By 
Some trial lawyers spend their careers on one side of the courtroom. Todd Mensing doesn’t.
He’s a named partner at AZA Law in Houston, and his recent results include a $41.8 million plaintiff’s verdict in a subsurface trespass trial and a defense win that reduced a $200 million breach of contract claim to $1. One was a jury trial; the other a bench trial. One lasted two weeks; the other four days.
Plaintiff Side: $41.8 Million
Mensing led the trial team for SilverBow Resources in a subsurface trespass case against ETC Field Services, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer. The two-week jury trial in McMullen County’s 343rd District Court produced a unanimous $41.8 million verdict in February 2023.
The case required proof that hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide from Energy Transfer’s disposal well had migrated, or risked migrating, into SilverBow’s mineral leases. The migration, real or threatened, disrupted operations and forced costly changes. Both sides assembled over a dozen expert witnesses.
“It is terrific to see the right thing happen. The jury afforded our clients the relief they deserve and forced Energy Transfer to take responsibility,” Mensing said.
The National Law Journal placed the award among the Top 100 Verdicts nationally for 2023. SilverBow’s assistant general counsel, Jennifer Cadena, called AZA’s performance “excellent.”
Defense Side: $200 Million Claim Reduced to $1
Three years later, Mensing was on the other side. He led AZA’s defense of a pipeline operator against a major natural gas producer’s $200 million breach of contract claim in the new Texas Business Court.
The bench trial in January 2026 turned on contract language. Judge Patrick K. Sweeten ruled on April 2 that the rate-matching clause the plaintiff relied on only triggered upon actual delivery and billing, not upon the signing of a new contract. The plaintiff received $1.
Credentials and Track Record
Mensing is board-certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a designation that requires a written examination, peer references, and documented extensive jury trial experience as lead counsel. He was elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates in 2014.Chambers USA clients have described him as “unequalled” among commercial litigators.
AZA Law, formally Ahmad, Zavitsanos and Mensing, has tried more than 500 cases since its 1993 founding.
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