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The 72nd edition of the Institute for Energy Law’s Annual Oil & Gas Law Conference will take place virtually from April 21-23, 2021. This outstanding program brings together legal leaders in the oil and gas industry for excellent educational programming and multiple social and networking opportunities with a diverse audience.
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.
David E. Adelman teaches and writes in the areas of environmental law, intellectual property law, and climate change policy. Professor Adelman’s research focuses on the many interfaces between law and science. His articles have addressed such topics as the implications of emerging genomic technologies for toxics regulation, the tensions between legal and scientific evidentiary standards in regulatory decision making, and development of effective policies for promoting innovation relevant to addressing climate change. Professor Adelman clerked for the Honorable Samuel Conti of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Before entering academia, he was an associate with the law firm Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., where he litigated patent disputes and provided counsel on environmental regulatory matters, and a Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council also in Washington, D.C. Professor Adelman was an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law from 2001 to 2009.
Jeffrey L. Allen graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. degree from Texas A&M University in December 2003 before pursuing his legal education at Texas Tech University where he earned his J.D. as well as his M.B.A. in 2007. He has been with the law firm of Wetsel, Carmichael, Allen, & Lederle, L.L.P. in Sweetwater, Texas since graduation with a practice focusing primarily on oil and gas title examination as well as wind and other renewable energy law focusing primarily on landowner representation. Other practice areas also include civil litigation and other matters inherent in a small town practice. Licensed to practice in both Texas and New Mexico, he has served as the President of the Nolan County Bar Association and is a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas. He recently co-authored, "Avoid Voidance - How to Draft Oil and Gas Legal Descriptions in Compliance with the Texas Statute of Frauds," presented at the Mineral Title Course for the Center for American and International Law, May 2, 2013, and May 14, 2015, in Houston, Texas, as well as participating as speaker on other renewable energy topics.
Clients and colleagues call Barry Barnett an “incredibly gifted lawyer” (Chambers and Partners) who is “magic in the courtroom” (Who’s Who Legal). In 2020 and 2021, Lawdragon named him one of the 500 “best of the best” lawyers in the United States. And Best Lawyers honored him as “Lawyer of the Year” in Houston for Bet-the-Company Litigation (2019 and 2017) and Patent Litigation (2020). With offices in Dallas, Houston, and New York, he has successfully navigated complex matters for sophisticated business clients across the United States for more than three decades.
Trial counsel Barnett’s credentials match his knowledge and skill. The son of a Texas roughneck and grandson of a Texas sharecropper, he is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, an Elected Member of the American Law Institute, and an honors graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School. With 35 years of trial and appellate work representing both plaintiffs and defendants, he is a master strategist and nimble tactician in complex disputes.
Barnett focuses on enforcement of antitrust laws, the Magna Carta of free enterprise, in Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s memorable phrase. He is also adept in energy and intellectual property matters and has battled for clients against a Who’s Who list of corporate behemoths, including Abbott Labs, Alcoa, Apple, AT&T, BlackBerry, Broadcom, Comcast, Dow, JPMorgan Chase, Samsung, and Visa. Barnett projects a compelling courtroom presence. His performance before the Supreme Court in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend prompted the Court to withdraw the question on which it had granted review. The judge in a trial involving mobile phone technology called him “one of the best” and his opening statement the finest he had ever seen. Another trial judge told Barnett minutes after a jury returned a favorable verdict against the county’s most powerful manufacturer that he was one of the two best trial lawyers he’d ever come across—adding that the other one was dead.
Barnett focuses on enforcement of antitrust laws, the Magna Carta of free enterprise, in Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s memorable phrase. He is also adept in energyand intellectual property matters and has battled for clients against a Who’s Who list of corporate behemoths, including Abbott Labs, Alcoa, Apple, AT&T, BlackBerry, Broadcom, Comcast, Dow, JPMorgan Chase, Samsung, and Visa.
Mike Biles focuses on securities litigation in the federal and state courts. As a partner in our Securities Enforcement and Regulation practice, Mike represents companies and company insiders in securities cases, including class actions, investigations and regulatory matters.
An experienced litigator, Mike counsels public companies, officers, directors and securities underwriters in class actions and derivative lawsuits. He also represents companies and company insiders in investigations and enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulatory agencies.
Mike represents and advises companies dealing with significant corporate transactions, including fiduciary obligations in mergers and acquisitions. He also represents corporate officers and directors in bankruptcy adversary proceedings involving alleged breaches of fiduciary-duty and fraudulent-transfer claims.
