The 12-person North Dakota jury filed into the courtroom. They had been deliberating for more than two days.
Energy Transfer Assistant General Counsel Ali Henderson stood as the jury handed the court clerk the 33-page verdict form. The courtroom, filled with Greenpeace supporters and news reporters from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, stayed silent as the clerk started reading the verdict.
“Did defendants trespass on Energy Transfer’s land?”
“Yes.”
Damage award: “$3,761,034.”
“Oh my gosh, we are going to come in much lower than our damages experts calculated,” Henderson thought to herself, as Energy Transfer had sought a couple hundred million in damages for Greenpeace’s alleged destructive acts, tortious interference and defamation regarding ET’s pipeline construction in North Dakota. “How am I going to manage this message?”
Then came a second damage award: “$3,761,034.”
Then a third: “$3,761,034.”
And a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh and an eighth — each $3,761,034.
“As the clerk continued to read, the numbers got higher,” said Henderson, a Houston in-house counsel for the midstream energy giant.
She had spent weeks 1,360 miles away from her husband and two daughters to focus on the bitterly contested trial in rural Mandan, a North Dakota town of 24,000.
“A woman behind me in the courtroom, a Greenpeace supporter, I guess, started crying as the verdict was read. There were a lot of emotions in the courtroom.”
Then came damages for defamation: “$8,326,428.”
“When we got to the figures for defamation, I knew the total verdict was going to be momentous,” she said. “I remember trying to keep up with writing the figures down as she read and thinking to myself, ‘Wow, this has gotten to the point where I can’t add them up in my head anymore.’”
Five more times, the clerk repeated “$8,326,428” for multiple defamation counts against multiple Greenpeace entities. Then multiple awards for tortious interference: “$13,352,125.”
That March 19, 2025, afternoon, the jury awarded Dallas-based Energy Transfer nearly $667 million in actual and punitive damages.
“We stood silent — we exhibited no emotional response,” Henderson said.
Energy Transfer and its lawyers from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher quietly walked out of the courtroom and down the hall to a conference room.
“As soon as the door closed, we high-fived and hugged, and it was euphoric,” she said. “I think Trey Cox even shed a tear. It was a level of experience than many of us will never experience again. Many attorneys spend their entire careers without a pivotal case or staggering damages award like that, and to have been part of that team was such a formative experience.”
Collin Cox, a Gibson Dunn lawyer representing ET in the litigation, said Henderson’s leadership “was nothing short of extraordinary.”
“This was a complex, high-stakes and highly scrutinized case tried in North Dakota state court, culminating in a historic $667 million jury verdict — one of the most significant outcomes in that jurisdiction’s history,” Cox said. “Ali was not simply involved in the result; she shaped it. She led the trial team with clarity and resolve, serving as the architect of the overarching litigation strategy. From the earliest stages through trial, she shaped the narrative, coordinated the legal and factual presentation, and ensured that every element of the case advanced a cohesive and compelling theory.”
“Equally important, Ali was deeply engaged in every facet of the case,” Cox said. “She attended depositions, handled pleadings, participated in all hearings, and was actively involved in decision-making at every stage.”
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are awarding Henderson, Energy Transfer and the lawyers at Yetter Coleman and Gibson Dunn with the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year. The Business Litigation award is one of the few that recognizes the role of outside counsel in court victories.
The Greenpeace litigation, which is now on appeal, was not the only nine-digit courtroom victory in 2025 for Henderson and ET.
On Halloween 2025, ET defeated a $200 million lawsuit filed by Ageron Energy, which accused the pipeline giant of negligence and trespass, even though the plaintiff had been warned about subsurface risks.
“Ali has that rare combination of strategic thinking, sound judgment and calm under pressure,” said Yetter Coleman managing partner Paul Yetter, who nominated Henderson for the award. “She tracks the legal issues and also understands how they jibe with the client’s broader business goals. She fits the company’s culture — practical, resilient, well-prepared and fearless. She expects high-level thinking and accountability, but also encourages creative, strategic ideas from everyone on her outside teams. She’s a gem.”
Yetter was one of the lead lawyers in defending Energy Transfer in the Ageron Energy litigation.
“One of Ali’s key decisions was to abandon a conventional defensive posture from the start,” Yetter said. “This plaintiff brought a nine-figure claim that was fatally flawed. Ali cut to the chase. She went with an aggressive, creative attack on the petition. That decision shaped the trajectory of the case. It allowed us to frame the dispute on our terms rather than just reacting to the other side’s claims. It was a winning strategy.”
Andrew Price, a Norton Rose Fulbright partner in Houston, said that Henderson has a strong understanding of Energy Transfer’s goals, which he said “guides her decision-making.”
