Tom O’Brien > Baker Botts L.L.P. > Dallas, United States > Lawyer Profile

Tom O’Brien

Work Department

Litigation

Position

Partner

Department Chair – Litigation (Dallas)

Practice Group Chair – Professional Liability Litigation (Firmwide)

Career

Tom O’Brien is a first-chair trial lawyer with a national securities, shareholder, professional liability, and commercial litigation practice. He enjoys and thrives at representing companies and professionals in their most critical moments, such as when they face a major securities fraud case or a malpractice suit challenging their work. Two cases he has litigated have reached the Supreme Court of the United States, and one case he tried ended in a $7 billion judgment described by the District Court and the Fifth Circuit as a “once in a lifetime result.” In re ASARCO, LLC, 751 F.3d 291, 296 (5th Cir. 2014). In 2023, Mr. O’Brien was co-lead counsel in a seven-day federal jury trial that resulted in a $210 million trade secrets verdict for Baker Botts’ client, and was lead counsel in a five-day final arbitration hearing after which the arbitrator found in Baker Botts’ client’s favor on all liability issues and awarded it attorneys fees and costs.

Mr. O’Brien is Chair of both the Baker Botts Professional Liability Litigation Group and the Baker Botts Partner Admissions Information Committee.

Following graduation from law school with high honors and before joining Baker Botts, Mr. O’Brien served as a law clerk to the Honorable Kim McLane Wardlaw of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Securities and Shareholder Litigation. Mr. O’Brien has represented public companies, their officers and directors, and public accounting firms in litigation and investigations in Delaware, New York, Texas, and other jurisdictions related to securities, mergers and acquisitions, corporate control, shareholder demands, financial reporting, short-swing profits, and audits. For example, he defended one of the most closely-watched securities fraud class actions of all time, which made two trips to the Supreme Court of the United States and resulted in defendants having the right to rebut the presumption of reliance at class certification. See Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2398 (2014).

Professional Liability Litigation. Mr. O’Brien also has defended law, audit, tax, and advisory firms against professional liability claims. He has represented professional service firms against a variety of claims brought by clients and non-clients inside and outside of Texas. For example, he received a dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that an international law firm committed fraud and breached a contract in connection with an arbitration proceeding. The dismissal was affirmed by the court of appeals, and the Supreme Court of Texas denied the plaintiffs’ petition for review. Patten v. Johnston, Case No. 14-0433, in the Supreme Court of the State of Texas.

Commercial Litigation. Mr. O’Brien has significant experience with other complex business-related disputes as well. In 2022 and 2023, Mr. O’Brien was lead or co-lead counsel in three matters that went to a verdict or final arbitration hearing. First, Mr. O’Brien was lead counsel for a technology company in an international arbitration involving claims of fraud and unjust enrichment in which, after a seven-day arbitration hearing and an eighth day of closing arguments, the opposing party recovered less than 1% of the amount it sought from Baker Botts’s client. Second, Mr. O’Brien was lead counsel for a talent agency in a breach of contract arbitration against reality TV stars in which, following a five-day arbitration hearing, the arbitrator found in Baker Botts’s client’s favor on all liability issues and awarded it attorneys’ fees and costs. Last, Mr. O’Brien was co-lead counsel for a technology company in a trade secrets case in which, after a seven-day trial, a federal jury awarded Baker Botts’s client $210 million in actual and punitive damages. Previously, Mr. O’Brien was lead trial counsel in a contested hearing over the total enterprise value of a worldwide provider of oilfield transportation and search and rescue services, in which, the Bankruptcy Court said: “[T]his is the most fun that I’ve had since I’ve been on the Bench. . . . [E]verybody advocated for their clients in an effort to be what a lawyer is supposed to be.” In re Bristow Group, Inc., Case No. 19-32713-H2-11, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Mr. O’Brien also participated in a four-week trial in a fraudulent transfer and breach of fiduciary duty case that resulted in a $7 billion judgment described by the District Court and Fifth Circuit as a “once in a lifetime result.” In re ASARCO, LLC, 751 F.3d 291, 296 (5th Cir. 2014), and tried the two-week confirmation hearing in a bankruptcy case characterized by the Bankruptcy Court as “probably the most successful Chapter 11 of any magnitude in the history of the [Bankruptcy] Code.” Id. at 298.

Memberships

State Bar of Texas

United States Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Fifth Circuit and Ninth Circuit

United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas

Dallas Association of Young Lawyers – Life Fellow of the DAYL Foundation

Dallas Bar Association

Member of the Board of Directors of the Texas Law Review Association

Former Member of the Board of Trustees for the North Texas Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Former Chairman of the Law Firm Challenge for the North Texas Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Former Member of the Light The Night Walk Executive Committee for the North Texas Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Education

J.D., The University of Texas School of Law 2004
with high honors
Order of the Coif
Chief Notes Editor, Texas Law Review
Outstanding Editor Award
Outstanding Constitutional Law Note Award
Outstanding Memorandum Award

B.A., Government & International Studies, University of Notre Dame 2001
summa cum laude
Phi Beta Kappa