Whitney Cox is lead counsel, corporate securities for ConocoPhillips. Ms. Cox joined ConocoPhillips in 2019 as senior counsel, with responsibility for general corporate and securities matters, before being promoted to lead counsel in 2021. Prior to joining ConocoPhillips, Ms. Cox was senior vice president, legal at Seitel, Inc. where she led the legal department and oversaw corporate, commercial and litigation matters. She began her career as a corporate associate at Sidley Austin in Chicago, before moving to Texas and joining Clarkhill Strasburger in Houston.
Paul Davies is a partner in the London office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the firm’s Environment, Land & Resources Department. Mr. Davies is Co-Chair of the firm’s global ESG Taskforce and a member of Latham & Watkins’ Sustainability Committee. Mr. Davies is a member of the Board of Directors of Environmental Law Institute (ELI). He is “internationally regarded” for his “outstanding” work, which has “played a pivotal role in the industry” – Who’s Who Legal 2016, Environment. Further, he was named among Europe’s Top 10 Innovative Individuals for being “at the forefront for environmental law in Europe and Asia” and actively collaborating with environmental consultancies to “promote knowledge sharing” and to develop innovative products – FT Innovative Lawyers Report 2019.
James Dean is a partner in the Washington, DC office of the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP. He served as vice-chair of the firm’s Antitrust Practice Group for over a decade and currently serves on the Steering Committee for the Energy Industry Group, a multi-practice initiative intended to serve the firm’s wide base of energy clients. As part of his antitrust practice, James advises clients on all aspects of antitrust law, including mergers, joint ventures, distribution agreements, and trade association activities with a particular emphasis on the energy and life sciences industries. He has represented numerous clients in responding to government investigations and as both plaintiffs and defendants in private antitrust litigation. James also regularly handles issues related to FERC regulation under the Federal Power Act and Natural Gas Act, with a focus on competition issues in energy markets.
Susan Deniker focuses her practice in the areas of labor and employment law, higher education law and litigation. Susan counsels clients on a wide variety of employment issues, including in the areas of wage and hour, discrimination, retaliation, FMLA, discipline and discharge. She also conducts investigations, drafts policies and procedures, and prepares employment contracts and severance agreements.
Becky Diffen is a partner based in Norton Rose Fulbright's Austin office where she focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, project development, and tax equity financings of renewable energy, energy storage, power generation and transmission projects - including wind, solar, battery storage, geothermal, waste-to-energy, and other technologies. She also has experience advising clients on Texas regulatory law. Becky has over 18 years of experience in the renewable energy industry and previously worked as a utility-scale wind power developer.
Meghan is the Vice-President of Legal Operations for Ovintiv Inc. (formerly Encana Corporation) and heads up the legal team that supports Ovintiv’s operations, which includes major plays in both the US and Canada. Early in her career, Meghan transitioned inhouse with Noble Energy, working her way through the various business units of the company until she managed the Domestic Operations legal team, which supported Noble’s operations in the Marcellus, Permian, Eagle Ford and DJ basins, as well as the company’s operations in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2017, Meghan joined Newfield Exploration where she served as the company’s Associate General Counsel of operations until the company merged with Encana. In 2020, Meghan received the Texas Lawyer’s Women in Energy Profession Excellence award, which recognized her work in both the Newfield/Encana merger and in Encana’s corporate reorganization and name change to Ovintiv.
Meghan graduated from Houston Baptist University with a double B.A. in Economics and Political Science and received her law degree from Baylor Law School.
Dr. David S. Ferris joined Laredo in February 2021 and currently serves as Chief Sustainability Officer. Dr. Ferris has more than 20 years of experience in the upstream oil and natural gas industry, most recently as Executive Director of the Ronnie K. Irani Center for Energy Solutions at the University of Oklahoma (OU). Prior to OU, he held leadership, strategy and technical roles for Devon Energy, Anadarko Petroleum and Crawley Petroleum. He attended OU and earned a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering, a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science in Natural Gas Engineering and Management. Dr. Ferris also earned a Doctorate in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California. He serves as a Director for the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board, The Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma and the industry advisory board for the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering at OU.
As one of Washington's best-known litigators, Jamie Gorelick has represented institutions and individuals in a wide array of matters, particularly in the regulatory and enforcement arenas. Routinely listed as one of the “Best Lawyers in America,” she was the 2018 American Lawyer “Lifetime Achiever”, has been profiled as “A Legend in the Law” in the Washington Lawyer, and listed by the National Law Journal as one of the “Thirty Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years.”
