Joe Jamail’s Legal Life is Centerpiece of Lunch Panel at South Texas Law Review Symposium
Southeast Texas RecordSoutheast Texas Record
Practice Group Chair - Energy Litigation (Firmwide) Partner
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"Flexible, creative, willing to get into the sausage making. The brand of Baker Botts in my mind means “true partner, part of the team”. An extremely hard-working group of brilliant lawyers.”
The Legal 500 U.S. 2022
Bill Kroger is a leading energy litigation lawyer in the United States, and one of only a few lawyers who Chambers USA has ranked “Band 1 for Oil and Gas Litigation - Nationwide” (2020-2023). The Legal 500 U.S. likewise ranks Bill as “Hall of Fame for Energy Litigation.
He also regularly handles major real estate and other complex commercial litigation throughout Texas and other states. Over his career, Bill's clients have included Hines Interests Limited Partnership, EOG Resources, Engie North America, Murphy Oil, NRG Energy, EDP Renewables, Brookfield Renewables, CenterPoint Energy, Hecate Energy, Avangrid, Ford Motor Company, Galp Energia, BASF, Shell Oil, Kinder Morgan, Naturgy Energy Group, BHP Petroleum, Courson Oil and Gas, Vega Energy, Matador Resources, Enable Energy, Carlyle Group, Freeport Power, Pine Gate Renewables, The Texas Oil and Gas Association, EQT, Dominion Resources, Lovett Industrial and Lovett Commercial, and Texas legend Earl Campbell.
“Bill's “knowledge and guidance is top-notch.” “His courtroom and procedural awareness at trial is his greatest strength. He really knows what he's doing and he's very good at working with clients.”"
Chambers USA 2021
Bill has chaired the firm's Energy Litigation group since 2008, and is Co-Chair of the firm’s Energy Pillar. The Texas Lawyer selected the firm's Energy Litigation Group as the “Energy Litigation Department of the Year” in both 2016 and 2017. In 2020-2023, Chambers ranked the Baker Botts Energy Litigation group as the only practice group "Band 1" Nationally for Energy Litigation: Oil and Gas. The Legal 500 U.S. ranked the group as "Tier 1" in Oil & Gas Litigation for every year from 2010 to 2023, and Tier 2 for Energy Litigation: Electric Power.
During his career, Bill has represented energy clients in many of the most significant power, renewable, oil and gas, and other energy disputes of the past 30 years. Many of these matters involve the development of new energy projects and technologies. They include:
"His greatest strength is having good practical knowledge of what is and is not important, and know how to prepare his clients for each step of the litigation process."
Chambers USA 2020
"Bill leads the team and has substantial experience in big-ticket oil and gas disputes."
The Legal 500 U.S. 2020
Bill has represented clients in state and federal courts and in arbitrations throughout the United States. He has also appeared before numerous state and federal energy regulatory agencies.
Bill is also one of the leaders of the Houston legal community. He was elected as President of the Houston Bar Association for the 2020-21 bar year, which coincides with the 150th Anniversary of the HBA and the Covid year. He has chaired or led Houston Volunteer Lawyers, the Dispute Resolution Committee, Houston Lawyers Referral Services, and the Houston Bar Foundation, among other organizations. He has also served as a director of the State Bar of Texas for two different terms,and served on the Executive Committee of the State Bar of Texas during the 2023-2024 year.
"He is a fantastic lawyer and a good, big-picture thinker."
Chambers USA 2022
In 2021, the Houston Bar Foundation awarded Bill the James B. Sales Pro Bono Award, for a lifetime of pro bono leadership. It is the highest award given by HBF. In 2022, the HBF asked Bill to be its Keynote Speaker for the HBF's 150th anniversary luncheon. In 2020, the Anti-Defamation League awarded Bill its Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award for his dedication to the legal profession, legal history, and service to the Houston community. In 2017, Bill was elected by his peers to the American Law Institute. In 2015, Bill received the Leon Jaworski Award from the Houston Bar Association Auxiliary for a lifetime of public service.
"Bill Kroger is one of the most impressive legal minds in the oil business"
Chambers USA 2022
"His strategy for cases has always been first-rate and puts us in the strongest position to win."
"He is a creative thinker and a great litigator who knows the industry very well."
Chambers USA 2023
Bill is a graduate of both the McCombs School of Business and the School of Law at the University of Texas. In 2021, the Dean of the University of Houston Law Center named Bill an "Honorary Alumnus." In 2022, the Dean of the South Texas College of Law named Bill to its Board of Visitors in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the law school. In 2024, as part of its 100th Anniversary Celebration, South Texas College of Law asked Bill to interview its alumnus, Dan Rather of CBS, about his time at the school in the 1950s.
Bill also serves as General Counsel of the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, and on the Board of Directors of Communities in Schools Houston as Vice-Chair. Bill also served on the Board of the Alley Theatre from 2015 to 2023.
In 2010, the Texas Supreme Court appointed Bill to chair the Texas Supreme Court Historical Court Records Task Force. Bill’s work led to the preservation of thousands of historical court records across Texas, including records pertaining to Juan Cortina, Santanta, John Wesley Hardin, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Lyndon Johnson, Lead Belly, the KKK, Civil Rights, the Balinese Ballroom, and the boxer Jack Johnson. Bill’s work was featured in Texas Monthly and the Texas Bar Journal in 2012.
