Standing up for Landowners. Standing up to Government.
Headshot of Attorney Marie D. Harlan
Marie Harlan practices exclusively in the area of eminent domain law, where she helps landowners maximize recoveries and protects their interests when threatened with a governmental acquisition of private property. Her immersion in this area of the law enables her to quickly assess the impacts of both large and small takings and build a case strategy that prioritizes the individual concerns of each client and the unique aspects of each property.
Marie has developed an expertise in inverse condemnation and regulatory takings, confronting governmental entities of many levels when their interference with property rights rises to the level of a violation of protections against takings under the Texas and U.S. Constitutions. Marie has secured millions of dollars in compensation for the firm’s inverse condemnation clients. Marie has also cultivated a high-level appellate practice to defend these clients against the inevitable efforts to dismiss these kinds of claim as a matter of jurisdiction. She has prevailed in multiple appeals, argued before the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, and had a petition for review granted in the Texas Supreme Court.
Marie hails from Austin and is a double alumnus of the University of Texas, earning a bachelor’s degree in Plan II/History and a J.D. in 2014 from the University of Texas School of Law, where she was admitted to the Order of the Coif and served as an Associate Editor on the Texas Law Review. Prior to beginning her eminent domain practice, Marie clerked for U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeff Bohm and practiced commercial litigation for two years in the Houston office of Jackson Walker LLP.
- The University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas
- J.D.
- Honors: GPA: 3.90
- Honors: Order of the Coif
- Honors: Dean’s Achievement Award – Outstanding Student in Evidence
- Honors: Duberstein Interscholastic Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition, Semifinalist
- Law Review: Texas Law Review, Associate Editor
- The University of Texas at Austin – Austin, TX
- B.A. – 2005
- Honors: Plan II Honors and History
- Honors: GPA: 3.79
- Eminent Domain/Condemnation Cases
- Texas, 2014
- Honorable U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeff Bohm of the Southern District of Texas, Clerked
- Jackson Walker, LLP – Dallas, TX, Litigation Associate
- Reid Collins & Tsai – Austin, TX, Summer Associate
- Juvenile Justice Clinic – Austin, TX, Student Counsel
- Lower Colorado River Authority – Austin, TX, Law Clerk
- City of Austin, Law Department – Austin, TX, Law Clerk
- Legislative Lawyering Clinic – Austin, TX, Student Counsel
- Office of the Attorney General of Texas, Antitrust Section – Austin, TX, Law Clerk
- U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, Western District of Texas – Austin, TX, Legal Intern
- U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolego, Southern District of Texas – Austin, TX, Legal Intern
- The Commons (2018-present): Challenge to City of Houston amended floodplain ordinance, resulting in petition for review being granted in the Texas Supreme Court
- Westside Ventures: (2019-present): Challenge to Houston Community College System’s taking of deed restrictions, securing two opinions finding liability for a taking in federal district court
- Hwy 6 & 90 (2020-2022): Multimillion dollar settlement in regulatory takings case based on airport land use restrictions
- AR Global (2020-2022): Settlement for landowner in inverse condemnation case involving impairment of access
- GWR Farrington (2020): Settlement for landowner in inverse condemnation case involving impairment of access
- Rami & Amir Corp. (2021-2022): Settlement for landowner in inverse condemnation case involving impairment of access
- Selected for inclusion on Best Lawyers in America “Ones to Watch,” 2021 - 2025