“Ali’s unique insight enables her to anticipate risks, evaluate thoughtfully and make strategic decisions that advance the company’s objectives,” Price said. “Ali demonstrates exceptional judgment and tenacity in her work, collaborating effectively with witnesses, opposing counsel and all parties involved on a case while maintaining a focused and strategic approach. Not only does she exemplify excellent leadership, but she is very enjoyable to work with and has a great sense of humor.”
Energy Transfer Deputy GC Sam Hardy said Henderson has a mastery of the details.
“Ali knows when to punt, when to run it up the flag pole and when to run with it,” said Hardy, who was awarded the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year. “I wanted her to go to North Dakota because a lot of trial decisions need to be made quickly. She is not just a passive observer. She is a great listener and then is judicious in giving advice and instruction for outside counsel.”
Following Mom and Dad
Henderson’s parents met in law school at the Dickinson School of Law, which is now affiliated with Penn State University. They spent a few years practicing law in Philadelphia. She said they picked Corpus Christi “on a map and moved there without knowing a soul.”
Her father, Dan Pipitone, had a maritime and personal injury defense practice and now handles employment and maritime law at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr in Houston. Her mother, Patricia Pipitone, had a corporate transactional practice in Corpus Christi but retired to be a stay-at-home mom for Henderson and her brother.
After college at Harvard University, Henderson worked for two years at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in a communications and advisory position.
“In that role, I was exposed to numerous facets of work, including legislation, regulations and public relations,” she said. “The vast majority of people with whom I interfaced were attorneys both in private practice and in the governmental and regulatory spheres. I realized then that a career in law could open so many doors and lend itself to so many different paths, and I wanted that for myself.”
“Growing up, I saw how hard [my parents] worked and how greatly rewarded they felt after resolving issues for their clients, and that certainly appealed to the parts of my personality that thrive on being organized and task-oriented and helping people,” she said.
After earning her law degree at South Texas College of Law, Henderson joined Porter Hedges in Houston as a litigation associate — a position she held for more than eight years.
‘Hooked on the Fast-paced Culture’
In August 2021, a friend who is now a lawyer at Energy Transfer contacted Henderson about becoming an Energy Transfer secondee.
“I quickly realized it was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse,” she said. “During my six-month secondment at Energy Transfer, I participated in a high-stakes arbitration, oversaw the filing of a number of high-profile lawsuits, and assisted in the preparation and presentation of witnesses for countless depositions. I quickly became hooked on the fast-paced culture and prominence of legal issues and knew this was the path for me.”
Henderson joined ET full time in March 2022 as chief counsel for litigation and was promoted to assistant general counsel in July 2025.
“Moving from a midsized, single-office law firm where I personally knew everyone to a massive, multi-office, multifaceted public company was a big challenge for me,” she said. “Starting a new job anywhere presents challenges, and for me, it took me some time to understand the various groups and the right folks to approach with varying issues and to figure out how to ‘make a name for myself’ in a larger pond.”
Henderson maintains a docket of 80 to 90 litigation matters ranging from third-party subpoenas and minor motor vehicle accidents to significant multi-hundred-million-dollar commercial disputes and severe personal injury actions. These also include prelitigation disputes that do not result in litigation but still require research, fact-gathering and often commercial meetings with counterparties.
“Ali’s biggest litigation wins speak for themselves, but some of her most notable successes are what you don’t see in the press because they don’t end up making it to trial,” said Norton Rose Fulbright partner Carter Dugan. “She is very adept at stopping small things from becoming big things, which is key as in-house counsel.”
The Ageron Energy Frustration
In June 2022, oil and gas exploration and production company Ageron Energy sued Energy Transfer for negligence, nuisance and trespass related to a well Ageron drilled in McMullen County.
When Ageron obtained a license to drill a well on the Dickinson Ranch, Energy Transfer warned the San Antonio-based E&P company that it has a disposal well only 800-feet away. Ageron attempted to drill anyway, but the effort failed when it struck hydrogen sulfide and damaged its drill pipe.
“The matter carried elevated risk,” said Yetter, whom Energy Transfer hired as lead outside counsel. “It was one of several lawsuits arising from the same operations, and the allegations challenged the company’s operational integrity and regulatory conduct. From the outset, Henderson supported a decisive strategy focused on early resolution rather than prolonged litigation.”
Henderson said the Ageron litigation was unique because the battle focused exclusively on the pleadings. As a result, Henderson did not play the traditional in-house counsel role of identifying key documents and witnesses for testimony.
