Removal to the Texas Business Court: Removal, Remand and Strategic Forum Selection in Complex Commercial Litigation

Craig Duewall, Shareholder; Co-Chair | Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Craig Duewall is a Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig and Co-Chair of the firm’s Texas Litigation Practice. An experienced trial lawyer who genuinely enjoys going to court, Craig frequently handles some of the most complex and interesting commercial disputes in the state. His complex commercial litigation and arbitration practice spans class actions, trade secrets, private equity investment, business divorces and breakups, environmental enforcement, oil and gas, green energy and renewable resources, power generation and utilities, energy trading, securities fraud, fiduciary duty and shareholder disputes, commercial construction, real estate development, bankruptcy, and insurance coverage. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants across the United States before state and federal trial and appellate courts and arbitration tribunals.

• Education & Credentials

Craig earned his J.D. from South Texas College of Law in 1999 and his B.S. in Political Science from Texas A&M University in 1996. During law school, he clerked for the Honorable Alberto R. Gonzalez of the Supreme Court of Texas, the Honorable Ewing Werlein Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and the Honorable Michael H. Schneider of the Texas First District Court of Appeals. He is admitted to practice in Texas and Colorado and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and all four U.S. District Courts in Texas.

• Recognition & Leadership

Craig has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation (2022–2027), Energy Law (2026–2027), and Oil and Gas Law (2023), and was named a Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2014. As Co-Chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Texas Litigation Practice, he leads one of the firm’s key state practices, and he has closely tracked the formation of the Texas Business Courts while serving on the Texas Business Law Foundation’s Business Court Working Group.

• Professional Involvement

Craig is an active member of the Austin Bar Association, where he serves on the Board of Directors of the Civil Litigation Section and previously chaired the Litigation Section. He is a member of the Texas State Bar (Litigation; Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Law; and Construction Sections), the Federal Bar Association’s Litigation Section, and the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s Business Development Committee, and he contributes to the Texas Business Court Watch Blog. Across his practice, Craig invests in understanding each client’s culture, business processes, goals, and strategic needs to develop litigation strategies that are both unique and cost-effective.

• Experience

Craig has an extensive record across high-stakes litigation and arbitration. In one matter of first impression, he obtained summary judgment for a health insurance client dismissing more than $100 million in claims brought by nine emergency room physician groups over five-plus years of disputed out-of-network billings. He defended a wind energy developer sued over Winter Storm Uri—securing dismissal after showing the client had in fact delivered excess energy during the storm—and represented a national grocery chain through the dismissal of egg-price class actions, affirmed by the Fifth Circuit. His energy and natural resources work includes representing a supermajor operator in Gulf of Mexico deepwater disputes and recovering on all claims for owners of Permian water production and wastewater disposal assets in matters exceeding $50 million. He also handles environmental enforcement, securities fraud and fiduciary duty disputes, and complex construction and real estate litigation, representing owners, contractors, subcontractors, and design professionals.

David A. Shields, Co-Managing Shareholder | Shields Legal Group P.C.

David A. Shields advises business leaders, professional managers, entrepreneurs, banks, and family offices on how to maximize value and manage the risks inherent in growing or exiting organizations. As Co-Managing Shareholder of Shields Legal, he also helps lead the management and administration of the firm’s growth. David engages both opportunities and challenges across a diverse range of complex commercial matters—spanning litigation, buy- and sell-side M&A, investment transactions, corporate reorganizations, commercial and multifamily real estate, and capital markets—bringing a “get it done” attitude and a relentless focus on results to every engagement.

• Education & Credentials

David earned his J.D. cum laude from Saint Louis University School of Law in 2012 and his B.S.B.A. in Finance cum laude from the Saint Louis University John Cook School of Business in 2009. He is admitted to the State Bar of Texas and before all four U.S. District Courts in Texas as well as the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.

