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.
John 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, John was an associate at Vinson & Elkins, LLP (2000-2003).
John is licensed to practice in Texas (2001) and Virginia (1999).
When not in the office, John enjoys traveling with his wife and two young daughters, training his bird dogs, and flyfishing.
Representative Experience
John’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, John 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.
John also represents developers of residential and mixed-use master-planned communities.
John’s utility development and district practice involves representing developers and landowners in connection with the creation 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 through the Texas Legislature and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. 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. John also serves as general counsel and special legal consultant to dozens of special utility districts throughout Texas.
John 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