Jamie has been in and out of government for most of her career. She was one of the longest serving Deputy Attorneys General of the United States, the second highest position in the Department of Justice. She also served as General Counsel of the Department of Defense. Earlier in her career, Jamie was Vice Chair of the Task Force on the Audit, Inspection and Investigation Components of the Department of Defense. She was also Assistant to the Secretary and Counselor to the Deputy Secretary of Energy.
Jamie has also served on numerous government boards and commissions. She has been a member of the Department of Defense Policy Board and served as a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the "9/11 Commission") and she has served on senior advisory panels at the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Energy.
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.
Amanda Halter is managing partner of the firm’s Houston office, a member of the firm’s Environmental & Natural Resources practice section and co-leader of the firm’s Crisis Management team. She also co-leads Pillsbury’s COVID-19 Response team, providing clients with real-time guidance on the implications of the rapidly evolving epidemic.
Amanda helps companies resolve environmental liabilities and negotiate compliance conditions, as well as manage financial and reputational losses associated with a crisis. Her experience includes a diverse array of environmental regulatory, litigation and crisis matters, including contamination investigations and remedial actions, natural resource damages assessments and claims, environment, health and safety compliance counseling, mass toxic tort actions, permitting and planning for large-scale industrial projects, and project impacts mitigation and restoration strategies.
Aurélien Hamelle is General Counsel of the French energy company Total SE. Before taking up his position as General Counsel, he was a regulatory and dispute resolution lawyer with various firms, including Allen & Overy as a partner in their Paris office.
As part of his current position, Aurélien oversees the whole legal department of the Total group (nearly 500 lawyers) and deals with a wide array of matters (M&A, contracts, compliance, disputes, legal operations development…).
He is a teacher in “legal risks’ management and compliance” at the French Institute of Political Sciences (Sciences-Po) and was formerly head of the criminal law and procedure curriculum at the Paris Bar professional training school.
A graduate of the Universities Paris-Nanterre and Paris-Dauphine in law and management and of Sciences-Po, Aurélien is married and has two children. During his spare time, he enjoys riding motorbikes and is an ice hockey fan.
Erica Harris is a partner in the Houston office of litigation powerhouse, Susman Godfrey, LLP. Her practice spans the full breadth of complex commercial litigation, from contracts and business torts to environmental and intellectual property.
Erica earned her BA from Rice University magna cum laude and her JD from The University of Texas School of Law in Austin with highest honors. At UT Law, she earned the distinction of Vice Chancellor (second in class) and Order of the Coif. Following law school, Erica clerked for The Honorable Lee H. Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas and served as a Visiting Lecturer in Law at The University of Virginia School of Law pursuant to an Olin Fellowship.
Harris has been named one of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” in the United States, Canada and Latin America by Benchmark Litigation; one of the “500 Leading Lawyers” in the United States by Lawdragon Magazine; a “Litigation Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal; and one of “The Best Lawyers of America” in Commercial Litigation, Antitrust Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation by The Best Lawyers in America.
Jeff Holmstead, former assistant administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for Air and Radiation, is one of the nation’s leading climate change lawyers as recognized by Chambers USA (2008-2020) and heads the Environmental Strategies group at Bracewell. The Environmental Strategies group is a multi-disciplinary group that includes environmental and energy attorneys, public policy advocates and strategic communications experts – most of whom have had high-level government experience. Under Jeff’s leadership, they work together on a daily basis to advise and defend companies and business groups confronting major environmental and energy-development challenges, both domestically and globally.
From his time in both the government and the private sector, Jeff is very familiar with the environmental and energy challenges facing the business community. He advises clients dealing with an increasingly complex regulatory, legal and public relations landscape, drawing on his experience in policy development, administrative and legislative advocacy, litigation and strategic communications. He has worked with clients in a number of industries on issues related to climate change, Clean Air Act policy and enforcement, and energy policy — including the development of new coal-fired power plants, refineries, renewable energy sources, and electric transmission infrastructure.
Jeff headed the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation from 2001 to 2005, longer than anyone in EPA history. During his tenure, he was the architect of several of the agency’s most important initiatives, including the Clean Air Interstate Rule, the Clean Air Diesel Rule, the Mercury Rule for power plants and the reform of the New Source Review program. He also oversaw the development of the Bush Administration’s Clear Skies Legislation and key parts of its Global Climate Change Initiative. Between 1989 and 1993, Jeff served on the White House Staff as Associate Counsel to former President George H.W. Bush. In that capacity, he was involved in the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and the key steps taken to implement those amendments. From 1987 to 1988, he served as a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Mr. Jordan was appointed as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of EQT Corporation in July 2019. Mr. Jordan served as an advisor to the Rice Investment Group (multi-strategy investment fund investing in all verticals of the oil and gas sectors) from May 2018 until July 2019. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Rice Energy, Inc. and Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Rice Midstream Partners LP in each case from January 2014 until their acquisition by the Company in November 2017. From September 2005 to December 2013, Mr. Jordan was an associate at Vinson & Elkins LLP representing public and private companies in capital markets offerings and mergers and acquisitions, primarily in the oil and natural gas industry.
