Overview

Ryan Clinton is a civil appellate attorney and leads the firm’s Texas issues and appeals practice. A former Assistant Solicitor General in the Texas Attorney General’s Office, Ryan has more than two decades of Texas litigation experience in state and federal court. He has delivered dozens of trial court and appellate arguments, numbering in the double-digits before the Supreme Court of Texas. He is also Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Ryan is particularly skilled in handling high-stakes appeals for oil and gas clients and is recognized by Chambers for “Oil & Gas Litigation” nationwide. His experience in the Supreme Court of Texas includes obtaining a vacatur of a $125 million arbitration award for an energy company, as well as representing a natural gas production company in a royalty methodology challenge, an exploration and production company in a personal injury dispute, and two oil and gas producers in a pair of retained acreage clause cases. He also argued on behalf of an international oil and gas producer in a precedent-setting gas royalties dispute in a Texas court of appeals.

Outside of the oil and gas industry, he has handled appeals in personal injury, employment, intellectual property, government, constitutional, and breach of contract matters.

As Assistant Solicitor General, Ryan successfully defended Texas A&M University in state and federal appeals related to the tragic “Aggie Bonfire” collapse, the State of Texas in a constitutional challenge to the Texas Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Act, and a court of appeals sued by a sitting appellate justice over opinion authorship.

Ryan is a frequent speaker at Texas oil and gas litigation conferences and has also presented on topics such as the Texas Tort Claims Act, practicing before the Supreme Court of Texas, and governmental entity disputes.

With a passion for rescuing animals and serving others, Ryan and his wife volunteer at the Austin animal shelter, Austin Pets Alive, for which Ryan has served as pro bono legal counsel.

Accolades

Honors & Recognitions

  • Recognized as a Leader in Oil & Gas Litigation, Nationwide, Chambers USA, 2024-2025
  • Recognized as a Best Lawyer for Appellate Law, The Best Lawyers in America, 2021-2025
  • Recognized as a Top Rated Appellate Attorney (2015-2025) and Rising Star (2004-2005, 2007-2014), Texas Super Lawyers
  • Recognized as a Legal Leader on the Rise, Texas Lawyer, 2013
  • Named a Finalist, Austin Under 40 Awards, 2009
  • Recognized as AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rated in Martindale-Hubbell

Affiliations

Professional

  • Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization
  • Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation
  • Member, Texas Bar College
  • Member, State Bar of Texas and State Bar of Texas Appellate Section
  • Member, Austin Bar Association and Austin Bar Association Civil Appellate Section
  • Former Member, Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court

Insights

Events & Speaking Engagements

  • April 4, 2024
    Event
    Speaker
    Estate Misconception & Presumed Grant: Navigating Mineral-Ownership Disputes After Van Dyke, University of Texas School of Law’s 50th Annual Ernest E. Smith Oil, Gas & Mineral Law Institute, Austin, TX
  • January 2020
    Event
    Speaker
    Forgive Us Our Trespass Law, Houston, TX
  • January 11, 2019
    Event
    Speaker
    The End of the Leasehold as We Know it: Termination, Forfeiture, & Repudiation, State Bar of Texas Oil and Gas Disputes Conference, Houston, TX
  • September 29, 2017
    Event
    Speaker
    To Drill or Not to Drill: The Repudiation Doctrine, 35th Annual State Bar of Texas Advanced Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Law Conference, Houston, TX
  • September 2016
    Event
    Speaker
    Revisiting an Old Friend: Retained-Acreage Clauses in Oil-and-Gas Contracts, 34th Annual State Bar of Texas Advanced Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Law Conference, Houston, TX
  • February 2015
    Event
    Speaker
    Oil & Gas Damages, State Bar of Texas’s 7th Annual Damages in Civil Litigation Conference, Houston, TX

Publications

  • March 2022
    Publication
    Agony of the 1/8th: The Consistently Inconsistent Role of “Estate Misconception” and the “Legacy of the 1/8th Royalty” in Texas Deed Construction Precedent, State Bar of Texas Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Section Report

News

Education

JD, University of Virginia School of Law, Order of the Coif, 2000

BA, Political Science and Public Policy Studies, Duke University, cum laude, 1997

Admissions

Texas

Courts

Supreme Court of the United States

US Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Government Service

Assistant Solicitor General, Texas, 2002-2008

Additional Service Areas

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