Overview
Claudia Wilson Frost is a nationally recognized trial and appellate lawyer. She represents energy, technology, and finance companies in complex commercial and patent litigation. Given that many of her clients are headquartered overseas and operate globally, she is particularly skilled at resolving cross-border disputes. She has led trial teams in well over 100 cases, trying to conclusion 40 cases as lead or co-lead counsel and arguing 40 appellate cases in courts throughout the country.
On behalf of clients in the telecommunications, semiconductor, energy, and financial services industries, Claudia has extensive experience resolving intellectual property matters. In addition to the 50-plus patent infringement cases she has handled, Claudia also has significant experience with theft of trade secret and breach of confidentiality matters, as well as pirated software cases involving the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Her work for financial services firms has included patent infringement actions involving encryption technology, Check 21 implementations, and other software and internet applications in the fintech space, including payment apps. She has also helped her financial services clients resolve securities law claims, lender liability actions, and ERISA issues.
Claudia has worked on many landmark energy cases, representing companies in the oil and gas industry in particular. Matters have involved lease issues such as breach of pooling clause provisions and implied covenants to develop, protect from drainage, and market gas or oil, as well as continued viability. She has also resolved disputes pertaining to ownership of and title to minerals, trespass claims, area of mutual interest provisions (AMIs) and preferential rights, operator status and enforcement of joint operating agreement rights and obligations, refinery and oil field accidents and plant equipment failures, and alleged groundwater pollution from underground storage and disposal as well as from pipelines. She has also handled antitrust investigations and class actions involving pricing of crude oil royalties, qui tam actions, and both trade secrets and mass tort litigation.
Leading legal publications and media outlets have recognized Claudia’s contribution to the legal industry. Chambers USA notes, “Clients admired [this] ‘highly responsive and fabulous strategist’ for her powers of ‘brilliant analysis.’ She has a trial background and a depth of appellate experience.” The Legal 500 has called her “one of the best-known names in the field.” Claudia was featured in 2016 as a “Trial Pro” by Law360, and she has been recognized in Euromoney’s “Guide to Leading US Litigators,” “Guide to Leading World Litigators,” and “Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law.” She has been honored by Super Lawyers, Texas for over a decade and is ranked in their list of Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas and Top 100 Lawyers in Houston. She was also named one of Law360’s “20 Most Influential Woman in IP Law,” has been included as an IP STARS, and has been listed in IAM Patent 1000 for many years. Finally, in 2018, Best Lawyers recognized Claudia as a “2018 Houston Litigation ERISA Lawyer of the Year,” an honor bestowed on only one lawyer in each community per year.
- Texas
- US Supreme Court
- US Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
- US Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- US District Court, Eastern District of Texas
- US District Court, Northern District of Texas
- US District Court, Southern District of Texas
- US District Court, Western District of Texas
- J.D., University of Houston Law Center, magna cum laude
- B.A., University of Texas
Areas of Work
Representative Matters
- Lead counsel in patent infringement cases in the upstream and downstream segments of the energy sector, including competitor cases and cross border litigation involving numerous jurisdictions.
- Lead counsel in patent infringement cases in the telecommunications and wireless technology sector, including dozens of cases for network providers, semiconductor manufacturers, device designers and implementers.
- Lead counsel in patent infringement cases in the financial services sector, including cases involving fintech such as portfolio balancing, remote wallets and payments, encryption, and Check21 technology.
- Lead counsel in trade secrets and breach of confidentiality and non-compete/non-solicitation cases in energy and medical device industries.
- Lead counsel in copyright cases, including pirated software under the DMCA, process management software, and architectural copyright.
- Lead counsel in dozens of oil and gas cases in the upstream and downstream segments, including ownership disputes, royalty disputes, alleged breaches of implied covenants, subsurface trespass issues, preferential rights and AMI disputes, and antitrust and qui tam cases.
- Lead counsel for power generators in disputes over renewable energy projects ranging from disputes with landowners to claims arising from power interruptions during significant weather events.
- Lead counsel in numerous financial industry disputes, including complex lender liability cases, RICO cases, securities and commodities cases, and breach of fiduciary duty cases.
- Lead counsel in numerous ERISA class actions and individual cases in various industries, arising from activities including pension plan spin offs, and involving claims for breaches of fiduciary duty, mismanagement, misrepresentation, and statutory violations.
- Argued landmark cases on appeal in state and federal courts involving issues including punitive damages, automotive products liability, subsurface trespass and groundwater issues, ERISA preemption, oil and gas implied covenants, patent infringement, and authority of the ITC to exclude downstream products of non-parties under Section 337 of the Tariff Act (argued for certain network providers and handset manufacturer, Kyocera Wireless Corp. v. U.S. Int’l Trade Comm’n).
Speaking Engagements
- "'The Best Thing I Ever Learned from a Mentor (or Mentee)': Town Hall on Cultivating and Empowering the Next Generation of Women Leaders in IP Law," ACI Annual Forum for Women Leaders in IP Law, June 26, 2024
News & Publications
Press Releases
February 5, 2024
Events
Webinars
What Are "Reasonable Efforts or Measures" Under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act?
June 12, 2024
Speakers: Claudia Wilson Frost, Paul Stancil
Seminars & Events
Disputes, Investigations & Regulatory Enforcement Seminar
April 17, 2024 - April 18, 2024
Speakers: Andrew C. Adams, Shaun Boedicker, Karen Bruni, Claudia Wilson Frost, Samantha Jarvis, N. Hunter Johnston, John Kinchen, Karima Maloney, Daniel A. Mullen, Crystal Robles, Craig Smyser, Jacquelyn Rex Tobin, Larry Veselka, Eugene Zilberman, Jarod Stewart
Noteworthy
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Lawdragon 500, Leading Energy Lawyers (2025)
- Managing Intellectual Property, "Top 250 Women in IP" (2013, 2014, 2016-2019)
- Benchmark Litigation, Local Litigation Star: Appellate, ERISA and IP in Texas and the National (2020)
- Best Lawyers in America, Appellate Practice; and Litigation – Antitrust, Banking and Finance, ERISA, Intellectual Property, and Securities (2025)
- Best Lawyers, "2018 Houston Litigation ERISA Lawyer of the Year" (2018)
- Law360, 20 Most Influential Women in IP Law (2014)
- IAM, World's Leading Patent Professionals (2014-2015)
- Law360, Trial Pro (2016)
Professional Affiliations
- American Board of Trial Advocates
- American Academy of Appellate Lawyers
- Dual Board Certified in Civil Trial and Civil Appellate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization
- Global Series Committee, Vice-Chair, Federal Circuit Bar Association
- Fellow, ABA Foundation
- Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation
- Fellow, Houston Bar Foundation
- Founder and Former Member, Executive Committee of the Center for Women in Law, University of Texas Law School
- Founding Member and Master of the Bench (Emeritus), Atlas IP Inn of Court in Houston
- Director and Past President, Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists