Crain Caton & James provides legal counseling and client-focused solutions locally and around the world. Our attorneys are recognized for their contributions to the legal community, their practical expertise, and their legal scholarship by contributing to standard legal texts and presenting papers and speeches to lay and legal audiences. No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All other categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

Leading Today

In addition to the traditional areas of oil, gas, and real-estate law, Crain Caton & James provides legal services in several other areas. Those areas include: administrative, appellate, banking and financial services, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, business planning and taxation, commercial litigation, employment and labor law, energy, environmental, estate planning, fiduciary litigation, insurance and personal injury, intellectual property, international business transactions, probate, trust and guardianship, real estate, and securities.

Crain Caton & James is a Houston based law firm that not only represents clients in Houston and all over the state of Texas but also represents clients across the U.S. and its borders.  Depending on the practice area, some areas have more clients outside of Houston and Texas than other areas.  At the end of the day we are able to represent clients either locally or from abroad.

The firm’s attorneys are graduates of prestigious law schools and universities. Over 10 attorneys affiliated with the firm are jurists on both the federal and state benches. Four members of the firm have served as president of the Houston Bar Association.

Founded in 1912

Founded in 1912 as Kennerly & Warnken, Crain Caton & James has grown into a stable law firm of over 40 lawyers and their highly-qualified support staff without a merger.

Thomas M. Kennerly and Charles A. Warnken established the Houston firm Kennerly & Warnken in 1912. Initially named for its founders, the Firm name changed over the years to include new shareholders. In 1985, the Firm institutionalized the name of Crain Caton & James.

Thomas M. Kennerly received no formal legal education, but taught himself the law by reading numerous law books. He apprenticed for a judge in Giddings, Texas before passing the Texas state bar exam at 19. In 1931, he was appointed United States District Judge, affecting Texas jurisprudence for generations to come.

The Houston Oil Company kept attorneys busy with land law in the East Texas oil fields in the early years of the Firm. During the early 1900s, the Houston Oil Company owned or controlled about 800,000 acres of timberland in East Texas and Louisiana. As a result, the Firm played a key role in shaping the modern-day interpretation of real estate and energy law in Texas.

Although the Firm eventually branched into other areas of law, these early years began a strong tradition of oil, gas, and real estate law that continues at Crain Caton & James today.

Firm Culture

Crain Caton & James understands the importance of Firm Culture and the need to have a collegial and collaborative environment.  After all its employees spend a considerable amount of time at the office and finding a way to make is somewhat enjoyable just makes sense.  Longevity of both staff and attorneys can be found at Crain Caton & James.  Over 55% of the staff have been at the firm for more than 10 years which goes a long way in supporting the importance of culture by management.  Attorneys also tend to remain at Crain Caton & James once they get here.

Corporate Transparency Act Notice

Since January 1, 2024, a new federal law – the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) went into effect. The CTA requires any limited liability company, corporation, limited partnership, certain trusts and other entities which qualifies as a “reporting company” to report the names and other personal information of its “beneficial owners” and, for any newly formed entity, its “company applicants” to the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) pursuant to a beneficial ownership information report (“BOI Report”). These reporting requirements may pertain to your entity(ies), even if established simply for tax or estate planning purposes.

FinCEN has been accepting initial BOI reports electronically since January 1, 2024. Reporting companies created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, are required to file their BOI reports with FinCEN within 90 calendar days of receiving actual or public notice from the secretary of state or similar office that the company has been created or registered. After January 1, 2025, the time to report to FinCen is reduced to 30 calendar days of actual or public notice that the company has been created or registered.

All reporting companies created or registered before January 1, 2024, are required to report to FinCEN by January 1, 2025.

If at any time a reporting company discovers an inaccuracy in a previously filed report, or if there is a change to previously reported information, the reporting company must file an updated or corrected report with FinCEN within 30 calendar days.

We recommend you review FinCEN’s CTA Small Business Compliance Guide and Fact Sheet for more information. Additional information concerning the BOI reporting requirements is available on FinCEN’s BOI Reporting webpage.

Crain, Caton & James is happy to assist existing and new clients with a determination of whether your entity(ies) must report as well as the details of any BOI reports. We cannot, however, independently prepare or file any BOI reports on a client’s behalf unless specifically engaged to do so.

It is important to note that failure to comply with the CTA can result in significant penalties, including substantial fines and potential criminal charges.

Download a Copy of This Notice

Crain Caton & James Website Privacy Policy

This privacy policy (“policy”) will help you understand how Crain Caton & James (“us”, “we”, “our”) uses and protects the data you provide to us when you visit and use our website.

We reserve the right to update this policy from time to time. If you want to make sure that you are up to date with the latest changes, we advise you to frequently visit this page.

What User Data We Collect

When you visit the website, we may collect the following data:

• Your IP address.
• Your contact information and email address.
• Other information such as interests and preferences.
• Data profile regarding your online behavior on our site.

Why We Collect Your Data

We may collect your data for several reasons:

• To better understand your needs.
• To improve our services and products.

Safeguarding and Securing the Data

Crain Caton & James is committed to securing your data and keeping it confidential. Crain Caton & James has done all in its power to prevent data theft, unauthorized access, and disclosure by implementing the latest technologies and software, which help us safeguard all the information we collect online.

Our Cookie Policy

Once you agree to allow our blog to use cookies, you also agree to use the data it collects regarding your online behavior (analyze web traffic, web pages you visit and spend the most time on).

Please note that cookies don’t allow us to gain control of your computer in any way. They are strictly used to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not so that we can provide a better experience for you.

If you want to disable cookies, you can do it by accessing the settings of your internet browser. You can visit https://www.internetcookies.com, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers and devices.

Links to Other Websites

Our site may contain links that lead to other websites. If you click on these links Crain Caton & James is not held responsible for your data and privacy protection. Visiting those websites is not governed by this privacy policy agreement. Make sure to read the privacy policy documentation of the website you go to from our website.

Restricting the Collection of your Personal Data

At some point, you might wish to restrict the use and collection of your personal data. You can achieve this by doing the following:

When you are filling out any forms on the site, make sure to check if there is a box which you can leave unchecked, if you don’t want to disclose your personal information.

If you have already agreed to share your information with us, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected] and we will be more than happy to change this for you.

Crain Caton & James will not lease, sell or distribute your personal information to any third parties, unless we have your permission. We might do so if the law forces us. Your personal information will be used when we need to send you promotional materials if you agree to this privacy policy.