Steven Karpel, CFA, Managing Director, is on the Multi-Sector team within Global Fixed Income focused on high yield alpha strategies. In this role, he manages the high-yield allocations in a number of BlackRock's multi-sector fixed income funds.
Monica is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of CenterPoint Energy. In this role, she oversees Legal, Claims, Environmental, Enterprise Risk Management and Ethics, Compliance and Privacy.
Since joining the company, Monica has led more than $27 billion in mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions, including our $6 billion merger with Vectren and related financing activities, as well as the company’s recent divestitures of its infrastructure and energy services businesses.
In her prior position, Monica served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. Before joining CenterPoint Energy, Monica was at LyondellBasell Industries, where she served in various roles, including counsel for corporate, finance and strategic transactions. Prior to LyondellBasell, she worked in private practice as a corporate associate at Baker Botts LLP.
Monica has received prestigious honors for her work and impact on the legal industry. She was named to the National Diversity Council’s Top 50 General Counsel, Top 100 Most Influential Women in Energy and Top 50 Women Lawyers lists, recognized her for inspiring others and molding the future of the legal industry. Monica was also presented with a Magna Stella Award by the Texas General Counsel Forum for in-house leadership and excellence in the Senior Managing Counsel, Large Legal Department category.
In June 2015, Monica was appointed as a Commissioner of the Texas Access to Justice Commission by the Texas Supreme Court. In March 2021, she joined the Board of the Houston Bar Foundation. Monica is a also member of the Houston Pro Bono Joint Initiative Planning Committee, the Advisory Council of the Tahirih Justice Center and the Legal Services to the Poor in Civil Matters Committee of the Texas Bar Association. Similarly, she serves on the board of the CenterPoint Energy Foundation.
Monica received her bachelor’s degree from Brown University, her master’s degree in public health from Columbia University and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
Kevin spearheads development of ESG strategies and frameworks for multiple sub-asset classes. He chairs the Fixed Income Methodology Committee and sits on the award-winning Bloomberg Barclays MSCI Global Green Bond Index selection committee.
Prior, Kevin was an Associate Director in S&P Global Ratings’ Energy, Materials, and Commodities practice and an initial member of its Sustainable Finance team. He advised and raised capital in the energy sector of private equity and managed CDO portfolios at BNY Mellon.
Kevin received an Earth Institute Fellowship to complete an MS in Sustainability Management at Columbia University. He holds a BA in Economics from UT Austin and an MBA from University of Houston. Kevin also served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa.
Daniella focuses her practice on a broad range of environmental compliance, transactional and litigation matters. She counsels energy companies, manufacturers, industrial facilities, financial institutions, real estate interests and other businesses on complex environmental and related land use issues, including environmental risk assessment, crisis management and incident response, environmental permitting and compliance, environmental due diligence in acquisitions and transactions, management of environmental issues affecting the upstream, midstream, downstream, and renewables/alternative energy sectors, natural resources damages claims, climate change initiatives, and pollution exposure disputes.
Daniella frequently counsels clients on corrective actions, brownfields redevelopment, environmental closures and groundwater remediation as well as assists in the review and audit of operations to address air, water and waste compliance issues for manufacturing, industrial or waste disposal facilities. She has been seconded by clients as in-house counsel on several occasions to handle environmental issues.
Daniella helps clients navigate environmental crises and develop legal response strategies tailored to each specific situation. She handles governmental investigations of environmental matters, environmental enforcement defense, responses to citizen protest actions, cost recovery claims and Superfund litigation.
Trevor Lavelle is a partner in the Houston office of Latham & Watkins. He represents companies and financial institutions in a variety of public and private financing transactions, including secured and unsecured high yield debt offerings, initial public offerings, exchange offers, tender offers and other complex liability management transactions, as well as both consensual and in-court restructurings. He also assists companies in general securities law compliance, corporate governance efforts, stock exchange rules and other public company matters.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) was sworn into the United States Senate on November 15, 2010 to fill the seat left vacant by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd.
Legislatively, job creation is Senator Manchin's top priority and he believes that government should act as a partner, not an adversary, in helping to create the environment that produces good American jobs. Senator Manchin also firmly believes that our nation can and must do what he did in West Virginia -put our fiscal house in order. He believes we must find commonsense ways to cut spending while keeping our promises to our seniors and veterans by protecting Social Security and Medicare.