• Recognition & Leadership

David was selected to the 2024 Best Lawyers in Dallas by The American Registry and named to the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list from 2020 to 2022. As Co-Managing Shareholder, he plays a central leadership role in the firm’s strategy and growth, and he is a published author, including a piece in the Saint Louis University Law Journal on the harmless error doctrine in the federal circuits.

• Professional Involvement

David is a member of the State Bar of Texas (Business Law and Corporate Counsel Sections) and the American Bar Association (Business Law Section). Passionate about sharing his insights with the business community and mentoring the next generation of lawyers, he speaks on business strategy, growth and exit planning, legal trends, and entrepreneurship. He also co-hosts a podcast, Like It’s Your Job, in which he and his brother Matt interview successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and leaders about their stories, challenges, and best practices.

• Experience

David serves clients across widely varied industries—from real estate development to restaurants and retail, banks to software engineers, transportation companies to pharmacies—including FDIC-insured banks, entrepreneur-led and private-equity-backed companies, and mature single- or multigenerational businesses preparing to exit.

On the litigation side, he has secured complete dismissal of more than a dozen claims in a corporate governance and fiduciary duty suit where plaintiffs sought over $1 billion, defeated trade secret and restraining-order claims for a software developer facing $10 million-plus in alleged damages, and obtained one of the largest attorneys’ fees and sanctions awards then granted under the Texas Citizens’ Participation Act—nearly $500,000—for a healthcare provider client. He has also won and collected a $7 million-plus arbitration award, contributed to a $27 million-plus jury award in a legal malpractice matter, and helped achieve the largest bankruptcy settlement in the history of the relevant bankruptcy court district in a fraud and breach-of-contract case for an interstate company with revenues exceeding $300 million.

SESSION 1 – The Race to the Texas Business Court: Starting the ClockTrigger Events, Waiver Traps, and Executing the Removal to the Texas Business Court | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

The Texas Business Court has quickly become one of the most significant developments in Texas commercial litigation. As parties increasingly evaluate whether complex business disputes belong in a traditional district court or the specialized Business Court, removal practice has emerged as a critical battleground.

This program examines the procedural, jurisdictional, and strategic issues associated with removing a case to the Texas Business Court. Participants will learn how to evaluate Business Court jurisdiction, satisfy the requirements of Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 355, navigate removal deadlines, address venue and operating division considerations, and litigate remand challenges. The presentation will also explore developing Business Court opinions addressing removal jurisdiction, common pitfalls that result in remand, supplemental jurisdiction issues, and the practical implications of split proceedings between the Business Court and district courts. Attendees will leave with a framework for assessing whether removal advances their client’s objectives and how to maximize the advantages of Texas’s newest commercial court system.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Getting to and Staying in the Texas Business Court: Jurisdictional Thresholds, Pleas, Remand, and Drafting Forward | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

The Business Court of Texas opened on September 1, 2024, governed by Texas Government Code § 25A and Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 352–360, with appeals from every division heard by the newly created 15th Court of Appeals sitting in Austin. An action reaches the court three ways — original filing under § 25A.006(a), removal, or transfer on agreement of the parties — and getting in is not the same as staying in.

This session works the framework from both ends. Participants will learn how a qualified transaction is defined in Texas Government Code § 25A.001(14), how the $5 million amount in controversy is pleaded, and what § 25A.004(b) and (d) exclude — interest under Atlas IDF, LP v. NexPoint Real Estate Partners, LLC, plus statutory and exemplary damages, penalties, fees, and costs. It covers supplemental jurisdiction under § 25A.004(f), plea-to-the-jurisdiction practice as applied in Slant Operating, LLC v. Octane Energy Operating, LLC, and the traps that send a case back, as in In re ColossusBets Ltd. It closes on appellate review, mandamus, preserving a jurisdictional record, and drafting venue clauses under § 25A.006(a) that name a county inside an operating division. Attendees will leave able to test an action against the court’s jurisdictional requirements and draft documents that put the forum question beyond dispute.