial counsel for a Texas-based oil and gas operator in a dispute involving the application of a right of first refusal and preferential purchase right in a series of 23 leases covering the 27,000-acre AllianceTexas real estate development and whether that right restricted mergers and changes of control. After the trial court granted summary judgment in the operator’s favor, a unanimous panel of the Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirmed. Nortex Minerals, L.P. v. Blackbeard Operating, LLC, No. 02-23-00027-CV, 2023 WL 7401052 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Nov. 9, 2023, no pet.) (mem. op.).
• Appellate counsel for a Texas-based oil and gas operator in a dispute involving whether oil and gas leases in Loving County, TX terminated or were maintained by operation of the leases’ force majeure clause. After the trial court granted summary judgment in the operator’s favor, an intermediate appellate court reversed the decision. Obtained discretionary review from the Texas Supreme Court, which unanimously reversed the intermediate appellate court and reinstituted the trial court’s order that the leases were not maintained by force majeure. The resulting opinion is the seminal force majeure case in Texas jurisprudence. Point Energy Partners Permian, LLC v. MRC Permian Co., 669 S.W.3d 796 (Tex. 2023).  
• Appellate counsel for a Texas-based nuclear company defending a summary judgment victory on Title VII, ADA, and ADEA claims brought by the company’s employee. A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed in a per curiam opinion. Drerup v. Consol. Nuclear Sec., LLC, No. 21-10600, 2022 WL 3335780 (5th Cir. Aug. 12, 2022) (per curiam).
• Second-chaired a trial and obtained unanimous defense verdict for a Fort Worth-based private equity company on a fraud claim valued at over $25 million involving the lease and sale of minerals in Borden County, TX. 
• Appellate counsel for a Texas-based oil and gas operator in a dispute involving interpretation of release language in an oil and gas contract. After the trial court granted summary judgment in the operator’s favor, an intermediate appellate court reversed. Obtained discretionary review from the Texas Supreme Court, which ultimately affirmed the intermediate appellate court’s decision. Finley Res., Inc. v. Headington Royalty, Inc., 672 S.W.3d 332 (Tex. 2023).
• Appellate counsel for Oklahoma-based real estate company in restricted appeal involving whether company was properly served with process. After the company defaulted for failure to answer at the trial court, a unanimous panel of the Dallas Court of Appeals held that service on the foreign company’s out-of-state registered agent did not satisfy the rules for service of process on foreign entities and vacated the default judgment. Lawton Candle, LLC v. BG Pers., LP, — S.W.3d —, 2024 WL 2126709 (Tex. App.—Dallas May 13, 2024, no pet.).
• Appellate counsel for a Texas-based oil and gas operator defending dismissal of fraud claims by the trial court. Dismissal affirmed by the Eleventh Court of Appeals. Hughes v. CJM Res., LP, 640 S.W.3d 623 (Tex. App.—Eastland 2022, no pet.).  
• Obtained a favorable settlement for a Midland-based operator on breach of contract claims involving water wells in Montague County, TX.  
• Represented an undocumented immigrant as pro bono appellate counsel seeking reversal of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ deportation decision. Secured a remand to the BIA from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Rios-Bustos v. Garland, No. 21-60018 (5th Cir., 2021).
• Authored amicus brief on behalf of Compassion & Choices to Georgia Court of Appeals in case involving the right to refuse medical treatment under Georgia law. Shinde v. Bonnie, Case No. A23A0924 (Ga. Ct. of Appeals, 2023).

Admissions

• Texas
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit  
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas  
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas

Clerkships/Judicial Internships

• Judicial intern for the Hon. Robert Bacharach, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
• Judicial intern for the Hon. Patrick Wyrick, Oklahoma Supreme Court

Education  

• University of Oklahoma (J.D., 2018)
  • With Highest Honors
  • Order of the Coif  
  • Order of the Barristers
  • National Order of the Scribes
  • American College of Bankruptcy’s Distinguished Law Student for the Tenth Circuit
  • Research Editor of the Oklahoma Law Review
  • Moot Court National Championship
• University of Oklahoma (B.F.A., 2015)

Memberships

• North Texas Performing Arts, board
• Texas Bar College
• State Bar of Texas Appellate Section
• The Federalist Society
• Dallas Bar Association
• Dallas Association of Young Lawyers
• Dallas Young Professionals in Energy

• “Fort Worth Court of Appeals Upholds $180M Mineral Rights Deal,” Texas Lawyer, November 14, 2023.
• Texas Supreme Court Decides Seminal Force Majeure Case, Dallas Bar Association Headnotes, August 2023, Vol. 48 No. 8.
• “Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs,” The AmLaw Litigation Daily, April 28, 2023.
• “Texas Supreme Court Decides ‘Force Majeure’ Dispute in Oil and Gas Law,” Texas Lawyer, April 24, 2023.
• “SCOTX Wrestles with Force Majeure Clause in Drilling Delay,” The Texas Lawbook, October 25, 2022.
• “5th Circ. Backs Nuke Co.’s Win in Fire Captain’s Bias Suit,” Law360, August 15, 2022.
• “Texas Justices to Hear Permian Basin Drilling Deadline Suit,” Law360, May 31, 2022.
• “West Texas Jury Says ‘Take Nothing’ in $22.5 Million Mineral Rights Lawsuit,” Texas Lawyer, April 6, 2022.
• Drilling When the Well Goes Dry: The Oklahoma Corporation Commission & the Police Power Exception to the Automatic Stay, 70 Okla. L. Rev. 699 (2018).