John Strasburger is a Litigation partner and managing partner of the Houston office, and a member of the Firm's Complex Commercial Litigation, Product Liability and Bankruptcy Litigation practices. He has broad experience representing corporations with litigation needs in many substantive areas and has handled every aspect of such cases, including serving as lead counsel in jury and bench trials, arbitrations, and overseeing complex discovery. He has represented corporations in highly visible disputes, often involving crisis situations, in state and federal courts across the nation, and has earned a reputation as a creative and aggressive advocate.
Mr. Strasburger currently serves as lead counsel for Citigroup in a Texas state court dispute about a title insurance policy covering a resort development in Mexico on land that was expropriated by the Mexican government, and for defendants in a minority shareholder oppression suit in Texas state court involving the development and investment structure of an electricity generating plant in El Salvador. He is defending Verizon in a federal lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims damages in excess of $9 billion under fraudulent transfer theories related to Verizon's spinoff of its former directories business, and also represents Lehman Brothers in claims asserted by Lehman's largest financial institution counterparties, which collectively represent billions of dollars in complex financial trades which terminated as a result of Lehman's financial collapse.
Mr. Strasburger has devoted significant professional time to the representation of energy companies in crisis, including Tulsa-based SemGroup in various litigations surrounding its chapter 11 bankruptcy. He also represented Enron Corp. and its related subsidiaries in a variety of high-profile litigations resulting from its collapse and complex bankruptcy. This work included representing the Enron debtors as plaintiffs in suits seeking to recover several billion dollars owed under broken agreements related to physical and financial commodity trading contracts. Many of the issues in these complex cases were novel and had far-reaching implications in the energy and commodity trading sectors. He successfully defended Enron Canada against another energy company attempting to improperly obtain over $78 million under a master netting agreement. While defending Enron in the massive securities and ERISA cases, Mr. Strasburger coordinated one of the largest document production efforts in history and fought to maintain the confidentiality of commercially sensitive documents in the face of not only aggressive adversaries, but also a relentless media. He currently represents Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. in a lawsuit against the Enron ERISA Settlement Fund Administrator that botched the court approved settlement.
Mr. Strasburger also has significant experience representing automotive manufacturers in product liability actions, including representing a Canadian multi-national corporation that supplies component parts and systems to motor vehicle manufacturers in class action and individual plaintiff product liability cases in several states. He served as part of a team coordinating the national defense of General Motors Corporation in defective seat litigation in over twenty states, and prevailed in jury trials despite unfavorable stories regarding GM's seat design which appeared on "60 Minutes" and other news shows. Mr. Strasburger's GM experience also includes defending against defect allegations involving seat belts, airbags, handling and stability, and fire cases. Currently, he is counseling the manufacturer of a production electric vehicle in product liability matters.
Mr. Strasburger is Co-Chair of the Firm's award winning and internationally recognized Global Pro Bono Committee. Besides managing partner, he is also the administrative partner overseeing the Houston office's litigation department, and plays many key administrative roles in Weil's National Litigation practice, including teaching trial advocacy skills to Weil associates. He is active in several local, state and national bar associations.
Mr. Strasburger received a BA from Tulane University and earned his JD from the University of Texas School of Law.