Practice Areas
Industries
Education
- The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law, J.D., 1985
Ohio State Law Journal, Member, 1983-1985; Executive Editor, 1984-1985 - Dartmouth College, B.A., 1980
Bar & Court Admissions
Webb is a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the commercial and energy practice groups. He has extensive experience advising and assisting domestic and international clients with the structure, negotiation and documentation of purchases, sales, licenses and leases of personal and real property, including oil and gas, and matters involving most chapters of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). He also manages and works in the firm’s oil and gas title opinion practice, which focuses primarily on properties located in the Utica shale play.
Webb’s representation includes public and private manufacturers, energy companies and service providers. He facilitates their general business needs, including business and asset acquisitions, sales and restructurings, governance, financing, and the formation and proper maintenance of different types of business entities. He also has represented non-profits in projects related to governance, fundraising, board development and other organizational matters.
Career highlights include:
- Representing a large public restaurant and food service company as outside general counsel
- Representing a large non-profit hospital as outside general counsel
- Establishing and managing the firm’s mineral title and opinion practice
- Working for nine months on-site at the headquarters of a global manufacturer as an “embedded” assistant general counsel. Work involved direct handling and disposition of a broad variety of commercial, litigation, real estate, bankruptcy and labor matters
- Representing an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the creation of its purchase, bailment, confidentiality and related agreements for use with its worldwide suppliers, as well as negotiating on behalf of the OEM regarding these contracts
- Representing a large service company in the creation of contracts for the purchase of various services needed at its more than 500 locations, including the creation of instructions and training of employees regarding the proper use of such contracts
- Representing a large retailer in creation of its purchasing documents and negotiation of those documents with its worldwide vendors
Webb is a member of the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, the Columbus Bar Association and the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.
Webb is a frequent speaker regarding the purchase and sale of goods and services and issues relating to oil and gas development. Most recently (2015) he was invited to speak at the Ohio Oil and Gas Law Conference regarding "Royalty vs. Mineral Reservations and Associated Issues." Prior to that he was invited by the Ohio State Bar Association to speak across Ohio on “Creating Good Contracts – Experiences of a Contract Practitioner: Contract Preparation and Formation.”
Webb received his J.D. from The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law where he was a member and the executive editor of the Ohio State Law Journal and a recipient of the Denis B. Eastman Memorial Award in 1985 for outstanding service to the Journal. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College.
Professional and Community Activities
- Nationwide Children's Hospital, Board of Trustees, 2000-2012
- Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Board of Trustees, 1998-2013
- Franklin County Hospital Commission, Chairman, 2005-2015; Commissioner, 2000-2015
- Columbus School for Girls, Board of Trustees, 2011-present
- Green Lawn Cemetery, Board of Trustees, 1994-2005; President, 2000-2005
- Prevent Child Abuse Ohio, Advisory Board, 2002-2009
- Jefferson Township Civic Association, 1990-present
- ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Board of Trustees, 1987-1993
Honors & Awards
- The Best Lawyers in America, Corporate Law, 2013-2021
- Columbus CEO, Top Lawyers in Columbus, 2010-2018
- Martindale-Hubbell AV Peer Review Rated
- Business First, Forty under 40, 1997
News
- 8/20/2020One hundred and twelve lawyers from Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America® 2021 edition. In addition, 26 Vorys attorneys were named to the inaugural Best Lawyers in America “Ones to Watch” list.
- 4/3/2020Webb Vorys and Tiffany Cobb, partners in the Vorys Columbus office, were quoted in a Columbus Business First Story titled “Staying Open Through Coronavirus? Here's What Lawyers Want You to Know.”
- 8/15/2019One hundred and thirteen lawyers from Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2020.
- 8/15/2018One hundred and thirteen lawyers from Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2019.
- 8/17/2017One hundred and eight lawyers from Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2018.
- 3/28/2017This year, 54 Vorys attorneys were listed in the 2017 Columbus CEO “Top Lawyers” List.
- 8/15/2016One-hundred and eleven lawyers from Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2017.
- 8/17/2015One-hundred and eighteen lawyers from Vorys were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2016.
- 8/18/2014One-hundred and ten lawyers from Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2015.
- 8/14/2013One hundred and eleven lawyers from Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2014.
- 8/23/2012One hundred and twenty-six lawyers from Vorys were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2013.
- 1/31/2012Webb Vorys, a partner in the firm’s Columbus office, was included in a Forbes article about a new series sponsored by the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network of Ohio (DEN Ohio) called Entrepreneurial Anywhere.
Events
- 1/14/2021Vorys attorneys returned to host the Vorys On Call: Coronavirus webinar on Thursday, January 14, 2021.
- 5/13/2020A team from Vorys and Vorys Advisors presented a webinar to Heritage Ohio members on practical considerations businesses need to make following COVID-19 related closures and stay at home orders.
- 5/7/2020In this eighth weekly edition of our weekly COVID-19 webinar, Vorys attorneys continued to focus on the legal and business issues related to the return to the workplace.
- 4/23/2020The sixth installment of Vorys' multi-disciplinary webinar series on the various business and legal implications of the coronavirus (COVID-19) took place on Thursday, April 23, 2020.
- 4/2/2020Our third multi-disciplinary webinar on the various business and legal implications of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic took place on Thursday, April 2, 2020.
- 10/19/2016Vorys attorneys Greg Russell and Webb Vorys were speakers at the Kentucky Mineral Law Conference on October 19, 2016.
- 5/14/2015Vorys attorneys Jon Airey and Webb Vorys presented at the 2015 Ohio Oil & Gas Law Seminar hosted by the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and Purple Land Management on May 14, 2015.
- 1/25/2012Webb Vorys, a partner in the firm’s Columbus office, spoke at the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network of Ohio’s inaugural Entrepreneurial Anywhere event. The series focuses on the idea that entrepreneurial skills can be both taught and learned.
- 10/27/2011
Insights
- 12/27/2020Late on December 27, the President signed a $900 billion relief package that will provide aid to individuals and businesses still struggling with the economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Both the House and the Senate passed the proposal last week.
- 12/21/2020On December 17, 2020, the Supreme Court of Ohio addressed the surface owner’s due diligence obligations under the 2006 version of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (the 2006 DMA).
- 12/2/2020On December 2, 2020, the Supreme Court of Ohio held that the Ohio Marketable Title Act (OMTA) applies to severed mineral interests despite the enactment of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (ODMA).
- 3/23/2020Ohio's "Stay Home Order" requires all persons in Ohio to stay at their place of residence except when engaged in certain defined “Essential Activities,” “Essential Governmental Functions,” or to participate in “Essential Businesses and Operations."
- 3/22/2020Today, March 22, 2020, the Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton, MD, MPH, issued a Director’s Stay at Home Order.
- 3/21/2020On March 19, 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published a memorandum regarding “essential critical infrastructure workers."
- 12/14/2018On December 13, 2018, the Supreme Court of Ohio clarified the preservation of interests under the Ohio Marketable Title Act (OMTA).
- 9/26/2016On September 15, 2016, many oil and gas producers and surface owners of Ohio properties awoke to problematic news: the Supreme Court of Ohio, in Corban v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C., et al., Slip Opinion No. 2016-Ohio-5796, held that the 1989 version of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (R.C. § 5301.56) (1989 DMA) was not self-executing (i.e., did not automatically abandon and vest dormant mineral interests in the surface owner of the property by operation of law).
- 9/15/2016On September 15, 2016, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued numerous decisions concerning the application of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act.
- February 2014This past year proved active for Ohio’s oil and gas industry. We saw exploration and drilling operations increase substantially and migrate further south (there are currently 44 rigs operating in Ohio, and some operations have extended further south into Washington County). We also saw the first quarterly production report issued by the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management (“Division”), showing strong production results for the third quarter of the year (33.6 Bcf of natural gas and 1.33 MMbbls of oil). And we saw significant midstream infrastructure growth throughout the year, including the opening of the Momentum processing and fractionation plant and the opening – and temporary closing – of Dominion’s Natrium processing and fractionation plant right across the Ohio River near Natrium, W.Va.
But the activity hasn’t been only on the operational side – there have been several substantial developments on the legal side of Ohio’s oil and gas industry as well. To assist our clients and friends, we have summarized a number of those developments. - February 2014In 1878, the nation’s first commercial natural gas well was drilled in Murrysville, Pennsylvania. Since then, oil and natural gas have played a vital role in Pennsylvania’s economy. Despite this history of oil and natural gas production, the Commonwealth has relatively little case law and legislative regulation to guide the industry. Due to the recent surge in production of Marcellus Shale gas, Pennsylvania’s production of natural gas increased by 72% from 2011 to 2012. According to a report issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on December 17, 2013, Pennsylvania is the fastest-growing natural gas-producing state, and preliminary data suggests that Pennsylvania may have been the second-largest producer of natural gas in 2013. Not surprisingly, the current state of oil and gas law in Pennsylvania reflects the Commonwealth’s attempts to manage this rapid increase in natural gas production.
The judiciary, legislature and regulatory agencies have attempted to balance the benefits of natural gas production against the concerns of the public. However, many issues remain unresolved. To assist our clients and friends in navigating this quickly developing area of the law, we have summarized a number of the important decisions and enactments of the past year. - 1991
- 1989