Jim Teater's trial practice is focused on the energy, construction, and manufacturing industries and includes cross-border disputes, multidistrict litigation, international arbitration, and trials in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies.

Examples of Jim's major cases include an FTC action to enjoin a merger of refining and marketing companies; litigation over oil and gas rights at Prudhoe Bay; arbitration of claims involving oil production in Nigeria; an injunction action to enforce a major chemical supply contract; shareholder actions challenging the valuation of worldwide oil reserves; an inventory dispute on a major oil pipeline; the environmental permitting of a major petrochemical complex in Texas; attorney general lawsuits against electric utilities concerning global warming; arbitration of claims concerning industrywide construction standards; a nationwide class action challenging the safety of air bags; environmental enforcement actions against automotive assembly plants; a contract suit over the design and construction of hydroelectric facilities; municipal and neighborhood suits alleging groundwater contamination in Hawaii; patent and trade secret rights to a major agricultural product; municipal public nuisance suits against the gun industry; and defense of thousands of cross-border toxic tort claims, including a four-month jury trial in Los Angeles.

Before law school, Jim worked as an engineer at a petrochemical complex in the Houston area.