Oil & Gas Law Short Course

CHRISTOPHER KULANDER is a professor of law at South Texas College of Law–Houston and Director of the school’s Harry L. Reed Oil and Gas Law Institute. At South Texas, he teaches courses covering oil & gas, energy, and property law. He received his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma, where he was managing editor for the Oklahoma Bar Mineral Law Newsletter, note editor and assisting managing editor for the American Indian Law Review, and research assistant for Owen L. Anderson, Eugene Kuntz Chair of Oil and Gas Law. Before teaching, Professor Kulander practiced full-time for four years in the Houston office of Haynes and Boone LLP within the Energy Practice Group, 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 and leasing. Before law school, he received his B.S. and M.S. in geology from Wright State in Dayton, Ohio, and his Ph.D. in geophysics (petroleum seismology) from Texas A&M, after which he worked as a geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey. He has written and published in the fields of oil and gas law, land use control, American Indian law as well as in geology and petroleum seismology.

CHRISTOPHER KULANDER is a professor of law at South Texas College of Law–Houston and Director of the school’s Harry L. Reed Oil and Gas Law Institute. At South Texas, he teaches courses covering oil & gas, energy, and property law. He received his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma, where he was managing editor for the Oklahoma Bar Mineral Law Newsletter, note editor and assisting managing editor for the American Indian Law Review, and research assistant for Owen L. Anderson, Eugene Kuntz Chair of Oil and Gas Law. Before teaching, Professor Kulander practiced full-time for four years in the Houston office of Haynes and Boone LLP within the Energy Practice Group, 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 and leasing. Before law school, he received his B.S. and M.S. in geology from Wright State in Dayton, Ohio, and his Ph.D. in geophysics (petroleum seismology) from Texas A&M, after which he worked as a geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey. He has written and published in the fields of oil and gas law, land use control, American Indian law as well as in geology and petroleum seismology.

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.

ALEX RITCHIE is the Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Foundation. He comes to the Foundation from the University of New Mexico School of Law, where he held the Leon Karelitz Chair in Oil and Gas Law and taught oil and gas law, advanced oil and gas law, property law, natural resources law, energy law, and business associations.  Before joining the UNM law faculty, Alex was Senior Corporate Counsel for Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc., based in Denver.  Alex joined Suncor in 2009 after ten years in the Energy and Natural Resources and Corporate Transactions practice groups at Bryan Cave LLP (formerly Holme Roberts & Owen LLP).  In addition to numerous Foundation papers and law review articles, Alex is a co-author of the Tenth Edition of Cases and Materials: The Law of Oil and Gas (Foundation Press 2016) (with Martin, Kramer and Hall).  Over the course of his career, Alex has represented clients in oil and gas, mining, corporate, securities, commercial, mergers and acquisitions, and environmental matters.

PATRICK H. MARTIN is Campanile Professor of Mineral Law, Emeritus, at Louisiana State University Law Center. Professor Martin taught at the LSU Law Center from 1977 to 2011, including courses in Jurisprudence, Contracts, and Mineral Law. From 1982 to 1984, he served as the Commissioner of Conservation for the State of Louisiana. Professor Martin holds the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Louisiana State University and the J. D. degree from the Duke University Law School. His publications include Pooling and Unitization (with B. Kramer) and Williams & Meyers Oil and Gas Law (update and revision author with B. Kramer) and three casebooks, Jurisprudence: Text and Readings on the Philosophy of Law (with Christie), Oil and Gas Cases and Materials (with Kramer, Hall & Ritchie) and Economic Regulation: Energy, Transportation and Utilities (with Pierce and Allison, 1980) as well as numerous articles on oil and gas law, energy regulation, and early modern English history. McFarland & Company, Inc. published his most recent book, Elizabethan Espionage: Plotters and Spies in the Struggle Between Catholicism and Crown, in 2015. Professor Martin has served as an arbitrator, mediator, and consultant in the oil and gas industry.

