PAUL A. STRICKLAND is a shareholder in the Shreveport law firm of Hargrove, Smelley & Strickland. He has forty years of experience in oil and gas title examination and oil and gas contract matters. He received a Bachelor=s Degree from Louisiana State University in 1977, and a Law Degree from the LSU Law Center in 1980. He served as a law clerk for one year with the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal. He is a member of the Shreveport Bar Association and the Louisiana Bar Association. He is also a member of the Ark-La-Tex Association for Professional Landmen, where he served as Education Chairman. He also served on the Mineral Law- Unsolicited Offers Committee of the Louisiana Law Institute. He is a frequent lecturer on oil and gas topics and presented several papers to the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute, the National Association of Division Order Analysts, the National Association of Lease and Title Analysts and various landman associations in the State of Louisiana and in the State of Texas. He has also been an instructor at Louisiana State University in Shreveport and at Centenary College in Shreveport.