Chair and Speakers
Program Chair
ROBERT C. MATHES is an attorney with Occidental Petroleum Corporation in Denver, Colorado. Rob advises his company on a wide variety of natural resources and oil and gas-related issues. Prior to joining Occidental, he was a partner in a large Denver-based law firm and a smaller boutique firm. Rob graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University of Wyoming and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Wyoming. Rob is on the University of Wyoming College of Arts & Science Board of Visitors and is active in his church in Denver where he is a deacon and teaches Sunday school. Rob is committed to working with the Keystone Science School because of his passion to support educational foundations and his strong support for ecology and science-based education.
Faculty
SCOT M. CAMPBELL practices primarily in the area of natural resource litigation, both in state and federal court, and before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on adjudicative and rulemaking proceedings, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on adjudicative proceedings, and the United States Department of the Interior, Interior Board of Land Appeals, on various permitting, leasing, environmental and unit issues. He also has experience in appellate, bankruptcy, commercial, and probate practice. Mr. Campbell graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1989, where he obtained a B.S. degree in Mineral Economics, with a minor in the Legal Environment of Business. He obtained his J.D. degree in 1994 from the University of Denver College of Law where he also served as a General Editor of the Denver Law Review. Mr. Campbell is admitted to practice law in Colorado, North Dakota, and Wyoming, before the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Campbell is a member of the Denver and Colorado Bar Associations, the North Dakota Bar Association, the Wyoming Bar Association, the Denver Association of Petroleum Landmen, The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law, and the Natural Resources & Energy Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association, where he also served as a past Chair of the Section. Mr. Campbell was also an at-large trustee for The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law for two years from 2011-2012. He also serves on the faculty for the Foundation’s Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Short Course, which he chaired in 2011 and 2013.
TIM CANON is Senior Corporate Counsel at PDC Energy in Denver. Mr. Canon’s practice includes advising clients on all aspects of federal oil and gas leasing and development, including land use planning, leasing, unitization and communitization, and day-to-day operational issues. He has assisted clients with participation in the processes for development, review, and challenge of federal decisions at the land use planning and project levels and has experience assisting clients with the preparation and review of associated National Environmental Policy Act analyses. Mr. Canon’s practice also includes conducting oil and gas title examinations and preparation of title opinions, as well as operational issues affecting oil and gas operations on state and private lands throughout the West. Mr. Canon is an active member of The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law and has co-authored and presented several papers at the Foundation’s special and annual institutes.
J. DAVID CHASE is the chief of the Reservoir Management Group (RMG) for the BLM in Casper. He is responsible for the following BLM programs in Wyoming: unitization and communitization, drainage, gas storage, Indian diligence and reasonable foreseeable development scenarios for NEPA documents. After receiving a B.S. degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Wyoming in December 1983, he started his BLM career in Lander in February 1984 as a drilling and production engineer. He transferred to Rock Springs in June 1987 to work with the BLM as a reservoir engineer. In August 1993, when the RMG was formed, Dave moved to Casper to work as a reservoir engineer before becoming the chief in July 2008. Dave has a wide range of knowledge working with all aspects of unitization agreements including lease suspensions and unavoidable delay requests, paying well determinations, and establishment/revisions of participating areas. He also has a wide range of knowledge with well spacing and communitization agreements. During the past 22 years, Dave has presented agreements training to various BLM, ONRR, and industry personnel in a wide variety of settings.
JILL FULCHER is a Shareholder of Beatty & Wozniak, P.C. in Denver, Colorado. She focuses her practice on representing companies before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC). She has successfully obtained Commission approval for hundreds of requests for relief pertaining to drilling and spacing units, increased well density, reduced setbacks, statutory pooling, and unitization. Jill has also successfully represented clients before the COGCC for contested matters related to horizontal wellbore spacing units, APD approvals, unconventional resource units, and enhanced recovery operations. Additionally, she has represented clients before the COGCC for nearly every major rulemaking in the last decade. Jill assists a number of clients in navigating local and federal regulations, including with local permitting and transportation access issues, as well as obtaining surface locations. Jill has helped companies enter Memoranda of Understanding with local governments, and assisted clients in defending cases before the Interior Board of Land Appeals. When she graduated law school, Jill knew she wanted to focus her legal career on representing oil and gas companies. Through her family, Jill has strong ties to the energy industry, and believes there's no better industry that typifies risk and reward.
