Sean T. Johnson
Sean Johnson has been recognized several times by the Texas Lawyer and Houston Business Journal for his achievements. Having spent the vast majority of his career as in-house counsel for energy companies, Sean Johnson has experience in a wide array of upstream, midstream, transactional, and general corporate matters. Sean has achieved success, whether by managing teams of counsel or individually, in litigation and commercial transactions. He has successfully negotiated hundreds of agreements of all types including those relating to oil field service agreements, software licensing, office leasing, consulting, and procurement of goods and services.
Representative Cases and Experience
- Managed a team of lawyers that successfully prosecuted a first of its kind administrative complaint at the Texas Railroad Commission.
- Recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in oil and gas disputes without having to resort to litigation.
- Managing Counsel for the Legal Department of the U.S. subsidiary of an international Fortune 500 energy company including responsibility for all U.S. litigation, commercial agreements, and corporate governance.
- Discovered evidence of arbitrator bias and managed a team that successfully had three adverse arbitration awards vacated.
- Technology Control Officer of an offshore E&P company responsible for ensuring compliance with U.S. export laws including through the creation and administration of training and policies.
- Lead counsel for various operational disciplines of a midstream company including:
- Engineering & Construction (including the negotiation of construction, master service, consulting, and other types of agreements).
- Operations (including the negotiation of offshore and onshore O&M agreements, and maritime agreements).
- Procurement (including the negotiation of supplier agreements);
- Information Technology (including extensive experience in negotiating software license and syndicated content agreements).
- Human Resources (including counsel on various issues and involvement in employee investigations).
- Real Estate (including responsibility for all U.S. leases, acquisitions, and divestitures).
- Ethics & Compliance (including co-drafting various compliance training programs);
- Internal and External Affairs (including responsibility for all social media issues).
- Rights-of-Way (including responsibility for all ROW activities for certain pipeline expansion projects).
- Responsible for an intellectual property portfolio, including the prosecution of two patents, and all company trademarks, and acquiring licenses for third party intellectual property as needed.
- Provided commercial and strategic counsel to executive management on a commercial relationship with a foreign state-owned energy company including oversight of complex multi-year agreements for the marketing, purchase, importation, and sale of propane from Africa.
Contact
Admissions
State Bar of Texas
United States District Court for the Federal Circuit.
Court of International Trade
U.S. Supreme Court
Education
Texas A&M University, B.B.A.
South Texas College of Law Houston, J.D.
–Corporate Counsel Review, Assistant Editor
Affiliations and Honors
Texas Bar Foundation, Life Fellow
Texas Lawyer – Legal Department of the Year – Solo GC (winner), 2015
Houston Business Journal – Best Corporate Counsel – Solo General Counsel’ (winner), 2015
Houston Business Journal – Best Corporate Counsel – Solo General Counsel (finalist), 2014
Texas Lawyer – Legal Leader on the Rise, 2013
Houston Business Journal – Best Corporate Counsel – Associate General Counsel of a Midsize to Large Legal Department (finalist), 2012
Memorial Villages Police Department, Commissioner