D.J. BEATY focuses his practice on upstream and midstream oil-and-gas litigation, including lease and joint-interest disputes as well as matters related to acquisitions and divestitures, exploration and development, and product purchase arrangements. He has represented clients in trial and on appeal in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts, as well as arbitrations, concerning various oil-and-gas and commercial issues. Mr. Beaty is a former editor of the American Bar Association's Energy Litigation Journal.
Mr. Beaty earned his B.A. from Ouachita Baptist University, where he was a Trustees' Scholar and Governor's Distinguished Scholar. He obtained his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Arkansas School of Law and served on the editorial board of the school's Journal of Food Law & Policy. He received his LL.M., with an emphasis in energy and natural resources, from Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law, where he was a research assistant to John S. Lowe, the school's George W. Hutchison Professor of Energy Law
Representative Experience
- Obtained directed verdict on all counts in trial concerning formation and performance of a land-sale contract.
- Obtained arbitration award and successfully defended all counterclaims in joint-account and AMI dispute.
- Successfully argued for and obtained dispositive summary judgment for defendant in commercial contract lawsuit.
- Obtained favorable settlement from joint-interest owner's secured lender in complex priority dispute involving an operator's lien and spanning five venues.
- Successfully precluded co-defendant's attempt to amend answer to assert numerous cross-claims against client concerning fraudulent inducement of a settlement agreement and breach of an operating agreement.