SHANE A. HANSON is a Partner in the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Department at Crowley Fleck PLLP in Bismark, North Dakota. He joined the firm in 2009 after practicing with Fleck, Mather & Strutz, Ltd., in Bismarck since 1996. He has extensive experience in the preparation of drilling title opinions, division order title opinions, and acquisition title opinions in North Dakota and South Dakota. Mr. Hanson also has experience in various areas of litigation including oil and gas royalty cases, insurance defense, general real property, and oil and gas matters. Mr. Hanson is a 1992 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Jamestown College, and in 1996, he obtained his law degree with distinction from the University of North Dakota School of Law. Mr. Hanson is a member of the American Association of Professional Landmen, Landman’s Association of North Dakota, the Real Property and Probate Section of the North Dakota State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association (Natural Resources Section).
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 member of the Board of Directors of The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law and is on the faculty for the Foundation’s Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Short Course. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of 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. He is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, and the New Mexico Supreme Court. 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.
DRAKE D. HILL has been an oil and gas practitioner and trial lawyer for 35 years with experience in most facets of oil and gas law.
JAMIE L. JOST is the Founder and Managing Shareholder of Jost Energy Law, P.C., a female owned and operated firm specializing in oil and gas and natural resources law. Under her guidance, Jost Energy Law has cultivated an innovative culture that supports each attorney and staff member and allows them to grow and thrive in their positions. Jamie has distinguished herself as a preeminent leader in energy law and is recognized as a top attorney in her field. She has represented the oil and gas industry in the private sector since 2002, and her growing firm continues to diligently support clients throughout the Rocky Mountain region.
ORINTHA (RIN) E. KARNS is an energy and commercial litigation lawyer at Polsinelli, PC in its Denver office. She has more than 17 years of experience in all phases of litigation, including fact discovery, motions practice, trials and appeals. Her practice includes oil and gas title examination and transactions; intrastate pipeline regulation; litigation; carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); day to day regulatory consultations and negotiations. Her experience emphases serving operators, producers and others engaged in onshore operations throughout the Rocky Mountains, focusing on Wyoming and Colorado. In this practice, she represents multiple E&P companies in their acquisition, development, and divestment of assets, including regulatory negotiations and appearances and title review including the drafting of drill site and division order title opinions. Ms. Karns is a former Wyoming State Bar Commissioner and the current Vice-Chair of Membership for the ABA SEER Oil & Gas Committee.
LAURA LINDLEY recently retired as an attorney in Denver. For more than 42 years, her practice focused on oil and gas law and public land issues related to conventional and renewable energy development. After earning her B.S. degree from Louisiana State University and working as an abstractor for several years in south Louisiana, Laura came West to earn her law degree from the University of Denver. Laura is a past president of The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law and continues to participate in a number of Foundation efforts, including serving as a trustee.
JUDITH M. MATLOCK is Senior of Counsel at Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP. She has been in private practice since 1982. Ms. Matlock represents a diverse range of clients in the oil and gas and public utility industries. Her practice includes representing clients in connection with regulation, contracting, and litigation, as well as with royalties and taxes on production. She is involved in all aspects of the gathering, transportation, processing, fractionation, and marketing of natural gas, liquids, and crude oil, including advising clients on the federal and state jurisdictional status of transportation facilities. Her practice also encompasses representing producers in connection with the calculation, payment, and reporting of royalties and production taxes. She assists clients with ONRR data mining requests, the ONRR marketable condition rule and associated unbundling requirements, and state, federal, and Indian royalty and tax audits and appeals. Additionally, she represents producers in connection with private royalty litigation including class action lawsuits. She conducts in-house royalty payment and reporting training seminars and assists companies with internal royalty payment and reporting compliance self-audits. She has over 25 years of experience in public utilities matters, including acquisitions of public utilities, electric resource planning, gas transportation, CPCN proceedings, Colorado’s Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act, franchise and street lighting agreement negotiations, and other matters. She is a frequent lecturer and writer on federal royalties and numerous other energy-related topics. Ms. Matlock received her B.A. in 1979 from the University of Colorado at Denver and her J.D. in 1982 from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she was the winner of the Rothgerber Appellate Advocacy Competition, Austin Scott Award for oral advocacy, and Dean King Award. Ms. Matlock 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® in the fields of Natural Resources Law, Oil and Gas Law, and Energy Law since 1995, was named to the Denver Business Journal’s 2014 list of Top Women in Energy and was listed in Who’s Who Legal: Energy 2018.
