Energy Law

7 lawyers exit Downey Brand to form new firm focusing on energy and land-use

Seven lawyers have exited one of the largest law firms in Sacramento, Calif., to form a new boutique. Known as Mitchell Chadwick, the fledgling firm has former Downey Brand partners Patrick Mitchell and G. Braiden Chadwick at the helm. They focus their practice on land use and oil, gas and…

Feb 4, 2014 4:30 PM CST

Arnold & Porter opens in Houston, former chief of Hogan Lovells office is at the helm

Arnold & Porter is the latest BigLaw firm to open an office in the hot Houston legal market. At the helm is Thad Demaris, who formerly served as managing partner of the Hogan Lovells office in Houston, the Houston Business Journal reports. Two ex-Hogan Lovells lawyers have joined him at…

Jan 23, 2014 9:14 PM CST

SCOTUS case puts focus on property-rights group

A Supreme Court case scheduled for oral argument this month is likely to raise the profile of the Colorado-based group that will argue for a property owner’s rights, the Mountain States Legal Foundation. Mountain States represents Wyoming resident Marvin Brandt, who contends the federal government did not have a right…

Jan 3, 2014 3:57 PM CST

Baker & McKenzie wins damages retrial in driller’s $103M malpractice case

There was good news and bad news for Baker & McKenzie in a Mississippi Supreme Court opinion issued Thursday. The good news is that a new trial will be held on proximate cause and the $103 million in damages awarded in a legal malpractice and breach-of-contract case that contends the…

Oct 18, 2013 9:40 PM CDT

19 ‘right to dry’ states outlaw clothesline bans; is yours among them?

Once upon a time, a clothesline was a standard feature of most back yards. But concern that publicly airing clean laundry attached with clothespins to a rope or wire was unsightly, or obstructed views, or even created a safety risk (strangulation is sometimes cited) led a number of condominium associations…

Aug 14, 2013 8:24 PM CDT

No talking about fracking, settlement gag order says; were kids bound too?

A natural gas company has apparently parted ways with an outside lawyer after controversy erupted over a settlement agreement that included a lifelong ban on talking about fracking that may have bound two children. Details of the nondisclosure agreement were uncovered by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which requested a transcript of…

Aug 7, 2013 4:15 PM CDT

Blank Rome adds to attorney roster in Houston with acquisition of Bell Ryniker maritime firm

Three years ago, Blank Rome established a foothold in the hot Houston market by hiring Joseph F. Speelman as a partner. He initially worked out of his home, but then the Philadelphia-based law firm acquired Abrams Scott & Bickley, a 10-attorney firm known for its litigation work. Now the attorney…

Aug 6, 2013 1:36 PM CDT

Dickstein energy chief leads 5-lawyer group to Crowell

The chief of Dickstein Shapiro’s energy practice is leading a five-lawyer team to Crowell & Moring. Longtime partner Larry Eisenstat started work at his new firm’s Washington, D.C., offices today, along with two other partners, a counsel, an associate and a senior policy adviser from Dickstein Shapiro, according to the…

Jul 1, 2013 9:00 PM CDT

Top regulatory counsel is off controversial case; four ‘reassigned’ lawyers are back on it

Following weeks of controversy over a disagreement between the general counsel for California’s utility regulator and four subordinate lawyers over the handling of an administrative case over a fatal gas explosion and fire in San Bruno, there has been a reversal of fortune. General counsel Frank Lindh, who at one…

Jun 27, 2013 6:30 PM CDT

General counsel is heckled by own staff during keynote speech at legal conference

The general counsel for the California Public Utilities Commission found he was talking to an unfriendly forum—his own staff—when he gave the keynote speech Monday at a legal conference his agency is hosting. Attendees from around the country watched as top in-house lawyer Frank Lindh was heckled during his speech…

Jun 19, 2013 8:40 PM CDT

Assistant AG’s advice to gas companies was ‘shocking,’ says federal judge

A federal judge expressed alarm in a Wednesday opinion that an assistant attorney general for the state of Virginia has been advising natural gas companies in a court dispute and that a lead lawyer for the plaintiff landowners in the $30 million royalties case called the state their “stooge.” “Shockingly,”…

Jun 7, 2013 4:44 PM CDT

State legal team seeking $2B fine in fatal gas fire is reassigned; city calls for AG probe

The city of San Bruno is calling for the California attorney general to investigate a decision to reassign four lawyers leading a California Public Utilities Commission legal team. For the past three years, it has been pursuing an investigation of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s culpability in a 2010 natural…

Jun 5, 2013 11:00 PM CDT

Katten Muchin opens new Houston office with Pillsbury enviro leader, hires 7 more lawyers in Texas

The leader of the environmental practice group at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman is leaving the firm to open a new Houston office for Katten Muchin Rosenman. Mark Farley will be in charge of a five-lawyer Houston office, serve as a co-chair of his new firm’s environmental practice and lead its…

Apr 29, 2013 9:19 PM CDT

Gas from shale isn’t a mineral, Pennsylvania supremes rule in deed dispute

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled on behalf of a couple who claimed they had retained all rights to natural gas derived from Marcellus Shale on their property, despite an 1881 deed giving another party partial rights to minerals in the land. The decision (PDF) issued on Wednesday reaffirmed a…

Apr 26, 2013 10:35 AM CDT

Judge nixes attorney fees for lawyer in oil spill case, says client’s signature on doc was forged

Saying that he believes a plaintiff’s signature on a legal representation document concerning the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was forged, a federal judge in New Orleans nixed attorney fees for a Texas lawyer. Attorney Brent Coon had sought a 25 percent share of an undisclosed settlement his claimed client,…

Apr 5, 2013 5:25 PM CDT