Drake, Talia

Susan is one of the few Oil, Gas and Mineral Law Board Certified attorneys in the state who litigates full-time.  Susan has over 35 years of private practice, 27 of which are with CBTD. She is a member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Fifth, Eleventh, and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas, and the Western District of Louisiana. Ms. Richardson had appeared as counsel before the United States Supreme Court, and she has argued cases before the Texas Supreme Court, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and the First, Third, Eighth, Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Texas Courts of Appeal. Ms. Richardson has also completed Basic Mediation Training in accordance with the Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Sec. 154.052. Susan has also served as an arbitrator and a retained expert witness on oil and gas matters in addition to serving as a mediator. She is a Fellow in the Texas Bar Foundation.

AREAS OF CONCENTRATION

Oil and Gas Litigation

A large part of Susan's practice centers on representation of operators and non-operators in disputes regarding operating agreements, unit agreements, executive rights duties, preferential purchase rights, areas of mutual interest, gas contract disputes, lease construction and royalty controversies, operator removal and arbitration. She has obtained judgments for over $14 million for operators for equitable restitution in crude oil pricing cases, over $9 million for plaintiffs in AMI cases, obtained settlements for a total of more than $15 million for non-operators in operating agreement controversies, and successfully defended producers in $50 million claims for underpaid royalties.

In her 35 years of practice she has tried over 30 complex cases before judges and juries throughout Texas. Susan's cases have involved frontier legal issues in operating agreement and COPAS accounting cases, arbitration of oil and gas controversies, class action royalty cases, AMI's, equitable restitution in crude oil pricing issues, and royalty obligations under leases.

Employment Law Litigation/Counseling

Susan has defended numerous employers in both state and federal employment lawsuits, claims before administrative law judges for OSHA, the EEOC, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Department of Labor. In addition to litigation, Susan counsels employers in human resource issues, including drafting handbooks and policies.

Fiduciary Litigation and Other Complex Business Litigation

Although complex oil and gas litigation and employment litigation are her primary areas of concentration, Susan has also represented both plaintiffs and defendants in fiduciary litigation including disputes regarding trusts, wills, and other types of fiduciary instruments.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Prior to joining Cotton Bledsoe in 1985, Susan was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas and spent eight years as an in-house litigation attorney for Gulf Oil Corporation. She is a former member of the Oil and Gas Council of the State Bar, and a former member of the Board of Directors of CBTD.

In law school, Susan was a member of the Board of Advocates as well as the Mock Trial Team that won the Regional Finals and represented the Region and the University of Texas School of Law at the National Mock Trial Finals.