Nicole is a litigation partner in Reed Smith’s Houston office, where she represents clients in a broad range of complex business matters. Her experience includes representing clients in warranty and contract claims, product liability cases, product and oil field failure disputes, pipeline and other midstream incidents, public and private nuisance cases, and negligence and personal injury defense. Nicole has a significant commercial litigation and mass tort practice, representing clients in the energy, life sciences, professional services, and manufacturing industries.
Experience
Representative matters
Representative matters
Defending a product manufacturer in breach of warranty case arising out of pipeline failures.
Defending an upstream company in significant personal injury case challenging jurisdiction and causation.
Defending an oilfield products distributor in breach of distribution and patent infringement case, resulting in award of summary judgment.
Defending a product manufacturer in breach of warranty case arising out of pipeline failures.
Defending an upstream company in significant personal injury case challenging jurisdiction and causation.
Defending an oilfield products distributor in breach of distribution and patent infringement case, resulting in award of summary judgment.
Represented exploration and production company in arbitration over warranty claims arising out of pipeline failures.
Defense of exploration and production company facing copyright infringement and trade secret claims brought by Canadian seismic company; obtained dismissal of multiple claims.
Represented drilling company in breach of warranty claims against engineer and fabricators.
Defended multi-million dollar conversion of hydrocarbons claim brought by foreign government against a top five oil company and a major international chemical corporation; defended favorable summary judgment award on appeal to Fifth Circuit.
Defended nuisance claim against large oil and gas operator arising from traffic, dust, and other hydraulic fracturing activities; assisted with defense of favorable summary judgment award on appeal.
Advised international energy company regarding joint operating agreement, joint development agreement, and lease terms interpretation in the Wolfcamp Shale.
Assisted in obtaining complete dismissal of major oil and gas operators from flared gas royalty class action claims in North Dakota.
Assisted in defense and settlement of claims brought by bankruptcy trustee against major oil company after train derailment.
Defended theft of trade secrets claim against former employee and oilfield services company.
Defended major oilfield services company in breach of lease dispute, alleging improper termination of lease.
Assisted in defense of various personal injury and wrongful death claims related to domestic and international upstream operations.
National counsel in multiple jurisdictions for major drug distributor in opioid litigation.
Defense of construction management company in exposure and nuisance claims related to infant botulism.
Defense of construction management company in professional negligence dispute.
Represented manufacturer of female pelvic health products in lawsuits alleging post-implant injuries.
Handled multiple commercial lease disputes and tenant eviction cases for major real estate developers
Prosecuted breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition and other claims against local former licensee of Australian client in both state and federal court
Supervised insurance company’s defense of multi-million dollar personal injury case against client
Defended multi-level marketing company in trade secret misappropriation claim
Recognitions
- Selected for inclusion in the Texas Super Lawyers list for Business Litigation, 2023-2025
- Selected to the Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for Energy & Natural Resources, 2017-2021
- Recognized as a lawyer On the Rise by Texas Lawyer as part of the 2022 Texas Legal Awards
Credentials
Education
Education
- Vanderbilt University Law School, 2011, J.D., Senior Development Editor, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law
- Washington University, 2006, B.A., magna cum laude
Professional admissions & qualifications
Professional admissions & qualifications
- Texas
Court admissions
Court admissions
- U.S. District Court - Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court - Western District of Texas
Professional affiliations
Professional affiliations
- Institute for Energy Law’s Leadership Class, Member, 2020-2021
- Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
- Texas Young Lawyers Association, Past Director
- Houston Young Lawyers Foundation, Fellow
- Houston Bar Association
- The Institute for Energy Law
News
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Insights
Events
Civic Involvement
- Southwest Region of the Anti-Defamation League
- Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (Woman of the Year Candidate, 2018)
- Teach for America
- Girls Inc. of Greater Houston
- Moonshots for Unicorns