“Instead, our focus was on obtaining critical documentation about the events leading up to Ageron’s filing and our permit for the Tilden acid gas injection well to help support legal arguments,” she said. “I had been involved in the pre-suit events — specifically, receiving notice of Ageron’s intended drilling and formulating our communications with them about their plans.”
“Perhaps the biggest challenge in that case was the frustration with the entire premise of their case, which hinged on activity they voluntarily undertook despite awareness of the risks, and which then required us to spend extensive resources to fight for the next three years,” Henderson said.
The Ageron case was “incredibly important” to ET because it “centered on an asset that has been the subject of extensive litigation, yet which is critically needed in the industry” — the Tilden acid gas injection well, she said.
Henderson said that Energy Transfer has safely operated the disposal well for more than a decade, including numerous permit renewals by the Railroad Commission of Texas.
“If Ageron were to prevail, it could open the floodgates to lawsuits by other producers who might voluntarily come to that area, attempt to drill and then sue and seek a windfall,” she said. “ET puts a high price on creative, strategic thinking. Through strategic thinking and careful analysis, we found a hook in Ageron’s pleading that enabled us to file a motion for dismissal based on legal grounds. We also carefully strategized our responsive pleading to prevent Ageron from being able to creatively amend its pleading and allow any part of its claim to survive.”
Henderson worked with Yetter Coleman to file a jurisdictional challenge claiming Ageron lacked standing since any claims would have accrued years earlier to prior mineral owners. ET also invoked the Texas Citizens Participation Act, enabling interlocutory appeal and accelerating appellate review.
The goal was to “position the case for resolution before costly discovery and trial,” Yetter said.
The trial court rejected Energy Transfer’s arguments, but the El Paso Court of Appeals on Dec. 29, 2023, reversed and rendered judgment dismissing the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
“The court of appeals sent out an auto-generated email about the decision at 8:03 p.m., and Robert Woods forwarded it in an email at 8:18 p.m. that said, ‘Great news. We won!’” Henderson said. “Happy New Year to us.”
The Texas Supreme Court denied review in 2025. Henderson said Energy Transfer routinely uses Yetter Coleman “because of its exceptional trial skills and match with our corporate mindset.” She said the Houston litigation firm also has handled other litigation related to the Tilden acid gas injection site for several years.
“Ali is a trial warrior,” Yetter said. “If you want to know about high-stakes trials, ask Ali. In the last few years, from rural South Texas to freezing North Dakota, she has been leading more courtroom action than many business litigators see in their entire career. Reading jurors, judges, witnesses and opposing trial lawyers gives her a perspective that few lawyers will ever get.”
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Ali Henderson dispels myths about going in-house and describes what she looks for when hiring outside counsel.
Greenpeace was ‘Cutting Edge Litigation’
While the Ageron Energy court victory was incredibly important to Energy Transfer, Henderson said, “Hands down, my best day was verdict day in the Greenpeace case.”
Environmental protestors spent months and months in 2016 and 2017 trying to block or at least delay Energy Transfer Partners’ plans to complete construction of the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota’s Morton County.
In 2019, Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace and two of its affiliated operations with a lawsuit claiming they funded the sometimes-violent protests and had made defamatory statements that inflamed protestors.
“As you can imagine, the road to trial in the Greenpeace case was quite long,” said Henderson, who pointed out she did not join Energy Transfer until 2022, three years after the lawsuit had been filed. She said she “spent at least half of every workday on that case alone. We knew this was cutting-edge litigation.”
Between 2022 and the 2025 trial, Henderson attended nearly all 117 depositions in that case.
“I personally reviewed and weighed in on every single motion we filed in the case, whether related to discovery matters or legal issues, including motions to transfer venue, motions regarding personal jurisdiction, motions for summary judgment and expert motions,” she said. “I participated in mediation of the case, as well as numerous strategy meetings with Gibson Dunn leading up to trial when it was clear we were headed to trial.”
Henderson also attended all but two days of the trial in Mandan, which is the eighth largest city in North Dakota and is about a 20-minute drive from Bismark.
ET hired a team of high-profile trial lawyers from Gibson Dunn, including partners Trey Cox, Collin Cox and former Fifth Circuit federal judge Gregg Costa.
The company booked the entire second floor of the nearby Courtyard Marriott Hotel for the legal team, expert witnesses and other trial consultants. They had a large conference room for a war room. The company hired security guards to be there all the time due to threats. Food was ordered in most nights.
“I ate Applebee’s and Olive Garden more those several weeks than I had the rest of my entire life,” she said.
Henderson would fly on United Airlines from Bismark to Denver to Houston every Friday after court and then back Sunday nights just to spend 18 hours at home with her family.
