Trent A. Gudgel

Mr. Gudgel is a shareholder of Hall Estill where he concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial and tort litigation. Trent has over 20 years of trial and appellate experience helping clients with their commercial, financial, real estate, and construction disputes.  Trent helps his clients resolve the myriad issues that arise in complex commercial litigation. He frequently works with individuals, corporations, financial institutions, contractors, architects, engineers, landlords, tenants and land owners to develop and execute comprehensive dispute resolution strategies. He has an individual AV rating through Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in Best Lawyers in America in Litigation-Construction.

Mr. Gudgel has successfully tried numerous cases to verdict in Oklahoma and Texas federal and state courts.  He has successfully argued appeals before federal and state appellate courts and he has successfully tried cases in arbitration. Highlights of Mr. Gudgel’s legal career include:

• Won a $12.4 million arbitration award for turnkey subcontractor in a power plant construction case
• Won a $6.3 million jury verdict for design/build firm in a meat processing plant design and construction case
• Won a $1.6 million jury verdict for bank against  borrowers and guarantors in commercial loan lender fraud and bad faith case
• Successfully defended Fortune 500 financial institutions in numerous commercial and tort cases 
• Successfully represented numerous companies and individuals in business, real estate and tort matters in various jurisdictions

• Marketing Partner

• Shareholder

• Banking/Financial Services
• Civil Rights
• Class Action Defense
• Complex Commercial Litigation
• Construction
• Electronic Discovery
• Insurance
• Litigation
• Real Estate

• "Inside the Minds: Construction Law Client Strategies - Building Successful Client Relationships"

• University of Oklahoma College of Law (J.D., 1990)
• University of Oklahoma (M.B.A., 1990)
• University of Oklahoma (B.B.A. in Finance, 1986)

• 2006 - Present Hall Estill
• 1995-2006 Nichols, Wolfe, Stamper, Nally, Fallis & Robertson
• 1990-1995 McCauley, Macdonald, Love & Devin

• Texas, 1990
• Oklahoma, 1996
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Tenth Circuits
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of Oklahoma
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Northern, Western and Southern Districts of Texas

• Board of Directors, Family & Children's Services
• Meals on Wheels Volunteer
• Influencers ministry "The Journey" Guide 
• Sunday School Class Leader
• OU Club of Tulsa, former Scholarship Committee Chairman

• American Bar Association
• Oklahoma Bar Association
• Tulsa County Bar Association
• State Bar of Texas
• Defense Research Institute
• American Inns of Court, Master - Council Oak/Johnson-Sontag Chapter

• Co-Author, "Insurance Coverage Issues in Construction Law," presented at Oklahoma Bar Association seminar entitled "Legal Issues in Construction Law," Tulsa, 2010
• Co-Author, "Oklahoma Mechanics' and Materialmen's Lien Law," presented at Lorman Education Services seminar, Tulsa, 1999
• Co-Author, "Oklahoma Construction Law," presented at Professional Education Systems seminar, Oklahoma City, 1998

• Cust-O-Fab Serv. Co., LLC v. Admiral Ins. Co., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52435 (N.D. Okla. July 18, 2007)
• M.J. Lee Constr. Co. v. Okla. Transp. Auth., 2005 OK 87, 125 P.3d 1205
• Benchmark Bank v. Crowder, 919 S.W.2d 657 (Tex. 1996)
• Boswell v. Farm & Home Sav. Ass'n, 894 S.W.2d 761 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 1994)
• Freytag v. American Fed. Bank, F.S.B., 155 B.R. 150 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. 1993)