Houston is the energy capital of the United States, the country's largest medical center, and home to a massive port. Every one of those industries runs on contracts. Texas contract law is more pro-business and pro-enforcement than most states: non-competes are broadly enforceable when properly structured, the Texas Business & Commerce Code is friendly to commercial parties, and Harris County district courts have a deep bench of judges who try contract cases regularly. The firms below draft, negotiate, and litigate Houston business contracts every day.
Texas Business & Commerce Code section 15.50 allows non-competes when they're ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement and contain reasonable time, geographic-area, and scope limits. Texas courts enforce them, including in the energy, medical, and oilfield-services contexts where Houston employers most often use them. That said, the statute and the case law are technical, and a Houston-drafted non-compete that doesn't track Mann Frankfort and Marsh USA carefully will be struck down or reformed. Use Houston counsel.
Houston's energy contracts have evolved their own conventions: joint operating agreements, farmouts, gas-balancing agreements, master service agreements with knock-for-knock indemnities, daywork drilling contracts. These look unfamiliar to general-practice business lawyers and are bread-and-butter at Houston firms. If your contract touches oil, gas, midstream, downstream, or oilfield services, hire energy-experienced Houston counsel.
Texas is also home to one of the country's most active commercial-litigation jurisdictions. Harris County district courts try more commercial cases per year than the courts of most states. Houston commercial trial lawyers are accustomed to contract trials in front of judges and juries, which makes prevention (a well-drafted contract) cheaper than the alternative. Texas's loser-pays attorney-fee statute in some commercial contexts (Civil Practice & Remedies Code section 38.001) is another reason to draft contracts that put attorneys' fees on the table for breach.
Houston business and contracts boutique with 30+ years of Texas commercial experience. Contract drafting, review, and negotiation; partnership and operating agreements; commercial litigation. Known for transparent flat-rate and capped-fee structures on routine contract work.
Houston commercial and contracts boutique. 40+ years of contract drafting, negotiation, and litigation experience for Texas businesses from startups to national corporations. Verified via firm public profile.
Texas Board Certified Consumer & Commercial trial lawyer. Business transactions, collections, commercial litigation, contract drafting for Texas commercial parties. 39+ years of Texas practice. Verified via firm public profile.
Houston business attorneys charge $350-$700/hour at boutique and mid-market firms, $700-$1,400/hour at the downtown Houston AmLaw firms. Solo and small-firm contract attorneys outside the Loop typically range $225-$425/hour, meaningfully less than NYC, SF, DC, or LA.
Common Houston flat-fee and capped-fee work: $1,200-$3,000 for an LLC operating agreement, $2,000-$5,000 for a partnership or shareholder agreement, $1,200-$3,500 for vendor and services agreements, $600-$1,500 for an NDA or independent contractor agreement.
Outside general counsel arrangements in Houston typically run $2,000-$8,000/month depending on volume, with energy-sector businesses on the higher end because of master-service-agreement and joint-operating-agreement workload.
A standard contract review (5-25 pages, no major negotiation) in Houston usually returns in 2-5 business days. Houston firms tend to move faster than coastal-city averages; energy deal flow has trained the market to turn documents quickly.
A custom-drafted operating, partnership, or shareholder agreement takes 2-4 weeks from first call to executed version. Energy-sector agreements (JOAs, MSAs, farmouts) typically run 4-12 weeks depending on counterparty bandwidth.
Contract litigation in Harris County district court typically reaches trial in 14-22 months. Houston's commercial trial bar is deep, and most disputes settle at mediation or after the dispositive-motion phase, which lands around month 9-14.
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