Graig Alvarez

• Commercial Litigation 

• Energy Litigation

• Arbitration 

• Mass Tort and Catastrophic Incident Litigation 

• Product Liability Litigation

• Environmental Litigation 

• eDiscovery

 

 

Experience

In January 2010, Graig J. Alvarez, along with longtime colleague Steve Fernelius, founded Fernelius Alvarez PLLC.  Previously, Graig was a partner in the Houston office of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP from January 2007 to 2010 and an associate from 1997 to 2006. 

 

Prior to joining Fulbright & Jaworski, Graig was employed by Houston-based Cameron Corp., where he spent four years as a design engineer developing offshore oilfield equipment and two years as a project manager for international offshore oilfield projects. 

 

Recent cases include: 

• Briefed, argued, and won appeal before the Texas Supreme Court successfully establishing insurance coverage and liability against Liberty Mutual.

• Represented co-owner of a small business in a management dispute with multinational company over the operation of the business, including allegations of mismanagement and breach of fiduciary duty. Case settled after one day of trial.

• Successfully handled a breach of gas purchase agreement arising from shift in production balance caused by shale gas boom in the Permian basin between producers and purchaser.

• Successfully represented an independent E&P company against water treatment vendor arising from its shale gas fracking operations in Pennsylvania.

• Successfully defended an oilfield equipment distributor in defective-product claim against refinery by obtaining favorable settlement of dispute.  Subsequently handled distributor’s claim against insurance carrier for failure to defend and indemnify under CGL policy.

• Successfully litigated claim of misappropriation of fiduciary property against employee utilizing eDiscovery to investigate and bring swift resolution of claim. 

• Successfully arbitrated claims and defenses for a physician association in an employment dispute with one of its employee-physicians.

• Represented an international pipeline company regarding rupture of line pipe against the manufacturer of the pipe, receiving a favorable settlement.

• Represented an international oil and gas company regarding an explosion and fire at its Texas City refinery.  

• Represented a chemical company regarding an explosion at one of its Texas facilities.

• Successfully obtained a temporary injunction in federal court for a Brazilian manufacturer resolving the matter within weeks due to strategic advantages of injunction process.

• Successfully obtained a multimillion-dollar award in an ICC arbitration for an international oil and gas company against a Nigerian engineering firm. 

• Successfully defended and tried to verdict a multimillion-dollar case asserted against a parent company on claims of Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, fraud and related claims. 

• Successfully represented an oil and gas exploration company against an insurer, asserting claims for breach of duty to defend and statutory bad-faith claims.

• Successfully briefed and argued a FOIA appeal against the Department of Labor before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving an explosion at a petrochemical facility, Reported Opinion: 280 F.3d 539 (5th Cir. 2002). 

• Successfully represented a retail electric provider against an electricity supplier regarding breach of contract and related claims. 

• Represented a professional athlete in a case regarding allegations of breach of contract against his former car-racing team owner; the matter was tried and successfully concluded in favor of the client. 

• Represented an oil and gas operator in a case involving breach of a joint-operating agreement; the parties eventually entered into a settlement agreement post-trial. 

• Represented a manufacturer of oil-field and pipeline valves in a products liability and wrongful-death lawsuit; the case was settled successfully for the client. 

• Successfully represented an environmental engineering company against landowners who alleged property damages and personal injury arising from Superfund remediation. 

• Successfully represented and settled a dispute between an oil and gas operator and South Texas landowners who made environmental claims associated with oil-field operations.

 

 

Professional Activities and Memberships

• American Bar Association 

• National Moot Court Championship Team (1997) 

• State Bar of Texas 

• Houston Bar Association 

• Texas Transnational Law Quarterly, member of Editorial Board (2006 - 2008)

 

 

Professional Honors

• Texas Rising Star, Law & Politics (2006, 2007) 

• Texas Super Lawyer 2011

 

 

Publications

• Contributor, “International Litigation: Defending and Suing Foreign Parties in U.S. Federal Courts,” American Bar Association, 2003 

• Co-author, Practical Guide for Conducting Extra-Territorial Discovery for Use in U.S. Litigation 

• Author, “Adarand v. Pena –The Supreme Court's Continuing Journey to the Legal High Ground,” South Texas Law Review, 1995

 

 

Speeches 

• Speaker, “Who Are Best Positioned to Decide Disputes Arising Out of the Shale Gas Boom: Arbitrators or Judges,” International Energy Arbitration Conference, February 2014

• Speaker, “Are you Ready? Managing the Major Corporate Crisis,” Texas CLE Presentation, 2012, 2013

• Speaker, “Catastrophic Events: Assisting Your Client to Plan and Deal with a Crisis,” Advanced Oil & Gas Short Course, February 2009 

• Instructor, “International Litigation, Arbitration and Mediation,” Universidad Panamerica, December 2008 

• Speaker, Panel Discussion, “Catastrophic Events,” October 2008 

 

 

Educational Background

1997 - Juris Doctor, with honors, South Texas College of Law

1990 - Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University

Graig was a note-and-comment editor for the South Texas Law Review.  He was admitted to practice law in Texas in 1997 and is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Northern Districts of Texas, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

 

 

Interests

Graig’s interests include spending time with his children, running, working out, traveling and auto racing.

 

 

Civic Involvement

ESCAPE Family Resource Center, Member of Board of Directors (2007 - 2014)