Our Attorneys

James W. Bartlett, Jr. is an experienced trial lawyer at Okin Adams Bartlett Curry LLP whose practice pairs courtroom advocacy with trusted deal-making counsel for corporate clients. For more than 30 years—including 15 years with a national Am Law 200 firm—he has represented corporations and other business entities in complex litigation throughout and beyond the United States.

His practice centers on high-stakes disputes for clients in the energy and petrochemical, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and technology sectors. He handles matters involving corporate transactions, securities, civil RICO, products liability, regulatory and class action defense, employment disputes, and bankruptcy-related litigation, including adversary proceedings, while also counseling corporate clients on deal negotiations and the drafting and completion of related contractual agreements. That range is particularly valuable in Houston’s energy sector, where business disputes and transactions often move on parallel tracks, and clients seek him out when a matter calls for both trial-tested litigation skill and sound business sense.

Clients value Jim’s direct communication, early focus on litigation goals, and practical strategies for achieving them. His standing among the bar reflects that approach: he has been named a Texas Super Lawyer in Business Litigation since 2020 and is a former recipient of the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Houston Award.

Jim earned his law degree from South Texas College of Law, where he served on the Law Review and competed on numerous varsity moot court and mock trial teams, winning tournaments at the regional and national levels and earning Best Individual Oral Advocate honors at the TYLA State Moot Court Competition. Named Outstanding Male Graduate of his class, Jim also earned the American College of Trial Lawyers Medal for Excellence in Advocacy and admission to the National Order of Barristers. Those early advocacy honors foreshadowed a career built around courtroom judgment, preparation, and persuasion.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE:

Trial, Arbitration, and Financial Services

Served as lead trial counsel for an online litigation funding platform in a suit brought by a nationally recognized white-collar litigation boutique asserting fraud, conspiracy, declaratory judgment, and injunctive relief claims and seeking millions of dollars in damages. After a five-month bench trial, the court entered a take-nothing judgment against the plaintiff on its fraud and conspiracy claims, denied the plaintiff’s requests for declaratory and injunctive relief, and entered a multi-million-dollar judgment on counterclaims.

Obtained a $4.2 million arbitration award for an investment fund in a dispute with a California-based medical group involving breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, alleged mismanagement of purchased receivables, and misappropriation of funds.

Obtained a $2.0 million settlement for an investment fund in an arbitration against a Florida-based medical group involving alleged mismanagement of purchased receivables and misappropriation of funds.

Energy, Petrochemicals, and Industrial Disputes

Successfully defended the CEO of a major natural gas pipeline company in shareholder suits alleging breach of fiduciary duty and related claims arising from negotiations over the company’s multibillion-dollar merger.

Obtained complete relief for the subsidiary of a major natural gas pipeline company in litigation seeking a declaration that a major energy corporation and its subsidiary had no right of first refusal over pipeline assets included in a multibillion-dollar merger.

Successfully defended a major natural gas pipeline company against claims by a major energy corporation asserting a right of first refusal to key merger-related assets, breach of a capital stock agreement, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

Obtained a $16 million settlement recovery for a major natural gas pipeline operator in a products liability action against the manufacturer of components used in a pipeline expansion project.

Negotiated the resolution of a shareholder dispute involving a Houston-based chemical corporation.

Obtained a settlement for a global marketing agency equal to the full amount of outstanding fees, plus attorneys’ fees, in litigation arising from the agency’s creation of an advertising campaign for a major petrochemical company.

Manufacturing, Products, and Class Actions

Obtained a confidential settlement for a Sweden-based custom component manufacturer after one of the company’s customers was induced by a sophisticated man-in-the-middle scam to wire funds to an incorrect account.

Obtained dismissal with prejudice of all claims against a major chemicals and plastics manufacturer in litigation alleging civil RICO and common-law tort claims and seeking billions of dollars in damages, and successfully defended the dismissal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Obtained dismissal with prejudice of all claims against a major chemicals and plastics manufacturer in litigation asserting federal and state claims for alleged discrimination, retaliation, and defamation, and successfully defended the dismissal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Obtained a final judgment denying class certification, effectively ending a nationwide class action against a major residential and commercial flooring products company involving tort and statutory claims based on alleged product defects.

Obtained dismissal with prejudice of all claims against major chemicals and plastics manufacturers in a nationwide class action alleging Lanham Act violations, civil RICO, and common-law tort claims, and successfully defended the dismissal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Obtained a confidential settlement recovery for a major chemical and plastics corporation in a bankruptcy adversary proceeding asserting contribution and indemnity claims against a manufacturer of plastic plumbing products.

Technology, Securities, and Bankruptcy-Related Litigation

Obtained confidential settlement recoveries for the trustee of the shareholders’ trust and creditors’ trust of a bankrupt biometric security technology company in two lawsuits involving alleged self-dealing by former management, bribery of foreign officials, and misleading marketing and sale of the company’s securities.

PUBLICATIONS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:

“Spoliation, Litigation Holds, and Other Things That Keep Lawyers Awake at Night,” presented at the Advanced Evidence and Discovery Course

“Texas Indemnity Law Update,” presented at the Texas Lawyer In-House Counsel Summit

“Admissions and Interrogatories: Complying with Control Plans and Drafting Good Discovery in Complex Cases,” presented at the Advanced Civil Discovery Seminar

OKIN ADAMS BLOG

• When Silence Is Golden: The Texas Supreme Court on Disproving Materiality in Medicaid Fraud Claims
• When Big Tech Meets Big Data: Inside the Landmark Class Action Against Amazon Over AI Training Practices
• When AI Prompts Meet Adtech: A New Privacy Battleground
• The Goliath Ventures Collapse: What the Litigation Wave Tells Us About Bank Liability, Crypto Fraud, and the Future of Investor Recovery
• Creators of ChatGPT Under Siege by Litigants
• Texas Supreme Court Reaffirms the Principle That Ownership of an Entity Does Not Automatically Equate to Liability for that Entity’s Acts or Omissions
• Texas Court of Appeals Issues Important Clarification on the Procedure for Self-Authentication under Rule 193.7
• Sliding Into the DMs: How Texas Courts Handle Service by Social Media
• Best Lawyers in America© 2019 Recognizes Okin Adams Partners
• Best Lawyers in America© 2021 Recognizes Okin Adams Partners

James W. Bartlett, Jr.

Rated by Super Lawyers


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