Advanced Landman's Institute

DAVID W. MILLER is the owner and Managing Member of Miller Land Professionals, LLC, a full-service land company located in Jackson, Mississippi.  After graduating from Mississippi State University with a degree in Geology in 1975, Mr. Miller began his forty-four year career as a landman working for his father.  He formed Miller Land Professionals in 2003 and expanded his business to cover more than twenty states.  He is a Certified Professional Landman and a Registered Professional Geologist. He is a past president of the American Association of Professional Landmen and the Mississippi Association of Petroleum Landmen, and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the U. S. Oil & Gas Association, Mississippi & Alabama Division. 

AMY E. SENESHEN serves as the managing partner of Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley, P.C. She specializes in the acquisition and divestiture of oil and gas upstream and midstream assets, and advises clients in the energy sector on day-to-day operational issues and transactional matters. Ms. Seneshen also represents companies in negotiating and structuring natural resource projects for the exploration and development of mineral properties. She is the vice-chair of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Special Institutes Committee and has also served as a trustee-at-large and member of the Financial Advisory Committee and Long Range Planning Committee. She has been recognized as a Super Lawyer and by 5280’s Top Lawyers, as well as by Best Lawyers in America in the field of oil and gas law. The Denver Business Journal has named Ms. Seneshen to its list of Who’s Who in Energy and Top Women in Energy. Ms. Seneshen is the past Chair of the Natural Resources and Energy Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and her law degree from the William and Mary College of Law.

TIMOTHY ABING is an energy liaison with the U.S. Forest Service’s Washington Office Minerals and Geology Staff, based in Lakewood, CO where he advises on policy and program issues related to energy leasing, production, and infrastructure on National Forest System Lands. He has held a variety of field- and senior-level positions dealing with minerals management on federal lands for both the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Abing received a B.S. in mining engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville in 1980.

DEANA A. ALLEN is Senior Counsel at Beatty & Wozniak, P.C., in Denver, Colorado, where she practices in the firm’s Oil & Gas Title and Transactional Groups. She is licensed to practice in Texas, Colorado, and North Dakota. Her practice is devoted exclusively to the oil and gas industry, including rendering drilling, division order, leasehold and acquisition title opinions and representing clients in all phases of acquisition and divestiture transactions. Previously, she served as Associate General Counsel for a wholly owned subsidiary of a Fortune 250 company in Dallas where her practice encompassed issues related to real property law, title issues, regulatory compliance and transactional work. She also speaks to legal and industry groups on oil and gas topics and issues affecting the oil and gas industry. Deana graduated from the University of Kansas Business School with a M.B.A. and the University of Kansas Law School with her J.D. She is currently a member of the Oil, Gas and Energy Resources, Real Property, and Probate and Trust Law Sections of the State Bar of Texas, the Natural Resources & Energy Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association, the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, the Denver Association of Oil and Gas Title Attorneys, and the Denver Association of Petroleum Landmen.

WILLIAM B. BURFORD is a partner in the Midland, Texas, office of Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP.  He received a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975, and is a 1978 graduate of the University of Texas Law School, where he was a member of the Texas Law Review.  He has practiced in Midland since his graduation, primarily in the area of oil and gas title and transactional matters.  He has served, since its inception, on the joint editorial board for the development of title examination standards established by the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law and Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Sections of the State Bar of Texas.  He currently serves as the Texas reporter for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Mineral Law Newsletter and is a past chair of the State Bar of Texas Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Section

ANDREW COOPER, CPL, is a Vice President with Roger A. Soape, Inc., where he has been employed since 2006. Andrew received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin. Andrew is a member of the Houston Association of Professional Landmen, North Houston Association of Professional Landmen and the American Association of Professional Landmen. He is currently serving as the Chairman of AAPL's Field Landman Committee. He is also serving on the HAPL's Permian Basin Social Committee and the RMMLF/AAPL Advanced Landman's Institute Program Committee. Andrew has previously served as the NHAPL's AAPL Regional Director, President, Vice President, Secretary, and Director.