LORI A. MCMULLEN is a Partner in the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Department at Crowley Fleck PLLP in Sheridan, Wyoming office, and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Lori has a broad practice in natural resources, real property, estate administration, and secured transactions, including creditors’ rights. Her practice is largely focused in oil and gas and renewables with a primary emphasis on title examination and title curative matters, acquisitions and divestitures, and creditors’ rights, primarily in energy-related bankruptcy matters. After graduating from the University of Wyoming College of Law, Lori served as a staff attorney in the Wyoming Legislative Service Office in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for two years before entering private practice with Lonabaugh and Riggs, LLP in Sheridan, Wyoming, where she was a partner before joining Crowley Fleck PLLP in January of 2012.
AMY MOWRY is Of Counsel with Jost Energy Law, P.C. in Denver, Colorado. Amy has practiced natural resources and energy law for over seventeen years, focusing primarily on mineral title examination and the preparation of oil and gas title opinions. Amy also counsels oil and gas operators and stakeholders on their development issues and oil and gas ownership rights in her states of licensure, including Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, Utah and Texas. Amy has presented on oil and gas, energy, environmental and title matters for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (now the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law), the Wyoming State Bar, the American Association of Professional Landmen, the Colorado Bar Association, The Rocky Mountain Paralegal Association and the Cox Real Estate School, among other educational organizations. Amy is a past president of the Denver Association of Oil and Gas Title Lawyers, a past member of the CBA’s Real Estate Section Council, a current member of the Colorado Real Estate Title Standards Committee, and a current contributor to the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law Oil and Gas Newsletter. Prior to earning her J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law, Amy taught college-level English in Wyoming and Colorado and was a University Teacher of English as a Foreign Language with the United States Peace Corps in El Jadida, Morocco.
TRENT J. ORAM grew up in Wyoming and currently lives in Montana. He has experience drafting and supervising the drafting of numerous drilling and division order title opinions on federal, fee, state, and Native American lands. TJ and Matt Houghton are the founding members of Oram & Houghton, PLLC, and they lead a group of attorneys who write title opinions throughout the United States. Prior to forming Oram & Houghton, PLLC, TJ was the Rockies Case Manager and District Coordinator for a Texas based law firm, where TJ personally supervised and managed a large group of attorneys who drafted title opinions for and provided other drilling and division order advice to many oil and gas operators in the Rocky Mountain Region. Before joining that firm, TJ was trained by many of the finest and most well-respected natural resource law and business law attorneys in Montana and North Dakota at Crowley Fleck, PLLC in Billings, Montana. In addition to title opinion experience, TJ also has experience with oil and gas transactions, administrative and regulatory matters, oil and gas commissions, condemnation actions, health care law, large real estate transactions, probates and estates, commercial litigation, entity formation, and other commercial legal matters. TJ graduated Cum Laude with a J.D. from the University of Idaho and an M.B.A. from Washington State University. TJ is a member of The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law, the Denver Association of Petroleum Landmen, and the Montana Petroleum Association, and has spoken at several events on oil and gas title issues and Native American law. He is currently admitted to practice in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Utah. TJ and his wife have four children and love living in the mountains. TJ and his wife played college basketball at Colorado Northwestern Community College and at the University of Great Falls. In his free time, TJ enjoys fishing, hiking, and generally exploring the outdoors, and is always looking to take clients and friends on adventures throughout the Rockies.
URIAH PRICE is a partner in Crowley Fleck’s Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Department. Uriah is licensed in Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming. His practice encompasses multiple areas of energy and natural resources law, including oil and gas, energy and mineral litigation, energy and mineral transactions, regulatory and administrative affairs, Indian law, and title examination. Uriah represents clients in front of the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Additionally, he handles oil and gas related litigation and administrative appeals, complex title examination, and due diligence. Uriah has served on numerous committees for The Foundation of Natural Resources and Energy Law where he was a Trustee at Large (2016-2017) and a founding member of the Young Professionals Committee, and he currently serves as faculty for the Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Short Course. Uriah obtained his Juris Doctorate, with honors, from Washburn University School of Law where he focused on oil and gas and natural resources law. Prior to law school, he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kansas.