Senator Manchin currently serves as the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and also serves on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs - four critical committees that tackle the important work of addressing our nation's energy needs, overseeing discretionary spending, standing up for our Veterans, and defending our nation.
Tony Marino is experienced in a wide range of onshore and offshore energy related transactions and regulatory matters. Tony’s transactional practice is concentrated generally on matters involving the acquisition and divestiture of mineral properties, energy related financings, the negotiation and performance of agreements related to the exploration, development and production of oil and gas, and mineral title examination. His regulatory practice is focused on matters relating to mineral leases, including those located onshore Louisiana, in Louisiana state waters and in federal waters of all regions of the Outer Continental Shelf.
Ashlee McFarlane is an experienced trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor who has led complex government investigations. She is currently a Partner at Gerger, Khalil, Hennessy & McFarlane LLP, a Chambers Band 1 ranked white-collar criminal defense firm in Texas, where she defends individuals and companies in grand jury and regulatory investigations as well as criminal and civil proceedings involving allegations of health care fraud, money laundering, tax fraud, kickbacks, securities fraud, opioid diversion, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations.
Elizabeth McGinley, chair of Bracewell's tax department, regularly advises clients on acquisitions, dispositions, restructurings, joint ventures and debt and equity investments in the upstream and midstream oil and gas and conventional and renewable power industries. She represents both public and private energy companies as well as private equity funds. Liz is recognized by Chambers USA among America's leading lawyers for tax (2012-2020). From Chambers USA: "One of the sharpest and most comprehensive tax people we've ever worked with; nothing gets by her. From a client's perspective, I don't know how you could ask for more" (2018).
Alicia McKnight is apartner inthe firm’s Finance group and advises clients in a wide range of industry sectors, but has generally focused on both domestic and international energy and infrastructure projects. Alicia is also the Co-Chair of Pillsbury’s Women's Impact Network (WIN).
Alicia regularly represents borrowers and financial institutions in a variety of commercial and finance transactions, including project financing, secured and unsecured commercial loans and asset-backed financing. She has developed substantial experience in the energy industry across multiple sectors, from oil and gas to conventional and renewable power generation and storage. Her transactional experience also includes a diverse array of corporate matters and general business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, stock and asset purchases and divestitures, joint ventures and other strategic business arrangements.
An experienced litigator, Ms. Mitchell works with clients to defend and resolve criminal and civil enforcement actions. Ms. Mitchell’s insight and advice for clients incorporates her deep understanding of the inner workings of both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She counsels clients regarding their environmental regulatory obligations, as well as assists them to develop effective, high-quality compliance programs that are fully integrated with the organization’s business strategy. She is a co-chair of the firm’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and climate change practice areas and regularly advises clients on these complex matters.
Stacey, co-chairs the Washington D.C. office’s Women’s Resource Group, is a Member of the Leadership Council of the Environmental Law Institute, and serves as a board member on the Global Fund for Children.
Prior to joining Akin Gump, Stacey served as Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Obama Administration, and previously spent 16 years –ultimately serving as Chief – at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Environmental Crimes Section.
Bridget Moore is Co-Chair of Baker Botts’ Litigation Department, and she focuses her practice on securities enforcement. Bridget regularly defends her clients in investigations that cover all areas of securities laws, including potential accounting issues, disclosure concerns, FCPA/anticorruption issues, unregistered initial coin offerings, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sweeps, insider trading, and a wide variety of whistle-blower allegations.
Prior to joining Baker Botts in May 2003, Bridget worked as a staff attorney in the Division of Enforcement at the SEC. While at the SEC, Bridget conducted investigations involving the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, proxy violations, insider trading and various disclosure and reporting violations. In addition, Bridget was part of trial teams that litigated issues concerning the fraudulent promotion of stocks, earning her the Enforcement Division Director’s Award for Trial Work.
Ingrid A. Myers is a partner in King & Spalding’s construction and energy transaction practice. She counsels clients on project development and decommissioning projects, particularly in the nuclear industry. Her project development practice focuses on construction-related matters, and particularly on advising clients on engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) arrangements for energy and other infrastructure projects. She has worked on decommissioning projects utilizing both contractor and license transfer structures. Ingrid also represents clients in an array of industries on business transactions, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate law.