TERRY CROSS is a founding partner of McClure & Cross LLP, established in 2008, and practices in the Dallas office of that firm. He has 40 years’ experience in providing legal counsel to the oil and gas industry as in-house counsel in a major oil company, partner in a large law firm energy practice and now in the boutique oil and gas firm of McClure & Cross.  He is licensed in North Dakota and Texas and board certified in Oil, Gas and Mineral Law by the Board of Specialization of the State Bar of Texas.  He regularly teaches Texas Land Titles as Adjunct Professor at SMU Dedman School of Law and is a frequent speaker and author on energy finance, oil and gas law and industry contracts.  He is a member of the joint editorial board for the development of title examination standards established by the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law and Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Sections of the State Bar of Texas. Cross was selected for the 24th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America in Energy and Natural Resources Law and named the Best Lawyers® “Lawyer of the Year” in Natural Resources Law for Dallas/ Fort Worth for 2018.

TIMOTHY C. DOWD is an attorney with Elias, Books, Brown & Nelson, P.C., in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Mr. Dowd is a past President of the Oklahoma City Mineral Lawyers Society (1996-97); and is past Chairperson of the Oklahoma Bar Association Mineral Law Section (2005-06). Mr. Dowd is the author of the Oklahoma chapter of AAPL’s Nationwide Comparison of Laws on Leasing, Exploration and Production (2011) and the chapter on Oil and Gas Titles in West Publishing Company’s Oklahoma Real Estate Forms and Practice. Mr. Dowd has written numerous articles for publication including:

Trespass in the Age of Horizontal Drilling Under State Conservation Statutes, 63 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Inst. 6A-1 (2017);

Current and Emerging Issues in Oil and Gas, Title Examination, Oil & Gas 2 Nat. Resources & Energy J. 505 (2017);

Clearing Title of Long-Lost Mineral Owners, 54 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Inst. 30-1 (2008); and

Preferential Rights to Purchase in Oil and Gas Transactions, 49 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Inst. 5-1 (2003).

Mr. Dowd’s primary area of practice is oil and gas law, including the rendering of title opinions and the drafting and negotiation of industry contracts.

JIMMY DUPUIS is a partner at Kean Miller LLP in The Woodlands, TX. He has extensive experience representing upstream energy companies in all phases of oil and gas exploration and production in several producing states, including Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana.  His primary areas of practice include title examination, due diligence in connection with the acquisition and divestiture of oil and gas assets, negotiating and drafting contracts, regulatory compliance, and providing advice and assistance to attorneys and landmen at E&P companies.

JOHN S. DZIENKOWSKI is the John F. Sutton, Jr. Chair in Lawyering and the Legal Process and a Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas. John is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a high honors graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. While in law school, John served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Law Review and received the honors of a member in the UT Chancellors and the Order of the Coif. He served as a judicial law clerk for Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Joseph Sneed (1983-84) and for District of Massachusetts Judge Robert Keeton (1984-85). John began his teaching career at Tulane Law School in New Orleans and joined the Texas faculty in 1988. He has been a visiting professor at a number of law schools around the country. John teaches and writes in the areas of professional responsibility of lawyers, real property, international energy transactions, and oil and gas taxation. He also was the recipient of the Texas Exes Faculty Teaching Award at the Law School in 2005. John is a four-term member of the drafting committee of the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. John has authored and edited numerous books and articles on a variety of legal ethics and natural resource topics. John is the long-time co-chair (with Bob Peroni) of the bi-annual Parker Fielder Oil and Gas Taxation Conference, co-sponsored by the University of Texas School of Law and the Internal Revenue Service.

ERIKA ZIMMER ENGER is Senior Counsel for WPX Energy, Inc., an oil & gas exploration and production company, and previously worked as in-house counsel with Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.  Prior to assuming an in-house role, she worked for several Denver law firms and for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, generally concentrating on oil & gas and environmental work, as well as environmental and litigation matters for mining clients.  Erika earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law and her A.B. cum laude from Smith College and is a past Trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation.

