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Conference

20th Annual Energy Litigation Conference


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Categories:
Energy Conference |  Ethics |  In-House Counsel |  Institute for Energy Law |  Justice System |  Litigation
Faculty:
Keith B. Hall |  Bianca Roberson |  Stephanie Bergeron Perdue |  Bina R. Reddy |  Kenneth W. Bullock, II |  Layna Rush Cook |  Betty Q. Richmond |  Cedric D. Scott |  Pete Vermillion |  Hon. Gregg J. Costa |  Hon. S. Maurice Hicks |  Hon. Dena Hanovice Palermo |   3 more....
Duration:
6.5 Hours
Original Program Date:
Nov 03, 2021
License:
Access for 6 month(s) after purchase.


Tags: Featured


Description

The 20th edition of the Energy Litigation Conference will bring together some of the top in-house and private practice energy litigators to discuss new trends in energy litigation, recent case law of importance to energy litigators, and ways to improve an energy litigation practice.

Credits


MCLE Credit has expired.

Although MCLE credit was previously obtained for this program in at least one jurisdiction (most likely Texas), such credit has expired and not been renewed by The Center for American and International Law. You may be able to obtain credit in certain jurisdictions (self-study credit), but the rules vary greatly by jurisdiction. Please review your jurisdiction’s MCLE rules and regulations before purchasing or viewing this program.



Faculty

Keith B. Hall's Profile

Keith B. Hall Related Seminars and Products

Director of Mineral Law Institute and Campanile Charities Professor of Energy Law

LSU Paul M. Herbert Law Center


Keith B. Hall is Director of the Mineral Law Institute and the Campanile Charities Professor of Energy Law.  He teaches Mineral Rights, Advanced Mineral Law, International Petroleum Transactions, and an Energy Law Seminar that focuses on environmental issues relating to energy industries.  His publications have focused on oil and gas leases, pooling and unitization, hydraulic fracturing, induced seismicity, and the management of produced water.  He is co-author of one of the two national casebooks on oil and gas law and also is co-author of a book on the legal issues relating to hydraulic fracturing.  He is a frequent speaker at national and international oil and gas, energy, and environmental law conferences, and is a contributing co-author to the forthcoming new edition of the leading textbook on international petroleum transactions.  In addition to teaching at LSU, he has taught energy law classes as a visiting professor at Baku State University in Azerbaijan and as an adjunct professor at Loyola School of Law.  Before joining the LSU Law Center, he was a member of the firm Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann in New Orleans, where he practiced law for 16 years, with a focus on oil and gas litigation and transactions, environmental law, and toxic tort litigation.

Professor Hall is a member of the Board of Editors for the Oil & Gas Reporter, the Board of Trustees for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, the Advisory Council for the Institute for Energy Law, and the Board of Trustees for the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation.  He is a former Chair of the Louisiana State Bar Association's Environmental Law Section and former Chair of the Oil & Gas Committee of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources.  He serves on the Louisiana Law Institute’s Water Law Committee and is a registered professional engineer.


Bianca Roberson's Profile

Bianca Roberson Related Seminars and Products

Shell Oil Company


Bianca Roberson is Legal Counsel for Shell in the Contracts and Procurement group. Bianca collaborates with business partners in the drafting and negotiation of contracts for commercial projects globally. Prior to joining Shell, Bianca worked as an Assistant District Attorney for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for three years. Bianca is a graduate of Thurgood Marshall School of Law where she received a Juris Doctorate in 2013.  Bianca is a member of the Houston Bar Association, the Executive Director of the Downtown Group, and President of the Young Energy Professional Committee. Bianca is also the Founder of WE WILL, a non-profit that seeks to access, educate, and inspire high achieving but underserved high school women about careers in law.

Bianca grew up in Texas City, Texas and after graduation attended Howard University in Washington, DC.  After graduating with a BBA in Finance, Bianca worked for two years on the commodities trading floor at Morgan Stanley in New York City.  Bianca is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc – a public service organization. Bianca has also worked extensively with Team in Training, which is the fundraising arm of the Leukemia and Lymphoma. Within her work with TNT, Bianca has completed several triathlons and marathons to raise money to fund cancer research.

