John Wesley Bartram

John Wesley Bartram is a fifth generation Texan who has been with the firm since 2003. He specializes in real estate and business transactions, urban development and land use, utility development and financing, local government regulation, and representing special utility districts that provide water, sewer, drainage, road, and recreational services and infrastructure.

Mr. Bartram graduated from Texas A&M University summa cum laude in 1995 with a B.A. in German and History. He received his J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law cum laude in 1999, where he was also a member of the Washington and Lee Law Review.

After law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ellsworth A. Van Graafeiland, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit 1999-2000.

Prior to joining Armbrust & Brown, Mr. Bartram was an associate at Vinson & Elkins, LLP (2000-2003).

Mr. Bartram is licensed to practice in Texas (2001) and Virginia (1999).

When not in the office, Mr. Bartram enjoys traveling with his wife and two young daughters, training his bird dogs, and flyfishing.

• Representative Experience

  Mr. Bartram's real estate, business, and urban development practice involves representing buyers, sellers, owners, and developers of developed and undeveloped urban land and farm and ranch properties. This practice includes acquisitions and dispositions of interests in real property, asset purchase transactions, title and due diligence review, business entity formations, and construction projects utilizing various delivery methods, including design-bid-build and construction manager-at-risk (CMAR).

  As part of this practice, Mr. Bartram has represented several national, publicly-traded homebuilding companies and local custom home-builders in connection with the purchase, development, and sale of single-family residential lots on a "finished" and "paper" lot basis.

  Mr. Bartram also represents developers of residential and mixed-use master-planned communities.

  Mr. Bartram's utility development and district practice involves representing developers and landowners in connection with the creation through the Texas Legislature and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality of special utility districts, such as municipal utility districts (MUDs), water control and improvement districts (WCIDs), and municipal management districts (MMDs), that provide water, sewer, drainage, road, and recreational infrastructure for new land development projects. This practice includes negotiation of consent and development agreements with municipalities, wholesale water and wastewater service agreements, and utility, road, and recreational amenity development and financing agreements. As part of this practice, Mr. Bartram also serves as general counsel and special legal consultant to dozens of special utility districts throughout Texas.

  In this role, Mr. Bartram has experience with the applicable provisions of the Texas Water Code and regulations of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas Election Code, the Texas Open Meetings Act, and the Texas Public Information (Open Records) Act.

• Professional/Community Involvement
  • State Bar of Texas
  • Virginia State Bar
  • Austin Bar Association
  • Austin Young Lawyers Association
  • Capital Area Suburban Exchange (Board of Directors)
  • Real Estate Council of Austin
  • Urban Land Institute
  • The Nature Conservancy Conservation Council
  • Quail Coalition
  • Safari Club International