JESSICA FREDRICKSON is an associate in the Natural Resources Department of Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP. Her practice focuses primarily on preparing title opinions covering private, state, and federal lands.  She also has experience in drafting various agreements associated with upstream oil and gas matters, including purchase and sale agreements, exchange agreements, oil and gas leases, and surface use agreements. Ms. Fredrickson attended Kansas State University, where she majored in Political Science and minored in English. She is also a recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

WILLIAM E.. “BILL” HACKETT, CPL, is Managing Member of WCM Resources LLC based in Santa Fe, NM. WCM Resources LLC provides full spectrum Energy Land Management services to entities operating in the San Juan Basin (NM/CO) and the Delaware Basin (NM/TX) for traditional E & P companies, water management firms and companies involved in development of solar array and battery storage projects. Bill graduated from the University of Oklahoma with BBA majoring in Petroleum Land Management, is an active member of the Board of Directors for AAPL and currently chairs the Santa Fe Land Institute as well as the AAPL Public Lands and Access Committee.

KEITH B. HALL is Director of the Mineral Law Institute and the Campanile Charities Professor of Energy Law at Louisiana State University, where he teaches Mineral Rights, Civil Law Property, International Petroleum Transactions, and Energy Law & Regulation. 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 a national casebook on oil and gas law and also is co-author of a book on the legal issues relating to hydraulic fracturing. He also is a contributing co-author to a forthcoming new edition of a book on international petroleum transactions. In addition to teaching at LSU, Professor Hall has taught energy law classes as a visiting professor at Baku State University in Azerbaijan, as a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and as an adjunct professor at Loyola School of Law. Before joining the LSU faculty, he practiced law at a major firm in New Orleans for sixteen years, and before that he worked for eight years as a chemical engineer in the petrochemical industry.

MATTHEW A. HARTFORD is Counsel - Occidental Petroleum Corporation in Denver.  Previous to Occidental, Matt was in private practice at Davis, Graham & Stubbs LLP where he focused on transactional, title, commission, and litigation matters for both publicly traded and private oil and gas exploration companies with operations in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, and Utah.  Before DGS, Matt was with the Wyoming and New Mexico offices of Beatty & Wozniak focusing on transactional, title, litigation and oil and gas commission matters for exploration and production companies.  Prior to private practice, Matt interned for the late Senator Craig Thomas and served as his advance team coordinator during his 2006 Senatorial Campaign.  Matt has been around the oil and gas industry his whole life. Growing up in Rock Springs and Powell, Wyoming, Matt spent most of his school breaks in the fields of southwest Wyoming, as a production roustabout, and learning about the industry and the processes by which our nation meets its energy needs.  Matt received his J.D. from the University of Wyoming School of Law and is licensed to practice law in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the District of Wyoming and New Mexico.  Matt is a member of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, Denver Association of Petroleum Landmen, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, and is a member of the RMMLF Membership Committee.  He also contributes as an update author for the Law of Federal Oil and Gas Leases and the American Law of Mining.  Matt has presented on various topics including surface access, involuntary pooling, and master service agreements.

DAVID B. HATCH is an oil and gas title and transactional attorney with Walker, Steiner & Schmidt, P.C.  He previously worked for seven years in the Salt Lake City office of Holland & Hart. Dave has extensive experience with drilling title, division order, financing, and acquisition title opinions, with considerable experience in New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. He provides efficient and reliable work on simple to complex issues involving federal, state, Indian, and private lands. He also represents clients in all types of oil and gas transactions, including conducting due diligence, drafting and negotiating agreements, resolving issues, and getting deals to the closing table. Before his legal career, Dave gained valuable experience and deeper understanding of issues from the client’s perspective working as a landman for an independent oil and gas company. During that time, he gained broad exposure to the workings of an upstream oil and gas company by running title in the county records, negotiating oil and gas leases and assignments, and managing the company’s land database. Dave speaks frequently at industry conferences. He is an active member of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and the American Association of Professional Landmen. He received both his B.A. in Business Administration and J.D. from the University of Utah.