Bianca is a true “foodie” and dotes a lot of time chasing her nine-year old daughter, Sloane, five-year-old son, Duke, and three-year old daughter, Ella.


Stephanie Bergeron Perdue's Profile

Stephanie Bergeron Perdue Related Seminars and Products

Baker Botts L.L.P.


Stephanie Bergeron Perdue focuses her practice on environmental
law advising clients on matters spanning a wide variety of media,
including water quality and water rights, air quality and other natural
resources issues.


Stephanie brings two decades of agency experience to her practice from
her time spent with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
(TCEQ), most recently serving as its Deputy Executive Director. During
her time with the agency she worked on a diverse set of issues including
the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)/State
Implementation Plan (SIP) development, NSR Air Permitting, TPDES
water quality permitting and RCRA hazardous waste issues. She also
worked extensively with internal agency emergency response staff, as
well as the Office of the Attorney General on responses to natural
disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey.


Bina R. Reddy's Profile

Bina R. Reddy Related Seminars and Products

Beveridge & Diamond PC


Bina Reddy has a nationwide practice representing clients – including FORTUNE® 50 companies and several major municipalities – in litigation involving federal and state environmental statutes, class actions, toxic tort and product liability, and constitutional claims. Bina has devoted a substantial portion of her practice to litigation under federal environmental citizen suit provisions and has successfully defended citizen suits under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. This experience includes the defense of several novel claims of first impression under RCRA’s imminent and substantial endangerment provision.

Bina has extensive experience litigating actions under CERCLA at complex multi-party sites, as well as defending toxic tort, nuisance, and product liability actions, including securing denial of class action certification. She has particular expertise in drinking water issues and has defended multiple large cities in actions concerning lead. Bina co-leads the firm’s Toxic Torts & Mass Torts group and serves on the firm’s Management Committee. She speaks and publishes on environmental litigation, and in particular on the subject of novel uses of federal citizen suits.


Kenneth W. Bullock, II's Profile

Kenneth W. Bullock, II Related Seminars and Products

Frost Brown Todd LLC


With a strong background in energy and maritime matters, Ken has wideranging experience representing corporate clients in litigation and arbitration throughout the Gulf Coast region.


In the Energy industry, Ken represents a host of various upstream and midstream entities in all manners of commercial and personal injury litigation, both defending and prosecuting breach of contract, tort liability, product liability claims, as well as employment-related litigation. Throughout his career, Ken has represented a variety of oil field service providers, drilling and exploration companies, operators, pipeline operators and heavy construction companies.


In the Maritime sector, Ken has extensive experience representing clients in
connection with claims brought under the Jones Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act (LHWCA), Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) and the General Maritime Law. Ken’s clients include dredging contractors, diving contractors, offshore supply vessel owners and operators, seismic and geophysical operators and drilling contractors.


Ken also regularly represents both onshore and offshore service companies and other energy clients in connection with internal investigations, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspections and in defending against citations and penalties before the Occupational Safety Health Review Commission (OSHRC).
 


Layna Rush Cook's Profile

Layna Rush Cook Related Seminars and Products

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC


Ms. Rush leads the Firm's Data Incident Response Team and assists clients in the investigation of and response to privacy and security incidents. She is a U.S. and Canadian Certified Information Privacy Professional and member of the Firm's Data Protection, Privacy and Cybersecurity Team.


Betty Q. Richmond's Profile

Betty Q. Richmond Related Seminars and Products

Equinor


Betty Q. Richmond is currently Lead Counsel at Equinor, a broad energy company. In her fourteen years of work experience, including three years as an engineer and eleven as a lawyer, Betty has focused her career on the energy industry, supporting all sectors – Downstream, Midstream, and Upstream. In collaboration with great colleagues, she currently manages Equinor’s North American Upstream litigation docket and provides counsel on investigations, HR, and risk mitigation matters.


