WYATT D. SWINFORD

Wyatt joined Elias Books as an associate in 2015. Wyatt’s practice focuses on a wide variety of litigation, appellate, and transactional work, including issues relating to ad valorem taxation, the oil and gas industry, and bankruptcy law.

ABOUT WYATT

Wyatt is licensed to practice law in Oklahoma and Arkansas. His focus is primarily on complex commercial litigation in both state and federal court. Wyatt is active the firm’s state and local tax appeal practice, largely involving property tax valuations of commercial property in the energy sector, including midstream assets and wind farms, along with interstate Commerce Clause issues. Wyatt also handles ad valorem cases covering a wide range of other commercial property, including telecommunications assets, apartment complexes, hotels, retail shops, and other real estate.

In the oil and gas industry, Wyatt has represented clients in midstream contract disputes, surface use clashes, class action royalty underpayment cases, industry regulation, and mineral title curative actions. Wyatt is also involved in the firm’s bankruptcy practice, including representing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee and in representing creditors in Chapter 11 liquidations.

Wyatt is active in state and local legal associations. Since 2018, Wyatt has served on the Board of Directors for the Young Lawyers Division of the Oklahoma City Bar Association, helping to organize events to raise funds for the Oklahoma Regional Food Bank. Wyatt has also been an associate with the Luther L. Bohanon Inn of Court. In 2019, Wyatt was selected to be a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Leadership Academy. Wyatt has been ranked as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers since 2018.

A native of Okemah, Oklahoma, Wyatt graduated from University of Oklahoma College of Law with his J.D. in 2015 and received a bachelor’s degree in Agribusiness from Oklahoma State University in 2011. While at Oklahoma State, Wyatt served as the school’s mascot, Pistol Pete. Between his undergraduate and law school studies, Wyatt worked for the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee in Washington, D.C.

EDUCATION

2015 – Juris Doctorate, University of Oklahoma College of Law
2011 – Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness, Oklahoma State University

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Luther Bohanon Inn of Court
Oklahoma County Bar Association
Oklahoma City Mineral Lawyers Society
Oklahoma City Association of Petroleum Landmen

PROFESSIONAL ADMISSIONS

2016 – U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
2017 – U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma
2015 – U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
2015 – U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
2015 – Oklahoma
2017 – Arkansas

PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS

Range War: Conflicts between Oil & Gas Operations and Wind Farms, 70 CAIL Annual Institute on Oil & Gas Law Ch. 4 (2019).
The Range War Between Wind Farms and Oil & Gas Operations, 70th Annual Institute on Oil and Gas Law, Center for American and International Law, February 2019.
Hatfields and McCoys? The Range War Between Oil & Gas Operations and Wind Farms, Oklahoma City Mineral Lawyers Society, September 2017 Meeting.
Lessons Learned: Avoiding the Hardships of a Tribal Mineral Leasing Past in Developing Tribal Wind Energy Leasing in Oklahoma, 40 Am. Indian L. Rev. 99 (2016).

NOTABLE CASES

BCE-Mach LLC v. Roach, 2022 OK CIV APP 5, __ P.3d ___

Missouri Gas Energy v. Grant County Assessor, 2021 OK CIV APP 30, ___ P.3d ___

DeSoto Gathering Company, LLC v. Hill, 541 S.W.3d 415 (Ark. S. Ct. 2018)