CHRISTOPHER S.C. HEASLEY is a Partner in Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s oil and gas asset acquisition and divestiture practice.  His practice focuses on acquisitions, divestitures and formation of joint ventures involving upstream and midstream assets, including unconventional resources.  He also advises clients on joint development and farmout agreements, exchange agreements and gathering and processing agreements.

JARED A. HEMBREE is a partner in the Roswell, New Mexico office of Hinkle Shanor LLP and is an adjunct professor at Washington & Lee University School of Law, where he teaches Oil and Gas Law. His primary practice is in oil and gas law, including title examination, transactions, and litigation. Mr. Hembree is a Trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and is on the faculty for the RMMLF Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Short Course. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico and has served in various capacities for the American Association of Professional Landmen and the New Mexico Landmen’s Association.  Mr. Hembree received a J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law in 2005.  While at Washington & Lee, Mr. Hembree served as an Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy’s 2005 Symposium Edition and as Chairman of the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series.  He graduated with Honors receiving a B.A. in History with a Minor in Museum Studies from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana in 2000.  Mr. Hembree sits on the boards of directors for a number of civic organizations, including the Eastern New Mexico State Fair.

PHIL LOWE is an attorney advisor with the Department of the Interior’s Rocky Mountain Regional Solicitor’s Office, in Lakewood, CO. Formerly a hydrogeologist and environmental scientist in the environmental management and licensing section of a major electrical utility, as an attorney he was part of the environmental practice groups of two large law firms in San Francisco and Denver. At the Regional Solicitor’s Office, he advises Interior agency clients on legal and policy matters related to conventional and renewable energy development on public lands and has extensive litigation experience before the Interior Board of Land Appeals and federal courts. Phil also advises Bureau of Land Management clients on NEPA and FLPMA issues associated with environmental impact statements and environmental assessments for a variety of land planning actions and project level records of decision. He has a 1981 B.S. with honors from Rutgers University (where he won several athletic and academic awards) and a 1989 J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. 

JOHN B. MCFARLAND represents land and mineral owners in oil, gas and mineral law, water law, and environmental law issues, in both transactional and litigation matters.  He was Briefing Attorney to the Honorable Ruel C. Walker and to the Honorable Ross E. Doughty, Supreme Court of Texas, 1975-1976. He obtained Board Certification as a Specialist in Oil, Gas and Mineral Law in December 1986. Mr. McFarland is the author of the Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog. He has been a shareholder with Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody in Austin, Texas since 1978, and was President of the firm from January 2018 to April 2019. 

Education: Yale University (B.A., cum laude, 1972); University of Texas (J.D., 1975).

JEFF MCGAUGHRAN is Managing Counsel at Noble Energy, Inc., in Denver, Colorado, where he manages legal matters for Noble’s DJ Basin assets.  Prior to joining Noble Energy as an in-house attorney, he worked in private practice for a large Denver law firm focusing primarily on oil and gas, natural resources and public lands law, and also including corporate and general commercial legal matters.  He received a Bachelor’s degree in Business from the University of Washington, Seattle, and his law degree from the University of Denver School of Law.   

ERIN K. MURPHY is a Senior Attorney for Encana’s Western and Southern Operations, where she handles a variety of operational and transactional matters. Prior to joining Encana, Erin practiced in the Trial and Natural Resources groups at Davis Graham & Stubbs, focusing her practice primarily on complex natural resources litigation and other commercial matters for the energy industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree with Highest Honorable Distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a juris doctorate with Honors from University of Wyoming. Erin is licensed in Colorado, Wyoming, and Illinois, and has represented clients in a variety of administrative, state, and federal proceedings. Erin is an active member in a number of professional organizations, including the State Bars of Wyoming and Colorado, the American Bar Association, and the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. Erin also serves as an Executive Member of the Board of Directors for the national non-profit organization Can Do Multiple Sclerosis, and as a volunteer in her free time for numerous other charitable organizations.