Cedric D. Scott's Profile

Cedric D. Scott Related Seminars and Products

Chevron


Cedric Scott is a Senior Counsel in Chevron’s Litigation Management Unit for Upstream Law, with more than fourteen years of experience in the oil and gas industry.  During his tenure at Chevron, Cedric has worked primarily with upstream and corporate business units and clients in managing litigation matters and providing advice and support related to evaluation and management of claims, risks and exposure.  Cedric earned his law degree from Thurgood Marshall School of Law.


Pete Vermillion's Profile

Pete Vermillion Related Seminars and Products

Chesapeake Energy Corporation


Pete Vermillion started out as a petroleum geologist working for Marathon Oil Corporation and a small independent before attending SMU law school and graduating in 1997. He was a partner at Thompson Knight and Kelly Hart and Hallman law firms where he focused on oil and gas litigation. In 2010, Mr. Vermillion went in-house with Chesapeake Energy. Over the past 10 years he has helped manage litigation for the company in the Barnett, Haynesville, Fayetteville, and Eagle Ford Shale plays. From 2016 to 2019 Mr. Vermillion was part of a small legal team primarily handling royalty litigation. In 2019 he moved into the role of Managing Attorney for the South Texas Business Unit where he manages litigation and provides legal support, including assisting with production sharing, water use, and subsurface easement agreements and coordinating with joint working interest parties.


Hon. Gregg J. Costa's Profile

Hon. Gregg J. Costa Related Seminars and Products

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit


Gregg Costa is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  He grew up in Richardson, Texas and graduated from Dartmouth College.  After college, he taught elementary school in the Mississippi Delta town of Sunflower through the Teach for America program.  He then attended the University of Texas School of Law.  After law school, he clerked for Judge A. Raymond Randolph on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the Supreme Court.  He also served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of Solicitor General.  After his time in Washington, he returned home to Texas where he was in private practice before serving as an Assistant United States Attorney.  As an AUSA, he focused on prosecuting white collar crime, which included prosecuting Allen Stanford for orchestrating a multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme.  President Obama appointed Judge Costa to the district court in 2012 and the court of appeals in 2014.   


Hon. S. Maurice Hicks's Profile

Hon. S. Maurice Hicks Related Seminars and Products

United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana


Following unanimous confirmation by the Senate, Judge Maury Hicks was sworn in as a United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana in Shreveport in June, 2003. He became Chief Judge in November, 2017. In 2019, he was elected as the Fifth Circuit’s District Judge representative to the Judicial Conference of the United States, the national policy-making body of the federal judiciary.

Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Hicks spent 26 years litigating in Louisiana state and federal courts. He was the founding member of Hicks, Hubley & Marcotte in Shreveport. From 1993 - 2017, Judge Hicks rose through the ranks of the Louisiana Supreme Court Committee on Bar Admissions, beginning as an assistant examiner for Federal Jurisdiction and Procedure, then moving to drafting the Federal Jurisdiction &Procedure (FJ&P) component of the bar exam, and later serving as Director of Testing, Director of Accommodations and Chair of the Committee. He is a member of the Louisiana State Law Institute and its Civil Law and Procedure Committee and organized the North Louisiana Chapter Federal Bar Association in Shreveport. Judge Hicks is a Past President of the District Judges Association of the Fifth Circuit and served as a member of the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit, the Financial Disclosure Committee and the Budget Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He lectures frequently on Professionalism, Evidence and Expert Witness issues at various seminars for the Louisiana State Bar Association, Louisiana State University and Loyola Law School CLE programs and various local bar associations. In conjunction with the Open World Program of the Library of Congress, Judge Hicks has hosted international judicial delegations from Russia, Siberia, Tartarstan, Ukraine, Turkey and Armenia. For the past 16 years, he has taught in the Frost School of Business MBA program at Centenary College of Louisiana. He is a Charter member of and currently a Judge Master member of the Harry V. Booth - Judge Henry A. Politz Chapter of the American Inns of Court.