Since 2008, Bill has served as Historian of Baker Botts, and created the Firm’s “Founders Room” in 2015.
Also in 2015, Bill worked with Houston Grand Opera on a new opera about Emeline, a illegally enslaved African American who was kidnapped and sold on the Houston slavery market in 1848. She was represented by Peter W. Gray, one of the founders of Baker Botts, and working together they secured her freedom. The story of Emeline, the opera, and Bill’s work on it are featured in a 2016 story in Texas Monthly.
Starting in 2017, Bill represented the daughter and estate of Mack McCormick, one of the greatest Texas folklorists, who passed away in 2015, leaving behind an archive comprising thousands of photos, documents, and tapes concerning Texas blues and folk music and the blues musician Robert Johnson. Bill and Roger Fulghum of the firm represented the Estate pro bono for seven years. As a result of their efforts, the McCormick archive now resides at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Smithsonian Books published McCormick’s book on Robert Johnson, and Folkways Records released an anthology of more than 70 unreleased songs, which was nominated for two Grammys.
In 2023, Bill was nominated by the Bishop of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and elected by Conference delegates, to serve as Chancellor and provide legal advice to the Bishop and the Conference starting in 2023. The Conference covers 304 congregations and a region encompassing Galveston, Houston, Beaumont, Texarkana, Longview, Tyler and towns in between. Bill’s work as Chancellor is ongoing.
DEEP REAL ESTATE AND OTHER COMPLEX COMMERCIAL LITIGATION EXPERIENCE:
Complex Commercial Litigation
BROAD RANGE OF POWER, OIL AND GAS, AND OTHER ENERGY LITIGATION MATTERS:
Electric, Gas and Other Utilities
Renewable Energy
Oil and Gas Upstream/Operators and Working Interests
Pipeline and Other Energy Transportation
Oil and Gas Downstream
Oilfield Service
Off-Shore Oil and Gas
Energy Trading
LNG
Representative Reported Cases
Recipient, HBF James B. Sales Pro Bono Leadership Award, 2022
President, Houston Bar Association, 2020-2021
Recipient, ADL Karen Susman Jurisprudence Award, 2020
Recipient, Leon Jaworski Award, presented by the Houston Bar Association Auxiliary, 2015
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, 2022-2024 (in areas of Energy Regulatory Law and Oil and Gas Law)
Recognized in Chambers USA, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, Rated "Top Ranked" and "Band 1" Nationally for Oil and Gas Litigation, 2020-2023
Recognized by Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters) as "Top Attorneys in Business Litigation,” 2008-2011; "Top Rated Energy and Natural Resources Attorney" in Houston, Texas, 2006-2012, 2016-2021, 2023; Selected as "Rising Star," 2004
Recognized as "Hall of Fame" by The Legal 500 U.S., 2023
Recognized as a "Leading Lawyer," Nationally, by The Legal 500 U.S., 2020, 2021 & 2022
Benchmark Litigation, Litigation Star for Texas, United States in Commercial Litigation, 2023
Lawdragon, 500 Leading U.S. Energy Lawyers, 2023, 2024
Recognized as "Best in Houston" by Houston Business Journal's Who's Who in Energy, 2013
Recognized as a "Trailblazer" for Energy/Environmental Litigation by The National Law Journal, 2015
Recipient, President's Award, presented by Houston Young Lawyers Association, 2012
Co-Chair, Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies Annual Summit, 2019
Member, Texas State Library and Archives Commission Local Government Records Storage Task Force, 2012
Advisory Council, Houston History Alliance, 2015-2019
Recipient, Judge Thomas Gibbs Gee Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service, 2009
Baker Botts Pro Bono Champion 2018-2023
Recipient, Baker Botts Pro Bono Champion, 2018-2013 (6 consecutive years)
54th Annual Five Outstanding Young Texans Award, August 2003, presented by the Texas Jaycees
Five Outstanding Young Houstonians Awards, May 2003, presented by the Houston Junior Chamber of Commerce
Woodrow B. Seals Outstanding Young Lawyer of Houston Award, May 2000, presented by the Houston Young Lawyers Association
Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas Award, 1999 to 2000, presented by the Texas Young Lawyers Association
Elected Chancellor for the United Methodist Church, Texas Annual Conference 2023-present
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Texas Bar Journal
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The Texas Bar Journal - June 2023
The Texas Lawbook
Texas Bar Journal April 2023 Page-234
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Baker Botts Partner Bill Kroger, Houston Bar Association President, Featured in The Houston Lawyer
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Baker Botts Achieves 80% Increase in Lawyer Recognitions in Legal 500 US 2020
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State Bar of Texas Blog
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Energy Litigation Update
Energy Litigation Update
Energy Litigation Update
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CARI & IAPG Houston
Energy Litigation Update
Baker Botts will be hosting a webinar on the legal issues surrounding the recent sharp price fall in crude oil and will be joined by Mark Finley from Rice University's Baker Institute.