SAM NIEBRUGGE is a partner at Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP in Denver, Colorado. His practice focuses primarily on transactional matters for the oil and gas and mining industries. In addition to his work with oil and gas and mining producers at DGS, he worked in-house for a large independent oil and gas producer. He is experienced in drafting and negotiating purchase and sale, development, exploration, joint operating, farmout, and master services agreements, as well as various other agreements in the oil and gas and mining industries. He has experience in both asset and equity transactions. He also has extensive experience preparing all forms of title opinions covering fee, state, and federal lands. He is a trustee, member of the Financial Advisory Committee and Special Institutes Committee, and the co-chair of the Oil and Gas Section for the 2018 Annual Institute for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (RMMLF). He is also the former chair of the RMMLF Young Professionals Committee. He has authored several papers and spoken extensively to in-house counsel and at continuing legal education events on all matters associated with the oil and gas industry.

JOSEPH C. PIERZCHALA is a shareholder at Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley, P.C., in Denver, CO.  His practice focuses on representing oil and gas companies before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and business and individual clients in complex commercial and civil litigation before state and federal courts.  Mr. Pierzchala has experience before the Commission involving drilling and spacing units, statutory pooling, well density, setback, surface issues, rulemaking, and enforcement matters.  Mr. Pierzchala’s litigation experience includes litigating and arbitrating a wide array of disputes involving oil & gas, mineral rights, real estate, corporate law, eminent domain, and securities. He was selected for inclusion in Colorado Super Lawyers "Rising Stars" List, 2014-2018. He received his J.D. from the University of Denver, where he was Staff Editor or the Denver University Law Review, and he received his B.A. in Political Science from Colorado State University.   

TARA K. RIGHETTI is an associate professor at the University of Wyoming College of Law and the UW School of Energy Resources and is the director of the University of Wyoming’s AAPL accredited academic program in Professional Land Management. She teaches classes on oil and gas law and leadership, and coaches the schools energy negotiation competition team. She has written numerous articles on legal topics related to oil and gas and carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration. Tara is a trustee-at-large for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. She is licensed to practice in California and Texas and is a Certified Professional Landman.

KATY WEHMEYER advises oil and gas exploration and production companies in oil and gas acquisitions, sales, leasing and operations, title examination and due diligence. Katy also advises landowners and energy companies regarding lease and land management issues. She is board certified in Oil, Gas and Mineral Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

 EDUCATION/ADMISSIONS:

• The University of Texas School of Law, J.D., with honors, 2006

• Baylor University, B.A., magna cum laude, 2002

• Texas, 2006

• Oklahoma, 2015

• New Mexico, 2016

DAVID M. WILDES is General Counsel at Silverado Oil & Gas in The Woodlands, Texas.  Previously, Mr. Wildes was Managing Counsel at Newfield Exploration Company where his primary focus was on acquisitions, divestitures and other oil and gas asset transactions, as well as supporting the company’s land, operations, marketing, contracts, land administration and seismic teams on various E&P transactions, contracts, matters and disputes. Prior to joining Newfield, David was in-house counsel at Linn Energy, LLC, where he supported the business development group on acquisitions and divestitures and was the lead operations, land and E&P transactions attorney for the Rockies Division, as well as the California, Hugoton, East Texas and Michigan assets.  In private practice, Mr. Wildes advised clients on onshore and offshore acquisitions, divestitures and other oil and gas asset transactions, as well as title and diligence matters, at Baker & McKenzie LLP, Thompson & Knight LLP, Wilson & Johnson LLP, and George C. Hippard & Associates, PC. He is Board Certified in Oil, Gas and Mineral Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is also licensed in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.