Denise Scofield
Denise Scofield is an experienced first chair trial lawyer providing trusted guidance to clients who face serious business problems. She uses her extensive knowledge of the energy and petrochemical industries to help her clients determine the best outcome possible and to execute a plan to deliver it. She is especially skilled at protecting her clients at the earliest stages of a crisis. By understanding what her clients will consider to be a win, Denise crafts a courtroom strategy with that result in mind.
Key Matters
Denise’s recent significant cases follow.
- Representing an oilfield services company in an indemnity dispute pending in Oklahoma federal court involving over US$100M
- Representing an American multinational conglomerate in a matter seeking pre-suit discovery in Galveston, Texas against a mass tort plaintiffs’ lawyer for use in investigating potential fraud
- Defeated a US$275M breach of contract action brought by a major oil and gas operator against a global oilfield equipment manufacturer after two-week-long federal bench trial. The high-stakes case for the client had significant implications for the oil and gas industry. The Fifth Circuit upheld the win at the trial court level. Denise was twice recognized for her work on this matter by Am Law as a “Litigator of the Week” Runner-Up.
- Defeated a global insurance provider’s petition for pre-suit discovery against a valve manufacturer in connection with an explosion at a plastics plant in south Texas involving US$65M in insured losses and prevented the client from being sued
- Prevailed in a federal court action to set aside a US$1.4B default judgment secured by a privately owned energy company against a prominent foreign national who had not been properly served with process
- Represented an oilfield services company in a hexavalent chromium contamination lawsuit brought by Midland, Texas residents after Erin Brockovich made allegations against the client on a national morning news program. Also represented the client in connection with the investigations led by the Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Secured the complete dismissal of the lawsuit when Texas’ Eastland Court of Appeals issued mandamus relief and exonerated the client at the regulatory level.
- Representing the former owner of a sand mine located in rural Wisconsin in the defense of environmental and toxic tort claims
- For defendant, negotiated favorable resolution of a mass tort case involving a 20-day uncontrolled blowout of a gas well in South Texas, from which plaintiffs alleged there was a discharge of toxic hydrocarbons and carcinogenic gases that produced an environmental hazard damaging thousands of acres of property, surrounding waterways, livestock, and the plaintiffs’ health
Pro Bono
In a landmark case that included a four-week federal court trial, two Fifth Circuit rulings, and an eight-page statement from the U.S. Supreme Court, Denise was part of a team that secured the United States’ first permanent injunction requiring a prison to provide robust COVID-19 protections—including testing all inmates on a weekly basis—for a geriatric prison in Texas, earning the team a 2020 National Law Journal “Trailblazer Award for Crisis Leadership.”