Reagan W. Simpson
Yetter Coleman LLP
After clerking on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for the late Thomas Gibbs Gee, Reagan joined the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright), where he became a partner in the litigation section. After 24 years with that firm, Reagan became a partner with King & Spalding in Houston and later opened its Austin office. In 2011, Reagan joined Yetter Coleman to lead the firm’s appellate practice, returning to Houston several years later.
Throughout his career, Reagan has represented members of the energy industry in a variety of settings. He handled many personal injury suits arising out of exploration and drilling activities. Almost 10 years of his career was spent in defending and trying mass tort cases arising out of a 1983 acid leak at the Marathon Refinery in Galveston and the 1989 explosion in the polyethylene plant of the Houston Chemical Complex of Phillips 66. He successfully reversed on appeal a $120 million judgment arising out of an explosion at the Coastal Refining and Marketing facility in Corpus Christi and a $40 million award of exemplary damages arising out of another refinery explosion at a facility then operated by Diamond Shamrock.
Reagan also provided many years of appellate assistance in trials and handled appeals for ExxonMobil on its asbestos docket, winning two take-nothing judgments on appeal. In contract disputes, Reagan has litigated indemnity and insurance issues for the energy industry, culminating in his serving as the lead appellate lawyer for Transocean in the certified question from the Fifth Circuit to the Texas Supreme Court, In re Deepwater Horizon, that resulted in a decision that ruled against BP’s attempt to obtain coverage under Transocean’s $750 million in coverage.
Reagan was honored with the 2020 Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award by the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and selected by the Texas Bar Foundation for the 2020 Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award in recognition of his commitment to excellence, mentorship, and professionalism. The awards, along with many years of recognition by Chambers and Partners, Best Lawyers in America, and Texas Super Lawyers, reflect his standing as one of the State’s and nation’s premier appellate practitioners.
