Mark Edwards Walraven

I am a trial lawyer who primarily assists mineral owners with oil and gas negotiations, leasing, sales and litigation. I negotiate oil and gas leases and sales agreements to try to obtain the best possible terms for Oklahoma mineral owners. In the last three years alone, I and the Graft & Walraven Oil and Gas Team have successfully negotiated over 1,800 leases and mineral sales, obtaining over $120 million in lease bonuses and sales proceeds for Oklahoma mineral owners. I also assist clients in reviewing and negotiating lease assignments, division orders, royalty payment issues, and curing defects in title.

On the litigation side, I focus on oil and gas lease cancellation and royalty deductions, primarily assisting royalty owners to free-up minerals held by non-productive wells. I also assist Chaille in auditing royalty owner payments to ensure that those payments are made in accordance with the oil and gas lease, and when they are not, pursuing the recovery of royalty deductions taken in violation of the lease.

I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, and attended undergraduate school at the University of Texas in Austin. After graduating from UT in 2002, I enlisted in the United States Army. I attended basic training and airborne school at Ft. Benning, Georgia, then served with 1-501 Airborne Infantry Regiment in Ft. Richardson, Alaska. In 2005, as then-Sergeant Walraven I commissioned as a Lieutenant. I served with the 2-3 Armored Cavalry Regiment out of Ft. Hood, Texas until August, 2009, when I left active duty as a Captain. As CPT Walraven I served in the Texas National Guard until May, 2011. As CPT Walraven my service includes a 14-month deployment to Iraq from November, 2007 to January, 2009, where I served as a Scout Platoon Leader in the Diyala Province. For my service in Iraq, as CPT Walraven I earned a Bronze Star Medal and a Combat Action Badge. My unit earned the Valorous Unit Award.

After the Army, I attended law school at Baylor University in Waco, where I met the love of my life, Chaille Graft. Chaille and I were married in 2011 and in 2012 we moved to Clinton, Oklahoma to practice with Chaille’s father, C.B. Graft, in 2012. Chaille and I have three boys, Jackson, Christian and Elias. In my spare time I enjoys serving at Life Church in Edmond, scuba diving, playing fantasy football, and doing anything outside with my family.