Conrad Hester
Managing Partner
Conrad Hester is an experienced litigator who focuses his practice on the oil and gas industry. He represents clients in contract disputes, lease termination and title suits, surface access and damage disputes, and royalty litigation. Conrad relies on his extensive experience examining, drafting, and negotiating deeds, leases, and industry agreements in advising clients facing disputes in the oil patch. His strategic, efficient, and thoughtful approach provides value to clients facing complex litigation matters.
Lessor/Lease Litigation
- Represented clients at all state levels of lease termination litigation, including production in paying quantities, retained acreage cases, and total cessation.
- Provided pre-dispute counseling on a variety of lease matters, including negotiation, maintenance, expiration, and acquisition.
- Represented clients in damages disputes and surface access matters, including easements, saltwater disposal, water rights, and injunctions.
- Represented the payors and payees in royalty disputes, including overriding royalties, underpayment, cotenancy accounting, nonparticipating royalty rights, post-production, and suspension issues.
- Represented operators and royalty owners in a series of allocation-well cases, including counseling clients on access rights, production-sharing agreement issues and well-allocation formulas.
Title Issues
- Represented clients in leasehold title and mineral deed litigation, including defect guidance, cotenancy rights, trespass to real property, bona fide purchaser issues, farmouts, adverse possession, and partition suits.
Industry Contract Disputes
- Represented both operators and non-operators in a variety of joint operating agreement litigation, in addition to advising on operational compliance matters.
- Represented clients in upstream and midstream indemnification, fraud, breach of contract, and related tort cases.
Admissions
- Texas
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
Board Certifications
- Oil, gas, and mineral law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Education
- The University of Texas (J.D., 2008)
- With Honors
- The Review of Litigation, Associate Editor
- Mediation Competition, Champion
- Abilene Christian University (B.S., 2005)
Memberships
- 2019–2020 Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute, Dallas/Fort Worth regional chair
- State Bar of Texas
- Dallas Bar Association
- Tarrant County Bar Association
- Fort Worth Wildcatters
- ADAM Energy Fort Worth
- Petroleum Club of Fort Worth
- Fort Worth Botanic Gardens Advancement Committee
- Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Lease and Title Analysts (DFW-ALTA)
- Pro Bono College of Texas (2010–2017)
- The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, executive committee (2023)
- “Lessee Cotenancy,” Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Lease and Title Analysts (DFW-ALTA) Summer Webinar, TX, August 13, 2024.
- “Royalty Valuation,” DALWORTH, Dallas, TX, February 27, 2024.
- “Force Majeure,” Tarrant County Bar Association- Energy Section, February 21, 2024.
- “Client Conflicts Drive BigLaw Vets To Form Texas Boutique,” Law360, February 6, 2024.
- “What Texas Business Court Could Mean for Oil, Gas Cases”- Law360 Expert Analysis, November 15, 2023.
- “New Fort Worth Trial Firm Adds Offices in Dallas, West Texas” Texas Lawyer, February 8, 2024.
- “Vartabedian & Hester Announces New Name Partner, New Offices, 2 More Additions,”- The Texas Lawbook, February 5, 2024.
- “Evolving Royalty Interpretations,” DFW Association of Lease and Title Analysts, Fall Seminar, Dallas, TX, October 3, 2023.
- “Bad Faith Washouts: Texas’ Newest Cause of Action,” Texas Lawyer, August 29, 2023.
- “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 23, 2023.
- “Force Majeure: Excusing Nonperformance in Chaotic Times,” DFW Association of Lease and Title Analysts, Dallas, TX, April 18, 2023.
- “SCOTX Wrestles with Force Majeure Clause in Drilling Delay,” The Texas Lawbook, October 25, 2022.
- “Texas Justices To Hear Permian Basin Drilling Deadline Suit,” Law 360, May 31, 2022.
- From Trash to Treasure: Who Owns Valuable Wastewater in the Oil Patch? Texas Lawyer, May 24, 2022.
- “Consent Rights,” Fort Worth Association of Professional Landmen, January 20, 2022.
- “Consent, Assign; Resent, Resign,” DFW Association of Lease and Title Analysts, August 18, 2021.
- “Continuous Development Clause Litigation,” Dallas Bar Association Energy Section January Meeting, January 20, 2021.
- “Perpetual Motion- Current Issues in Continuous Development Clauses,” DFW Association of Lease and Title Analysts, December Meeting and Spring Seminar, December 9, 2020 and May 24, 2021 (Spring Seminar).
- “The Force Majeure Made Me Do It: Excusing Nonperformance in a Pandemic,” Texas General Counsel Forum December Meeting, December 3, 2020.
- “Hot Topics in Oil and Gas Litigation,” Texas Oil and Gas Association Production Law Committee Meeting, November 2, 2020.
- “Who is in the Right? Terminating Oil and Gas Leases,” Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resource Systems Law Program Speaker Series, October 1, 2020.
- “Postmodern Duhig,” Oil, Gas & Mineral Title Examination, TexasBarCLE, June 18-19, 2020.
- “Postmodern Duhig,” Dallas Bar Association Energy Section, Dallas, TX, November 20, 2019.
- “Squaring the Circle: The Law of Oilfield Units,” NALTA National Conference, Westminster, CO, August 29, 2019.
- “Caveat Lessor: The Dangers of Royalty Leasing in Texas,” Oil and Gas Investor, July 2019.
- “Don’t Box Me In: Units in the Oil Patch,” Texas Journal of Oil, Gas, and Energy Law Symposium, Austin, TX, February 7, 2019.
- “Existential (Lease) Crisis: When Is a Lease ‘in Existence’?” Texas Lawbook, January 6, 2019.
- “Don’t Let the Suspense Get to You,” Landman Magazine, March/April 2018.
- “Loose Canons: The Effect on Mineral and Royalty Deeds as Texas Courts Favor Expressions of Intent Over Default Canons of Deed Construction,” Texas Oil & Gas Magazine, February 2018.
- “When Kings, Queens, and Minerals Are Not Royalty,” Texas Journal of Oil, Gas, and Energy Law Symposium, Austin, TX, February 2018.
- “Anadarko Case Could Reshape Offsite Drilling in Texas,” Law360 (cited commentator), March 20, 2017.
- “Lease Disputes,” Texas Association of Defense Counsel Fall Seminar, September 2016.
- “Completely Complete: Determining when a Well Can Be Considered Completed,” Landman Magazine, March/April 2016.
- “How to Ensure Overriding Royalty Interests Won’t Terminate,” Law360, March 18, 2016.
- “Carefully Consider Options when Facing a Lease Termination Dispute,” Permian Basin Oil & Gas Magazine, March 1, 2016.
- Chambers USA, America’s Leading Business Lawyers, “Band 3 Oil & Gas Litigation (USA),” 2024.
- BL Rankings, The Best Lawyers in America Guide, “Oil & Gas Law,” 2024-2025.
- BL Rankings, Best Lawyers, “Best Lawyers in DFW,” 2024.
- Benchmark Litigation, USA (National), Texas List, “40 & Under Hot List – South, Commercial Litigation and Oil and Gas,” 2024.
- Thompson Reuters, Texas Super Lawyers, “Rising Stars,” 2017-2023.
- Thompson Reuters, Texas Super Lawyers, “Up-and-Coming 100,” 2022-2023.
- Fort Worth Magazine, “Top Attorneys,” 2017-2019.