Much of Ingrid’s project development practice focuses on construction-related matters for energy and other infrastructure projects, including assisting clients with the development of new power generating projects, including nuclear, coal, natural gas, and solar power; LNG and other oil and gas projects; and other infrastructure projects. Recent examples include LNG facilities, refineries, and solar, biomass, nuclear, and natural gas–fired power generating facilities. She has represented clients in preparing bid requests and drafting and negotiating EPC contracts; engineering, procurement, and construction management agreements; construction contracts; engineering services and technical services agreements; technology licenses; equipment supply agreements; operations and maintenance agreements; fuel supply agreements, including nuclear fuel supply arrangements; power purchase agreements; interconnection agreements; transmission agreements; and land and water rights acquisition arrangements.
Terry Ragsdale is a shareholder in the Tulsa office of GableGotwals where he has practiced law since 1992. He serves on the law firm's board of directors and co-chairs the energy practice group. His roots in the energy business date back to the 1980s when he worked for several years as a petroleum engineer. Terry’s practice involves the representation of energy companies such as oil and gas producers, pipelines, purchasers, and electric and natural gas utilities in a variety of significant litigation and transactional matters. He has led many energy litigation teams, including complex contract disputes and royalty owner class actions.
Cristina Espinosa Rodriguez is a trial lawyer in the Houston office of Hogan Lovells, a global law firm with almost 3,000 lawyers in 50 offices. While Cristina has handled and tried a wide variety of lawsuits, her practice primarily focuses on complex commercial litigation and employment litigation, counseling and investigations. Her work ranges from pursuing or defending commercial claims to counseling employers and defending employment claims. She also handles sensitive internal investigations.
Over the past few years, Cristina has gone to trial on behalf of a diverse group of clients, including a software inventor in a patent infringement, trade secrets, and breach of contract case; a global consulting firm in a misappropriation of trade secrets case; a large accounting firm in a fraud case involving tax strategy; and several different employers in cases involving various discrimination claims.
Andres Romero is Chevron Corporation’s Managing Counsel for Special Litigation, in San Ramon, California. Mr. Romero leads Chevron’s Special Litigation group, which focuses on complex, high-stakes, domestic, transnational, and cross-border litigation and arbitration.
Mr. Romero’s group manages the company’s climate change litigation. Chevron is named as a co-defendant in 19 lawsuits brought by states, municipalities and other entities in nine jurisdictions alleging harm from climate change. No case has survived a motion to dismiss.
Mr. Romero also manages Chevron’s worldwide litigation arising from a fraudulent $9.5 billion Ecuadorian judgment. Dubbed the “legal fraud of the century” by the Wall Street Journal, the case includes an investment arbitration against Ecuador and has involved parallel proceedings in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, The Netherlands and Gibraltar. The matter earned Mr. Romero and his team recognition on Law360’s “legal lions.” Benchmark Litigation named the case "Impact Case of the Year" and honored Chevron with the 2015 award for in-house litigation department of the year.
Over his 23-year tenure with Chevron, Mr. Romero has handled transactional matters, arbitrations and disputes in 26 countries and has worked and lived in the U.S., the U.K., Kazakhstan and Latin America.
Prior to his current role, until 2012, Mr. Romero was Legal Manager for Chevron Upstream Europe in in the U.K., where he managed the legal affairs of the company’s Exploration and Production Divisions in the U.K., The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Greenland, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. Previously, he served as Deputy General Manager of Negotiations and Legal in Kazakhstan, where he managed the legal affairs of Tengizchevroil, a Chevron-led joint venture.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Romero held various in-house positions with Chevron affiliates in Latin America and the U.S., providing legal support to business development, commercial activities and operations related to oil, gas and LNG projects and assets. Mr. Romero’s transactional experience includes complex international petroleum transactions, host government contracts, joint venture agreements, and cross-border unitizations.
Mr. Romero is a member of the Board of the Harvard Law School Alumni Association of Northern California and a Track Co-Lead of the ICC’s Task Force on ADR and Arbitration.
Mr. Romero received a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Harvard Law School in 2002, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He received his first law degree (Juris Doctor equivalent), summa cum laude and Valedictorian, in Venezuela in 1998. Mr. Romero is admitted to practice in New York and is registered in-house counsel in California.
B. J. Rosen, a partner in Orrick’s New York office, serves as Global Head of Direct Lending. B. J. advises alternative lenders in connection with a variety of leveraged finance transactions.
B. J. is also the Senior Outside Legal Advisor to The Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating wrongly-convicted prisoners through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
Josh Rosenkranz is co-head of the firm’s Supreme Court & Appellate Litigation practice. A former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. and then-Judge Antonin Scalia on the D.C. Circuit, Josh has personally argued more than 190 appeals in state and federal appellate courts across the nation, including 18 before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Josh is the only lawyer ever named American Lawyer's “Litigator of the Year” twice. In 2012, the magazine dubbed him “the Defibrillator” based on his streak of appellate wins for companies that “appeared to be at death’s door,” and in 2017 it declared, he “still deserves the moniker we once gave him.” Chambers USA has reported, “He wins accolades for his ‘brilliant analysis and judgment.’ Clients appreciate how he ‘rethinks every case from the ground up,’ and add: ‘He can take the most complicated legal or technological issue and present it in a way that seems like common sense.’” Another edition of Chambers USA added: “‘His briefs are quite simply beautiful,’” and “clients describe his courtroom presence as ‘both commanding and accessible at the same time.’ He has the ‘perfect combination of persuasiveness, intelligence, wit, and deference.’”
Josh's practice covers a wide range of subjects, including securities, intellectual property, antitrust, federal preemption, insurance law, corporate governance, criminal law and constitutional litigation. Among his recent clients are Credit Suisse, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Facebook, Genentech, Gilead, JPMorgan Chase, Kleiner Perkins, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Oracle, and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Michelle Prejean Scheffler is a solutions-oriented trial lawyer who counsels clients in complex commercial litigation matters. While Michelle’s practice focuses primarily on clients in the oil and gas industry, she also handles trial and appellate matters in a wide variety of fields involving contract disputes, property rights and business torts.
Michelle regularly represents clients in multimillion-dollar lawsuits in both state and federal courts across the country. In her oil and gas practice, Michelle represents major integrated oil and gas companies, privately-owned independents and equity investors in a wide range of matters including cases arising under operating agreements, lease termination disputes, royalty litigation, and complex title disputes. Michelle also provides pre-litigation counsel to her oil and gas clients, and advises on litigation risk for oil and gas transactions.
After clerking on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for the late Thomas Gibbs Gee, Reagan joined the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright), where he became a partner in the litigation section. After 24 years with that firm, Reagan became a partner with King & Spalding in Houston and later opened its Austin office. In 2011, Reagan joined Yetter Coleman to lead the firm’s appellate practice, returning to Houston several years later.
Throughout his career, Reagan has represented members of the energy industry in a variety of settings. He handled many personal injury suits arising out of exploration and drilling activities. Almost 10 years of his career was spent in defending and trying mass tort cases arising out of a 1983 acid leak at the Marathon Refinery in Galveston and the 1989 explosion in the polyethylene plant of the Houston Chemical Complex of Phillips 66. He successfully reversed on appeal a $120 million judgment arising out of an explosion at the Coastal Refining and Marketing facility in Corpus Christi and a $40 million award of exemplary damages arising out of another refinery explosion at a facility then operated by Diamond Shamrock.
Reagan also provided many years of appellate assistance in trials and handled appeals for ExxonMobil on its asbestos docket, winning two take-nothing judgments on appeal. In contract disputes, Reagan has litigated indemnity and insurance issues for the energy industry, culminating in his serving as the lead appellate lawyer for Transocean in the certified question from the Fifth Circuit to the Texas Supreme Court, In re Deepwater Horizon, that resulted in a decision that ruled against BP’s attempt to obtain coverage under Transocean’s $750 million in coverage.
Reagan was honored with the 2020 Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award by the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and selected by the Texas Bar Foundation for the 2020 Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award in recognition of his commitment to excellence, mentorship, and professionalism. The awards, along with many years of recognition by Chambers and Partners, Best Lawyers in America, and Texas Super Lawyers, reflect his standing as one of the State’s and nation’s premier appellate practitioners.
Linda R. Stahl is a partner at Carter Arnett. Linda is a commercial litigator who guides companies through complex legal disputes so that they can get down to the business of doing business.
After graduating from Yale Law School and serving as a federal law clerk to the Hon. Sidney A. Fitzwater in the United States Court for the Northern District of Texas, Linda concentrated her law practice on complex commercial litigation. Linda has substantial expertise with disputes over trade secrets and served on the State Bar committee instrumental in the Texas Legislature’s adoption in 2013 of the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act. She has litigated a variety of intellectual property matters, including trademark, copyright and trade secret misappropriation claims. Drawing on years of experience in employment-related matters (and in addition to defending discrimination and wrongful termination suits), Linda also assists companies and individuals seeking to enforce or avoid noncompetition agreements.
Lucy Stark is a partner in the Denver office of Holland & Hart, and a member of the firm’s Securities and Capital Markets practice group. Her wide-ranging transactional practice includes debt and equity capital markets deals, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, public and private securities offerings, and exchange offers. She also advises clients in a variety of industries, including energy and mining, on matters regarding securities laws, corporate governance, disclosure and SEC reporting, board and committee practices, and stock exchange and insider trading compliance.