Hon. Dena Hanovice Palermo's Profile

Hon. Dena Hanovice Palermo Related Seminars and Products

United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Texas


Dena Hanovice Palermo is a Magistrate Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. Following her graduation from Boston University School of Law, magna cum laude, a distinguished scholar, and editor of the Law Review, she moved to Houston to clerk for the late Chief Judge John Singleton of the Southern District of Texas. In private practice, Judge Palermo was a litigation partner at both Vinson & Elkins and later Andrews Kurth and practiced at Mayer Brown between her tenure at VE and AK. Most recently, she was co-chair of Andrews Kurth’s Securities Enforcement and White-Collar Crime practice group.

Currently, Judge Palermo is the Magistrate Judge Observer to the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council. She is a on the Southern District of Texas Facilities Committee, which deals with security of the federal courthouse, and is a member of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association (“FMJA”) Security Committee, which also deals with judicial security. In addition, Judge Palermo is the Chair of the FMJA’s Title Committee and has been an editor for the FMJA Bulletin for the past three years. She is also on the district court’s CJA Committee, which selects and renews appointments to the court’s panel of criminal attorneys. Judge Palermo is a Judicial Liaison on the FBA Board.

Before taking the bench, Judge Palermo founded the Houston Bar Association’s mentor program in 1993 while on its Board of Directors and has spent her entire career mentoring lawyers. Recognizing that it is difficult for lawyers to get courtroom experience, Judge Palermo routinely conducts oral hearings on pending motions in her court and has a procedure to provide more speaking opportunities for women, minorities, and junior lawyers.


Christopher S. Kulander's Profile

Christopher S. Kulander Related Seminars and Products

South Texas College of Law


Professor Christopher Kulander teaches at the South Texas College of Law—Houston and currently serves as Director of the Harry L. Reed Oil & Gas Law Institute. He has taught Domestic Energy Law, Property, Mining Law, and beginning and advanced Oil & Gas Law courses. In addition, he teaches International Energy Law at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania, as a permanent visiting professor. He is licensed in Texas and New Mexico. Professor Kulander has published over twenty law review articles, as well as many other articles with a more practical focus in the industry literature, on diverse topics including energy lending, finance, oil & gas law, land use control, American Indian law, as well as on geology, and petroleum seismology. He is a prolific speaker and expert witness.

He received his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma, where he was managing editor for the Oklahoma Bar Mineral Law Newsletter and note editor and assisting managing editor for the American Indian Law Review. Before teaching, Professor Kulander practiced for four years in the Houston office of Haynes and Boone, LLP, focusing on energy lending, finance, and bankruptcy. Prior to that, he practiced for two years with Cotton & Bledsoe in Midland, Texas, focusing on oil and gas title, leasing, and litigation support.

Before law school, he received his B.S. in geology and M.S. in geophysics from Wright State in Dayton, Ohio, and his Ph.D. in geophysics (petroleum seismology) from Texas A&M University, after which he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey as a geophysicist.


Jacqueline Furlow's Profile

Jacqueline Furlow Related Seminars and Products

Beck Redden LLP


Jackie is committed to achieving the best result for the client by navigating litigation strategically and efficiently from its outset, maximizing the likelihood of success at every stage.  She brings to each case a sharp attention to detail, sound and practical legal judgment, and utmost preparedness.

Jackie has acquired significant experience representing clients in the energy, legal, business, and real estate sectors in a variety of matters including business disputes, professional malpractice, products liability and employment disputes, among others.


Geoff Gannaway's Profile

Geoff Gannaway Related Seminars and Products

Beck Redden LLP


He works with each client to develop a strategy for success in the courtroom, and then weaves together every deposition taken, every motion filed, and every jury argument made.  At the onset of a new case, Geoff never loses sight of the end goal: distilling factual details into persuasive themes to present to a jury, ultimately making the most complicated cases understandable and the client’s position clear.

Geoff honed an attention to detail in Rice University’s engineering program, and now uses an engineer’s discipline to serve his clients as a lawyer.  The more complex the case, the more Geoff relishes the challenge. The subject matter of cases he has handled spans a broad array of industries and legal issues.

After a successful jury verdict, Tom Moogan, CFO for Advance International, explained: “From the intense level of preparation, to his collaboration with us to understand the particular complexities of our case, it was clear that Geoff worked to make this a case that a jury would hear and decide in our favor.”