Bradley J. Benoit

Brad Benoit chairs Bracewell’s energy litigation practice group. For more than 25 years, he has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial disputes, with a practice centered on the oil and gas and power industries. His work spans a broad range of industry participants, including exploration and production companies, pipeline and drilling companies, refiners, chemical plants, power plant owners, private equity investors, and oilfield service and supply companies. Experience on both sides of litigation informs how he assesses disputes and approaches his clients’ cases.

Beyond energy litigation, Brad handles securities and derivative matters and bankruptcy-related litigation. His securities and derivative experience includes defending federal securities claims, breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims, and claims seeking to enjoin M&A transactions. In bankruptcy-related disputes, he has represented debtors and creditors in complex commercial litigation. That work includes representing litigation trusts in claims against former equity owners, directors, and officers of insolvent entities.

Brad has been named among Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Litigators in America, 500 Global Leaders in Energy, and 500 Leading US Energy Lawyers in America. Chambers USA has ranked him in Texas Litigation: General Commercial for 2024–2026, and The Legal 500 United States, Benchmark Litigation, and Best Lawyers have also included him in their rankings. In Chambers USA, clients have described him as “smart, strategic, and professional” and a “phenomenal litigator and trial attorney.”

Tenaska Marketing Ventures

• obtained pleading-stage dismissals of all individual and class action claims arising from Winter Storm Uri in federal and state litigation in Texas and Kansas

Chevron

• obtained federal court summary judgment dismissal of breach of contract claims seeking almost $100 million in damages arising from Winter Storm Uri

Tenaska, Rockland Capital, and Amadeus Wind

• represented natural gas and wind power generators in successful defense of multi-district litigation arising from Winter Storm Uri and obtained denial of certification of proposed class action lawsuit prior to any discovery

ASARCO LLC

• obtained $132.75 million judgment against one of India’s largest companies for breach of contract
• prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court in a dispute over whether a Bankruptcy Code provision authorized a law firm to recover legal fees for litigating over its bankruptcy fees, creating law that applies in every bankruptcy in the country

Drew McManigle, Chapter 11 Trustee of Escambia Operating Company, LLC and Escambia Asset Company, LLC

• representing Chapter 11 Trustee in the prosecution of claims against workover services provider that destroyed a well by dropping more than 1,000 feet of pipe downhole

BFW Liquidating, LLC

• obtained favorable settlement for liquidating trustee of former Alabama-based grocery store chain in claims against former owner and former directors and officers for fraudulent transfers, preferential transfers and breach of fiduciary duty

SH 130 Concession Company

• represented owner of Texas toll road in claims for construction defects against several multinational entities in both arbitration and litigation

Pier 1 Imports, Inc.

• obtained dismissal of federal securities litigation class action alleging fraud against the company and its former CEO and CFO and successfully defended the dismissal at the Fifth Circuit

Southern Copper Corporation

• defended client and certain members of its board of directors in a derivative suit filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery alleging breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duties arising from minerals contracts, transportation contracts, and construction contracts with related parties

FX Energy, Inc.

• successfully defended company and its board of directors in derivative litigation in Nevada and Utah seeking to enjoin merger

• The University of Texas School of Law, J.D., 1999, with highest honors
• Rice University, B.S., 1996

Chambers USA

• Texas Litigation: General Commercial, 2024 – 2026

Legal 500 United States

• Energy Litigation: Electric Power, 2018 – 2026
• Energy Litigation: Oil and Gas, 2017 – 2019, 2023, 2025 – 2026
• Dispute Resolution – General Commercial Disputes, 2020, 2022 – 2026
• Dispute Resolution – Securities Litigation: Defense, 2018, 2022 – 2026

Legal 500 US City Elite

• Houston – Energy Disputes, 2025

Benchmark Litigation

• Texas Local Litigation Star, 2022 – 2026

Best Lawyers in America®

• Commercial Litigation, 2021 – 2027
• Litigation – Securities, 2024 – 2027
• Regulatory Enforcement Litigation, 2026 – 2027
• Houston Lawyer of the Year, Regulatory Enforcement Litigation, 2026

Super Lawyers

• Texas, 2013 – 2020, 2025 – 2026

Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America

• Commercial Litigation, especially Energy, Securities and Bankruptcy, 2024 – 2027

Lawdragon 500 Global Leaders in Energy

• Energy Litigation, 2026

Lawdragon 500 Leading US Energy Lawyers

• Energy Litigation, 2023 – 2025

Lexology Index Commercial Litigation Guide

• Recommended, 2025 – 2026

The University of Texas School of Law

• Chancellors (Clerk)
• Order of the Coif
• Texas Law Review

• Houston Urban Debate League, Board Member
• State Bar of Texas
• Houston Bar Association
• Texas Bar Foundation, Life Fellow