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The Art of Law

“The art in the law
is the ability to aggressively and creatively represent your client without sacrificing the integrity and ethics at the core of your credibility. Anybody with a Bar Card can represent a client. The Art of Law is seeing the creative, ethical, and credible way to represent each client every day.”

Carrington ColemanLobby

Todd A. Murray
Partner

Securities and Director and Officer Litigation, Corporate Governance, Business Litigation, Oil and Gas Litigation

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Phone: 214-855-3107
Direct Fax: 214-758-3746
Email: tmurray@ccsb.com
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Mr. Murray has experience in a wide range of complex business litigation, with a focus on director and officer defense, oil and gas, and technology-related matters.  He has argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, served as lead and secondary trial counsel in numerous cases, and otherwise represented clients in all aspects of complex business litigation in federal, state, and county courts.  He has defended securities fraud class action suits against issuers, officers, directors, and accounting firms, and he is on the list of Panel Counsels of Chartis for the State of Texas. He also has litigated shareholder derivative actions representing the special litigation committee, the dissident shareholder, the target company, and the alleged interested directors.  He has defended accounting malpractice claims against Big 4 accounting firms.  And he has represented corporate officers and other individuals in SEC and Self Regulatory Organization investigations and enforcement actions, and in Department of Justice investigations.   

Examples of his work include:

  • The successful defense in securities and fiduciary duty litigation of the CEO of one of the world’s leading industrial providers of fluid motion and control products;
  • The successful defense of securities and fiduciary duty litigation filed against the former CFO of one of the nation’s largest on-shore oilfield services companies;
  • A judgment for defendants after a bench trial concerning the ownership of oil and gas prospects among multiple independent oil and gas exploration companies;
  • The successful defense of the directors of a Houston-based offshore oilfield service company in shareholder litigation;
  • The successful defense of a multi-million dollar lawsuit brought against an independent oil and gas exploration and production company;
  • A summary judgment in favor of one of the world’s leading owners and operators of communications satellites;
  • A judgment of acquittal after a 4 week trial representing a defendant in a criminal trademark counterfeiting case; 
  • A successful bench trial in defense of a multi-million dollar action filed by a customer against a large insurance company; and
  • A plaintiff’s jury verdict in a product diversion test case brought on behalf of a major cosmetics company.

In 2004 and 2006, Mr. Murray was chosen as one of the “Best Lawyers Under 40 in Dallas” by D Magazine.  From 2006 through 2009, he was named by Texas Monthly magazine as a “Super Lawyer.”  Todd has presented CLE/CPE seminars on various aspects of D&O Insurance, Sarbanes-Oxley, securities fraud, and fiduciary duty liability.

“What is unique about Carrington Coleman is that it represents sophisticated businesses and individuals in high-profile, complex lawsuits where one would not expect to see a firm of our size.” 

Education

University of Texas
J.D., cum laude, 1995
Mock Trial, Texas Law Review,
Achievement Award-Contracts

Texas A&M University
B.S., cum laude, 1989
President's Endowed Scholar,
Lichener Fellowship, National
Merit Scholar

Judicial Internship

Honorable Thomas R. Phillips, Supreme Court of Texas

Admittances

Texas 1995

U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth and Fifth Circuits

U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas

U.S. District Court, District of Colorado

Associations/Affiliations

Professionalism Committee, State Bar of Texas.

Co-Chair: Class Actions Subcommittee, ABA's Section of Litigation Securities Litigation Committee.

Council: Antitrust and Business Litigation Section, State Bar of Texas.

2008 Chair: Securities Section, Dallas Bar Association.

Vice President, Federal Bar Association, Dallas Chapter.

Advisory Board, National Association of Corporate Directors, Dallas Chapter.

2003-06 Barrister: Patrick E. Higginbotham American Inn of Court.

Member: Section of Litigation, American Bar Association; Antitrust and Business Litigation Section, Texas Bar Association; Dallas Bar Association.

Speeches/Publications

2009 Update of Delaware Fiduciary Duty Law, Texas Business Litigation Journal, Spring 2010.

2007 Update of Delaware Fiduciary Duty Law, Texas Business Litigation Journal, Spring 2008.

Todd A. Murray & Lyndon F. Bittle, Emerging Issues Raised by Derivative Shareholder Actions Involving Foreign Corporations Headquartered in Texas:  Making Sense of the Interaction Between Texas Procedures and Substantive Law, 39 TEX. TECH. L. REV. 1, 2006.

2005 Update on Delaware Fiduciary Duty Law, Texas Business Litigation, Winter 2006.

2004 Update on Delaware Fiduciary Duty Law, Texas Business Litigation, Winter 2005.

Coping With the New Role of Whistleblower Complaints in Corporate Governance, Texas Business Litigation, Fall 2003.

Investigating Whistleblower Complaints and Other Financial Problems Under Sarbanes-Oxley, ABA Section of Litigation, Securities News, Vol. 13,  No. 1, Spring 2003.