Nicholas P. Laurent joined Barron, Adler, Clough & Oddo, PLLC in 2015 and exclusively represents landowners in eminent domain, inverse condemnation, land use, and real property transactions and litigation. He has represented landowners in all phases of the condemnation process, including pre-suit negotiations, in special commissioner hearings, before state and federal trial courts, and on appeal before Texas intermediate appellate courts and the Supreme Court of Texas. His clients range from individual landowners to publicly traded Fortune 50 companies.

Mr. Laurent’s eminent domain practice covers all of Texas including El Paso, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, the Panhandle, and the Rio Grande Valley, in addition to Oklahoma, North Dakota, Virginia, Georgia, and Colorado. He has represented landowners in eminent domain matters pursued by the federal, state, county and city governments, regional mobility and toll road authorities, oil/gas pipeline companies, and utility providers. His broad experience covers a variety of real property takings that range from border wall takings to billboard leases.

In addition to handling statutory eminent domain matters, Mr. Laurent has litigated the breadth and scope of utility easements on behalf of landowners in injunction proceedings following upgrades and other projects and has pursued inverse condemnation claims on behalf of landowners as well as claims under the federal “Big” Tucker Act and the Texas Tort Claims Act. He also represents landowners in contested cases on power line routing before the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

Prior to joining Barron, Adler, Clough & Oddo, Mr. Laurent was a partner with McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore, LLP where he represented clients in state and federal appellate courts and presented oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans and the Texas Third Court of Appeals at Austin.

Mr. Laurent graduated with a B.B.A. in Finance from Southern Methodist University in 2005. He graduated with honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2008 where he served on the Energy Law Journal and was awarded the Order of the Curule Chair, the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Joe Rudd Scholarship, and the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation Scholarship.

Accolades & Experience

Mr. Laurent was selected as a top attorney in Super Lawyers in 2021 and 2023 and was named as one of the top eminent domain lawyers in Austin Monthly in 2022 and 2023. He is a member of the State Bars of Texas and North Dakota and has been admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Eighth Circuits, the Federal Court of Claims, and the U.S. District Courts for the Western, Eastern, Southern and Northern Districts of Texas. He has been appointed Vice-Chair of the Land Use and Environmental Group of the American Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law for the 2022-2023 term. He is also a member of the Real Estate Council of Austin and the Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.

Speaking Engagements & Publications

  • Co-Chair of the Texas Eminent Domain Conference, Where Progress and Property Rights Coverage and speaker, Cutting-Edge Eminent Domain Issues (Austin, April 2023)
  • Speaker, Utility Easements: A Look at New Acquisitions and Existing Easements, ALI Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation CLE (Austin, February 2023)
  • Quoted in “Austin property fight: Who owns $3M Tarrytown lot, and who owes its $670K in unpaid taxes?,” Austin American-Statesman news article (November 2022)
  • Speaker, Austin Bar Association Eminent Domain Section, Attorney/Client Issues in Multi-Party Representation (Austin, September 2022)
  • Panel Participant, How Condemnor and Property Owner Counsel Prepare for the Battlefield, ALI Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation CLE (Scottsdale, January 2022)
  • Moderator, Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid: Supreme Court Weighs in on the Definition of Private Property, American Bar Association’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Law CLE (December 2021)
  • Speaker, Eminent Domain in the Oilfield, Austin Bar Association Oil, Gas & Mineral Law Section (November 2021)
  • Speaker, Participating in the Condemnation Process, HalfMoon Education’s Texas Easements, Rights-of-Way, and Eminent Domain Seminar (Webinar, October 2021)
  • Quoted in “Levee system’s integrity questioned as crews begin fixing more prominent breaches in South Texas,” KRON news article (May 2021)
  • Speaker, Participating in the Condemnation Process, HalfMoon Education’s Easements, Rights-of-Way, and Eminent Domain Seminar (Webinar, December 2020)
  • Speaker, Participating in the Condemnation Process, HalfMoon Education’s Easements, Rights-of-Way, and Eminent Domain Seminar (Webinar, August 2020)
  • Co-Speaker, Cutting-Edge Issues in Utility Easement Acquisitions, 19th Annual Eminent Domain Superconference (Austin, April 2020)
  • Co-Author, The US-Mexico Border Wall: a Unique Project with Unique Real Estate Issues 33 Prob. & Prop. 36 (2019)
  • Speaker, Participating in the Condemnation Process, HalfMoon Education’s Easements, Rights-of-Way, and Eminent Domain Seminar (Austin, September 2019)
  • Quoted in “Legal experts: Emergency declaration may not be quickest way to build wall,” Texas Tribune article (March 2019)
  • Speaker, Special Presentation: Eminent Domain and the Border Wall, Political and Legal Perspectives, Eminent Domain and Condemnation Conference (Seattle, November 2019)
  • Speaker, Podcast Debate “The Texas Oil & Gas Podcast, Pipeline Eminent Domain and Landowner Rights,” iTunes | Spotify | Spreaker (March 2019)
  • Panelist, This Land is Whose Land? University of Texas Hispanic Journal 2019 Symposium (Austin, February 2019)