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For decades, our lawyers have represented participants in all aspects of the oil and gas industry – including producers, pipelines, gathering and local distribution companies, drilling and service companies, financial institutions, landowners, end-use customers, and others. From early take-or-pay litigation in the Appalachian Basin to the only interstate transmission pipeline bankruptcy to have been filed in the country, we have counseled clients on a wide range of litigation, business, legislative, and regulatory matters. Our oil and gas team is recognized locally, regionally, and nationally for its expertise and knowledge of the industry.
We advise our clients on all types of transactional work in the oil field, from simple leasing and well-field service contracts to sophisticated financing agreements and hedging programs. Among other matters, our lawyers have helped clients to undertake geophysical surveys, to develop master drilling programs, to acquire production and pipeline assets, to negotiate gas purchase and sales contracts, to prepare securities offerings, and to develop one of the largest independent gathering systems in the Appalachian Basin.
Our firm also has significant experience in representing clients in energy matters before state and federal courts and arbitration panels, including significant disputes involving gas purchase and sales contracts, lease and joint operating agreements, bankruptcies, and class action royalty litigation. Additionally, our energy lawyers regularly represent clients before state permitting agencies and public utilities commissions, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies.
Our lawyers also have worked to improve the industry by serving in various volunteer capacities for energy trade associations and legal foundations. Our attorneys include past and present officers and Board of Trustee members of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the largest independent producer trade association in the nation, the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation, two of the most active natural resource educational institutions in the country, the Ohio State Bar Association’s Natural Resources Law Committee, and the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, one of the most effective state oil and gas trade associations in the country. Our lawyers have also served in the IPAA, including a Chair of its Pipeline Safety Task Force, and dealt with gathering system definition issues raised by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Representative engagements in this area include defense of natural gas royalty class actions, representation of major creditor groups in the Enron and Columbia Transmission bankruptcies, representation of major industrial natural gas consumers in supply, contracting, and regulatory matters, defense of state legislation supporting the oil and gas industry, prosecution of litigation challenging local regulation, and representation of lenders and borrowers in transactions secured by oil and gas properties.