BRUCE M. KRAMER received his B.A. in International Relations from UCLA in 1968, his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1972 and an LL.M. in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1975. From 1974 through his retirement at the end of 2006 he taught at the Texas Tech University School of Law. He is now the Maddox Professor of Law Emeritus. From 2007 through the present he is of counsel to the Texas-based law firm of McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore. He has taught at Colorado University School of Law since 2008 and is currently a Thomson Visiting Professor of Law. He is the co-author of several treatises including The Law of Pooling and Unitization, Williams & Meyers Oil and Gas Law (since 1996), Cases and Materials on Oil and Gas Law and International Petroleum Transactions. He is also the author of numerous law review articles in the field of oil and gas law. His works have been cited by numerous state and federal courts over the past 25 years. He is an honorary trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute for Energy Law of the Center for American and International Law, and a trustee to the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation.

BRUCE M. KRAMER received his B.A. in International Relations from UCLA in 1968, his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1972 and an LL.M. in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1975. From 1974 through his retirement at the end of 2006 he taught at the Texas Tech University School of Law. He is now the Maddox Professor of Law Emeritus. From 2007 through the present he is of counsel to the Texas-based law firm of McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore. He has taught at Colorado University School of Law since 2008 and is currently a Thomson Visiting Professor of Law. He is the co-author of several treatises including The Law of Pooling and Unitization, Williams & Meyers Oil and Gas Law (since 1996), Cases and Materials on Oil and Gas Law and International Petroleum Transactions. He is also the author of numerous law review articles in the field of oil and gas law. His works have been cited by numerous state and federal courts over the past 25 years. He is an honorary trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute for Energy Law of the Center for American and International Law, and a trustee to the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation.

OWEN L. ANDERSON began teaching full time at the University of Texas School of Law in January 2016, serving as a Professor at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law & Business, where he has taught as a part-time secondee since 2008. He is the Eugene Kuntz Chair Emeritus in Law in Oil, Gas & Natural Resources and the George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma. He continues to regularly teach at the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney. Professor Anderson has lectured at numerous other universities and venues on six continents and throughout the United States. He has authored over 100 articles. He is a co-author of International Petroleum Transactions, Hemingway Oil and Gas Law and Taxation, Cases and Materials on Oil & Gas Law, and A Student’s Guide to Estates in Land and Future Interests. He a co-author of the supplements to Kuntz on Oil and Gas Law, and editor in chief of the Texas Title Standards. He serves on the Academic Advisory Board of the Institute for Energy Law, Faculty Adviser to the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas and Energy Law, the Editorial Advisory Board of the Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Law Journal (ONE J), and on the Executive Committee of the Journal of World Energy Law and Business. He is a member of the Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota bars; a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, where he serves as form and style editor of AIPN Model Contracts; a life member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws; a member of the American Law Institute; an honorary trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation; and a trustee of the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation. He is an arbitrator and consultant on oil and gas law and policy.

JUDITH M. MATLOCK is a partner in the Energy Group of the Denver law firm of Davis, Graham & Stubbs LLP. For thirty-five years she has represented companies in the oil and gas industry.  Her practice has emphasized the post-production side of the business. She is involved in all aspects of the gathering, transportation, processing, fractionation, and marketing of natural gas, liquids, and crude oil and representing producers in connection with the calculation, payment, and reporting of royalties and production taxes. Her practice also includes public utility law involving both gas and electric utilities.  She received her undergraduate degree (B.A. 1979) from the University of Colorado at Denver and her law degree (J.D. 1982) from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Order of the Coif, and the Denver, Colorado, and American Bar Associations. She has been named in The Best Lawyers in America® (oil and gas) since 1995. She is an active participant in the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and has served on the Executive Committee, as a trustee, and co-chair of the Special Institutes Committee. She has also been the program chair for several RMMLF special institutes and short courses, was the program chair for the 2010 Annual Institute, and is a frequent lecturer and writer on energy topics.  She teaches the oil and gas marketing section of the Foundation’s Oil and Gas Law Short Courses. She is a frequent lecturer and writer on energy topics including two annual institute papers and over a dozen special institute papers for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, and numerous other papers for various oil and gas associations.

LAURA H. BURNEY is on the faculty at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. She has written extensively on oil and gas law issues, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and courses for attorneys and other professionals in the industry.  She has served as an advocate, arbitrator, and mediator in oil and gas disputes, and as a consulting or testifying expert in cases in several states. Until 2004, Ms. Burney was the Albert and Helen Herrmann Professor of Natural Resources Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law, where she began teaching in 1985.  After working in private practice for six years, she returned to the faculty of St. Mary’s in 2010, teaching property law courses, including oil and gas law, and serving as faculty adviser to the law students’ Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Association.  In addition to teaching, Ms. Burney serves on the State Bar of Texas’ Pattern Jury Charge Committee for oil and gas disputes and continues to practice and work as a mediator and arbitrator.