The trial started Feb. 24 with the selection of a dozen jurors.
“In my mind, the most critical issue was Greenpeace’s glaring untruthfulness,” she said. “Greenpeace told the jury in opening statements that they merely signed a letter and did not actively participate in — much less spearhead — the protest activity or the defamation. Yet we presented numerous pieces of documentary evidence showing that position was untrue — namely, emails about the funds and extensive supplies they provided, including generators, tents and lockboxes, and employees who trained hundreds of protestors on the ground, and other emails about the importance of keeping their involvement secret/nonpublic.”
“Their witnesses, many of whom appeared by video depositions because Greenpeace consciously chose not to bring those witnesses live to trial, did not appear credible when confronted with those emails,” Henderson said. “I found it so helpful to be in the courtroom to watch how this presentation of evidence affected the jurors. I saw firsthand many of the jurors’ facial reactions and body language, which suggested they did not believe Greenpeace’s arguments.”
“Years were poured into building our case and getting it ready for trial,” she said. “Seeing it all play out in the courtroom was better than watching a television show.”
The appeals process is now underway. Greenpeace International, one of the defendants in the litigation, brought a lawsuit against Energy Transfer in The Netherlands asking a court to declare that ET’s litigation is abusive. But the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that most of Greenpeace’s claims were not actionable.
The next step in the Energy Transfer v. Greenpeace litigation comes June 3 when Greenpeace must either post a bond to continue its appeal or pay the judgment.
Henderson also highlighted the work of two other Energy Transfer lawyers, Travis Jones and Laura Kakish, whom she said “lived and breathed this case.”
Ray Torgerson, a partner at Porter Hedges, said Henderson won these two huge cases and deserves the award recognition because she “is fearless.”
“Ali is unafraid of the past, present or future,” Torgerson said. “She’s always looking for a solution that aligns with the company’s values. She easily sees the bigger picture rather than simply a particular set of facts or applicable law in a given situation.”
Fun Facts: Ali Henderson
- Favorite book: My favorite book I’ve read in recent history is Present Over Perfect. At this stage of my life, I find I’m constantly trying to juggle work, parenting, my marriage and friendships, and involvement in community groups — and most of the time, I feel like I’m not excelling at any of them. This book provides tools and helpful anecdotes about how to set aside perfectionism, frantic busyness and box-checking in favor of a more present, intentional approach to life that places critical focus on relationships and mental, emotional and spiritual contentment.
- Favorite movie: What I watch often depends on my mood — whether I want a mindless, light-hearted comedy versus a thought-provoking thriller. And of course, there are so many classics that I will pick up and watch no matter what part of the movie it is. A League of Their Own is one of those movies. I love all the things it stands for — a pivotal time in our country’s history, emphasis on the ways women stepped into new roles during that era, the tight-knit nature of family relationships, leadership and empowerment.
- Favorite drink: Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley
- Favorite restaurant: El Tiempo, not only because it has the best Mexican food and margaritas in town, but also because it’s where I met my husband! We still go back there every year on Jan. 15 (the day we met) and plenty of other times throughout the year.
- Favorite all-time vacation: Watercolor, Florida, in August 2025. My husband, two daughters and I decided to take a last-minute trip before school resumed and spend a casual, relaxing week together, just the four of us. It was not a glamorous trip, but it was just what we needed after an emotionally draining summer — we picked up our girls from Camp Mystic just seven days before the tragic events unfolded there. Between the beach and pool, delicious restaurants, arcades and Top Golf, we felt like we really got to reset and connect as a family.
- Hero in life: My Dad is my hero. He is proof that if you set goals, apply yourself, and work hard, you can achieve. His childhood was not easy after his father suffered a debilitating stroke that left him handicapped and unable to work when my dad was just 12 years old. In high school, he thought his future was set because he earned a pole-vaulting scholarship. However, during his senior year, he suffered a serious elbow injury, after which all of the colleges that previously recruited him withdrew their offers. It was not until a year after he graduated from college, while he was working as a truck driver, that he decided to pursue law school.
What I admire most about my Dad is the personal transformation I have witnessed in him just during the last 10 years. He has always been a personable, friendly person who values close friendships and has many, many friends. But in the last decade, he has placed an increased emphasis on nurturing relationships—not only with his wife, children, and grandchildren, but also with both new and old friends. He also has always been incredibly goal-driven, but during the last decade, he has adopted more of a “bucket-list” approach to life, which has led him to do amazing things, like climb Mount Kilimanjaro and travel to all seven continents. When I’m 73 years old, I can only hope to have had the level of personal growth and professional success he has as well as the zest for life that he continues to have.