BONNIE ROBSON is ONRR's Research, Enforcement, Guidance, and Appeals (REGA) Director, leading programs in Royalty Valuation & Guidance, Research & Analytics, Enforcement & Litigation Support, and Appeals & Regulations. Previously, Ms. Robson served ONRR as a Program Manager and Supervisor, as well as ONRR's sister agency, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), as a Program Analyst, Regulatory Specialist, and acting Chief of Staff. Before her work for ONRR and BOEM, Ms. Robson was a partner in private practice litigating accounting malpractice and oil and gas royalty and tax issues; the principal drafter of 2010 royalty regulations implementing the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act; an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alaska on oil and gas lease, unit, royalty, tax, and pipeline matters; the Deputy Director and Petroleum Investments Manager of Alaska’s Division of Oil & Gas; and lead outside counsel to the Alaska State Legislature on oil and gas matters, including royalties on 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of anticipated natural gas production. Ms. Robson has been a guest lecturer at some of the nation’s top law schools, including Columbia, NYU, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Duke, and University of California at Berkeley, as well as a speaker at The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law and Petroleum Accountants Society conferences. Also, she served as a moot court judge for national competitions at Harvard. Ms. Robson's undergraduate honors included a four-year honors scholarship, summa cum laude, phi beta kappa, and her selection as the top economics graduate. Ms. Robson is admitted to practice law in Alaska, California, Texas, and Washington, D.C.
ESTEE A. SANCHEZ is a Shareholder at Beatty & Wozniak, P.C., in Denver, Colorado. She brings over 20 years of experience helping clients in all phases of acquisition, development, and operation of properties in the oil and gas/natural resources industry. Admitted to practice in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming, states where natural resources play a leading role, Estee has a deep understanding of federal, state, and local laws and regulations, key industry stakeholders, and local market factors that drive transactions and litigation. She serves as day-to-day industry counsel for clients on issues that face oil and gas companies, particularly on matters related to exploration and production, due diligence, project financing, and mineral title examination. Estee's oil and gas title examination practice focuses on the preparation of comprehensive acquisition, drilling, and division order title opinions for fee, state, and federal lands throughout the Rocky Mountain region. An industry scholar-author, each year Estee writes the chapter on federal royalties in the Law of Federal Oil and Gas Leases, the chapter on Oil and Gas for the Colorado Bar Association and is a regularly appearing contributor to the legal column in the Denver Association of Professional Landmen newsletter. She is frequently sought to research and write industry papers for and to speak at conferences of The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law.
KATHLEEN C. SCHRODER is a co-chair of the Clean Energy & Sustainability Group and partner at Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP. Ms. Schroder’s practice focuses on all aspects of energy development on federal lands. She possesses a diverse skill set that enables her to assist developers through a project’s entire life cycle – from project permitting through any administrative or judicial litigation. Prior to joining DGS, Ms. Schroder was a partner at a boutique oil and gas firm. She also served as an attorney-advisor in the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of the Solicitor as part of the Solicitor’s Honors Program. After law school, she clerked for Justice Alex J. Martinez of the Colorado Supreme Court.
NICK A. SWARTZENDRUBER is a partner with the law firm of Poulson, Odell & Peterson. Mr. Swartzendruber represents clients in a variety of complex oil and gas litigation and regulatory matters. He specializes in title and joint operations disputes, having significant experience both as a litigator and as an expert witness. Mr. Swartzendruber’s practice also includes the representation of operators and non-operators in contested oil and gas commission matters, access disputes, oil and gas mechanic’s lien foreclosures, royalty payment actions, and the development of public lands. In addition, he assists his clients in transactions relating to mineral development, including purchase and sale agreements, surface use agreements, farmout agreements, joint operating agreements, and pooling agreements. Mr. Swartzendruber is intimately familiar with the oil and gas industry and takes a pragmatic and cost-effective approach in helping his clients solve their problems.
NATHANIEL WALLSHEIN is a partner at Peters Schulte Odil & Wallshein LLC. He provides strategic counsel to middle-market businesses on corporate, oil and gas, and tax matters, and has particular expertise in oil and gas disputes, state and federal permitting, agency enforcement, and state and federal litigation. Nate obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado School of Law in 2013. He received his Master of Laws in taxation as well as a certificate in State and Local Tax from Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated with distinction. Nate is licensed to practice law in Colorado and the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Colorado Bar Association.
EZEKIEL (ZEKE) J. WILLIAMS is a Director at Williams Weese Pepple & Ferguson in Denver, Colorado. Zeke solves problems and disputes involving natural resources, oil and gas, energy, the environment, and federal public lands. He also helps clients obtain permits and authorizations for ski area, energy, resort, and other development projects. Zeke combines extensive substantive knowledge of federal lands, energy, environmental, and administrative laws with expertise in a number of industries. His clients include oil and gas companies, ski areas, solar energy developers, pipeline companies, mining companies, trade associations, resort owners, and individuals.