Robert Sutphin is a Partner with Holland & Hart LLP in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he helps oil and gas producers favorably resolve their most challenging disputes, including royalty underpayment claims, all types of contract disputes, environmental issues, and class actions.
Robert brings a deep understanding of New Mexico oil and gas law, including insight into issues and problems faced by energy companies. When litigating cases, clients appreciate his tenacity, responsiveness and creativity. This combination of skills and expertise results in consistently good outcomes for his clients.
He regularly litigates cases involving oil and gas royalties, severance and property taxes, marketing and valuation, allocation and gas balancing, and unit and joint operating agreements. In addition, he handles surface owner disputes, environmental matters, and claims under the Surface Owner’s Protection Act.
Laney Vazquez is Supervising Counsel for Chevron’s Rockies Business Unit. She is responsible for legal services supporting Chevron’s upstream operations in Colorado and Wyoming. She serves on the Rockies Business Unit Leadership Team and the Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company Law Leadership Team.
Derek is the Vice President of Legal for US Onshore Resources and Carbon Management at Occidental. He was previously Vice President Legal of Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, which is dedicated to emissions reduction and low-carbon initiatives, including technology investments and project development, that further Occidental's strategic vision of building a sustainable energy future. In addition, LCV is developing new business models that will enable participants in hard-to-decarbonize industries to reduce their carbon emissions.
Prior to joining Occidental, he was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, General Counsel and Secretary of Volusion, LLC, where he managed Volusion's corporate development opportunities, including strategic partnerships and acquisitions, and was responsible for worldwide legal affairs.
Before Volusion, Derek was a corporate and securities partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. His practice focused on venture capital and private equity investments, mergers and acquisitions and capital market transactions in clean technology, renewable energy, internet, semiconductor, software, telecommunications and life sciences.
With a keen sense of the clean energy and water markets and opportunities, Elise Zoli provides strategic direction and advice to the nation's leading public and private enterprises. Her experience focuses on the development, financing (impact investment, hedge fund, private equity, governmental grant, and alternative funding), and operation of clean energy, water, and related infrastructure projects and services. Elise is recognized as a leading energy lawyer in Massachusetts and serves as global co-head of the Firm's Future of Energy, Renewables+ & Sustainability Initiative.
| Availability | Module Title | Speaker | Credits | Course Type | Duration | Course Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Keynote Presentation - Shaping America’s Energy Policy (Non-MCLE)
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Sen. Joe Manchin
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N/A | On Demand | 30 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Navigating Washington’s Shoals: Cross-Currents Affecting the Energy Industry (Non-MCLE)
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Jamie Gorelick
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N/A | On Demand | 45 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
2021 Deans of Oil and Gas Practice Lecture (Non-MCLE)
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Reagan Simpson
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N/A | On Demand | 30 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Recent Developments in Oil and Gas Law
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Keith Hall
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N/A | On Demand | 1 Hour | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
The Inside Perspective: Legal Issues and Needs of Industry Counsel
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N/A | On Demand | 1 Hour | More info » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Lower Carbon Innovation & Legal Issues
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N/A | On Demand | 1 Hour | More info » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
ESG Considerations for the Energy Industry
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N/A | On Demand | 1 Hour | More info » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Climate Change Litigation Around the World
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N/A | On Demand | 45 Minutes | More info » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Government Investigations and Securities Litigation – You Better Watch Out!
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N/A | On Demand | 45 Minutes | More info » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Energy Disputes on the Rise – Employment, IP and Antitrust
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N/A | On Demand | 45 Minutes | More info » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Reasonable Prudent Operator – The Continuously Evolving Standard
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N/A | On Demand | 1 Hour | More info » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
What’s Old is (Sometimes) New Again: Decommissioning and Repurposing of Aging Assets
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Amanda Halter
Alicia McKnight
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N/A | On Demand | 45 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Distressed Debt Exchanges
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N/A | On Demand | 45 Minutes | More info » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Managing Antitrust Risk in Mergers and Joint Ventures in Transitioning Energy Markets
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James Dean Jr.
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N/A | On Demand | 45 Minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Applying Oil and Gas Skill Sets to Renewable Power Transactions
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Jeffrey Allen
Becky Diffen
Ingrid Myers
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N/A | On Demand | 55 minutes | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the time of purchase |
Ethical Hazards of Text Messaging and Other Electronic Communications: Lessons to be Learned
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Anthony Marino
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N/A | On Demand | 1 Hour | More info » | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Conference CE Credits Information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