PHILLIP D. BARBER practices law in Denver, Colorado. He was born in Wyoming and grew up in Colorado. He graduated from the Pueblo public schools, from Dartmouth College in 1975 (magna cum laude, with high distinction), and received his J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1979. His practice has focused on oil and gas law and natural resources and commercial litigation. Mr. Barber represents a variety of clients in the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production companies, parties who own surface, mineral or overriding royalty interests, and municipalities along Colorado's Front Range. He is the editor/author of “Oil & Gas Practice in Colorado” for the Colorado Methods of Practice, and is a contributing author to the Federal Law of Oil and Gas Leasing. He has presented papers at several Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Annual Institutes and speaks annually at the Short Course on Oil and Gas Law. Mr. Barber also volunteers with a number of non-profit groups, and provides pro bono representation to people seeking asylum in this country.

PHILLIP D. BARBER practices law in Denver, Colorado. He was born in Wyoming and grew up in Colorado. He graduated from the Pueblo public schools, from Dartmouth College in 1975 (magna cum laude, with high distinction), and received his J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1979. His practice has focused on oil and gas law and natural resources and commercial litigation. Mr. Barber represents a variety of clients in the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production companies, parties who own surface, mineral or overriding royalty interests, and municipalities along Colorado's Front Range. He is the editor/author of “Oil & Gas Practice in Colorado” for the Colorado Methods of Practice, and is a contributing author to the Federal Law of Oil and Gas Leasing. He has presented papers at several Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Annual Institutes and speaks annually at the Short Course on Oil and Gas Law. Mr. Barber also volunteers with a number of non-profit groups, and provides pro bono representation to people seeking asylum in this country.

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.

ROBERT J. PERONI is the Fondren Foundation Centennial Chair for Faculty Excellence and a Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas.  His research and teaching interests are in the areas of federal taxation (including natural resource taxation and international taxation), law and economics, and professional responsibility and legal ethics.  He is a frequent speaker at academic conferences and continuing legal education programs throughout the country.  Bob is the recipient of awards for outstanding law school teaching at Tulane, George Washington University, and the University of Texas.  He has written extensively, having authored or co-authored numerous articles and books, including, with Anderson, Dzienkowski, Lowe, Pierce, and Smith, the most recent edition of Hemingway’s treatise on Oil and Gas Law and Taxation (published by West Academic Publishing in 2017).  He earned a BSC from DePaul University; a JD from Northwestern University; and an LLM (in Taxation) from New York University.  He has had numerous appointments at law schools throughout the country, and was a Professor-in-Residence, Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel, Washington, D.C., 1985-86.  He is also the co-chair (with John Dzienkowski) 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 and is the long-time academic co-chair of the Annual Institute on Current Issues in International Taxation, co-sponsored by George Washington University Law School and the Internal Revenue Service.  Bob is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel.

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.

ROBERT J. PERONI is the Fondren Foundation Centennial Chair for Faculty Excellence and a Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas.  His research and teaching interests are in the areas of federal taxation (including natural resource taxation and international taxation), law and economics, and professional responsibility and legal ethics.  He is a frequent speaker at academic conferences and continuing legal education programs throughout the country.  Bob is the recipient of awards for outstanding law school teaching at Tulane, George Washington University, and the University of Texas.  He has written extensively, having authored or co-authored numerous articles and books, including, with Anderson, Dzienkowski, Lowe, Pierce, and Smith, the most recent edition of Hemingway’s treatise on Oil and Gas Law and Taxation (published by West Academic Publishing in 2017).  He earned a BSC from DePaul University; a JD from Northwestern University; and an LLM (in Taxation) from New York University.  He has had numerous appointments at law schools throughout the country, and was a Professor-in-Residence, Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel, Washington, D.C., 1985-86.  He is also the co-chair (with John Dzienkowski) 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 and is the long-time academic co-chair of the Annual Institute on Current Issues in International Taxation, co-sponsored by George Washington University Law School and the Internal Revenue Service.  Bob is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel.