Barclay Richard Nicholson

Barclay Nicholson is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm's Houston office.

Areas of Practice

Barclay has assisted clients in all of North America's major exploration plays. Internationally, Barclay has been chosen to assist the US State Department Bureau of Energy and the US Department of Commerce, through its Commercial Law Development Program, in advising the countries of China, India, Iceland, Vietnam, Colombia, Chile, and Afghanistan on their energy programs and their oil and gas resources and the regulatory and legal matters associated with those resources.

Most recently Barclay served on: the US/China Unconventional Oil & Gas Sustainable Development Workshop in Beijing, China, the Oil and Gas Sector Regulation and Long-Term Management in the Arctic Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, the Regional Unconventional Gas Technical Workshop in Hanoi, Vietnam, the US/Mongolia Unconventional Oil & Gas Workshop in Ulanbator, Mongolia, the US/Afghanistan Cooperation on Extractive Industries Development Program that took place in Doha, Qatar, the US/Colombia Cooperation on Coal Bed Methane Extraction and Unconventional Resources in Bogota, Colombia, the US/India Cooperation on Unconventional Natural Gas Consultations in New Delhi, India and the US/Chile Consultations on Unconventional Natural Gas in Santiago, Chile.

In construction related litigation, Barclay has represented some of the nation's largest construction companies. He has routinely represented construction owners as well as general contractors and design professionals in construction defect and construction delay cases. Barclay has dealt with construction related litigation ranging from multi-story residential high rise buildings, to pipeline construction cases, to large scale commercial buildings.

Most recently, Barclay has been involved in the litigation associated with the construction of the Millennium Tower in downtown San Francisco, which was featured on CBS's 60 Minutes. He has also been involved in litigation with other major construction projects in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Texas. Barclay also has extensive experience in construction delay claims, especially those involving pipeline projects and refinery construction projects. Barclay also routinely represents clients related to complex insurance issues and has handled a number of these cases as shown in more detail below. Further, Barclay recently served as Chair of the Houston Bar Association's Litigation Section, which has more than 1,200 members.

Barclay has handled commercial cases that involve amounts exceeding one billion dollars. He has represented clients in numerous proceedings both in the United States (in federal and state courts) and abroad (in the LCIA, ICC, UNCITRAL and ICDR). Additionally, he has represented clients before various administrative and congressional oversight boards.

Previously, Barclay served as Briefing Attorney for Justice Alberto Gonzales of the Texas Supreme Court, who later served as the United States Attorney General. He also served as Briefing Clerk for Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips of the Texas Supreme Court.