Alainna Mire
Alexandria City Attorneys Office
Alainna R. Mire is an assistant attorney for the Alexandria City Attorney’s Office. She received a BA degree in political science in 2000 from Louisiana State University and her JD/BCL degree in 2004 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. She was admitted to practice in Louisiana in 2004.

Alainna served as Louisiana State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (YLD) chair, chair-elect and secretary and as District 6 representative on the YLD Council.

She is a member of the Alexandria Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Council, the American Bar Association and the Crossroads American Inn of Court of Alexandria/Pineville. She also serves as a member of the Central Louisiana Pro Bono Project board and as an attorney member of the city of Alexandria Human Relations Commission.

Mr. Patrick S. Ottinger
Ottinger Hebert, LLC
http://www.ottingerhebert.com
PATRICK S. OTTINGER is a Partner in the Lafayette law firm of Ottinger Hebert, L.L.C. He has been in private practice in Lafayette since December 1973, with his practice being concentrated in the area of oil and gas, with emphasis on corporate and commercial matters, financial transactions, real estate, regulatory matters, eminent domain, mediation and arbitration, and banking matters, as well as litigation in these areas. He is an experienced arbitrator and mediator in oil and gas matters, rendering such services through The Patterson Resolution Group. He received his Juris Doctorate degree in December 1973 from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he was a member of the Moot Court Board. Mr. Ottinger is an Adjunct Professor of Law at LSU, teaching the course on Mineral Rights from 1996-2012, and currently teaches an Oil & Gas Seminar.

He is the author of the course materials entitled Ottinger, A Course Book on Louisiana Mineral Rights (12th Rev. Ed., August 2011), and Louisiana Mineral Leases: A Treatise (Claitor’s 2016). He has published numerous articles in the Louisiana Law Review, Louisiana Mineral Law Institute, and the LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources.

He is the Past Chair of the Advisory Council for the Institute on Mineral Law at LSU Law Center. He serves on the Advisory Board for the John P. Laborde Energy Law Center at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University. Mr. Ottinger serves as an Editor of the Institute for Energy Law e-reporter, a project of the Institute for Energy Law of The Center for American and International Law.

Mr. Ottinger serves as the Reporter of the Mineral Law Committee and of the Louisiana Risk Fee Act Committee of the Louisiana State Law Institute, and is a member of the Institute’s Mineral Law – Unsolicited Offers Committee, the Counterletter Committee, the Prescription Committee, and the Tax Sales Committee. He served as City-Parish Attorney for the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government from January 2004-February 2011.

Mr. Ottinger served as the President of the Louisiana State Bar Association during the years 1998-99. Mr. Ottinger was recognized as a 2014 Distinguished Achievement Honoree by the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center on September 21, 2014, for “pro¬fessional achievement and career distinction, service to and support of LSU Law, and service to the community.”

On September 7, 2017, Mr. Ottinger was inducted into the Lafayette Bar Association’s Hall of Fame.

On June 7, 2018, he received the 2018 Curtis R. Boisfontaine Trial Advocacy Award of the Louisiana Bar Foundation, awarded for “long-standing devotion to and excellence in trial practice,” and “upholding the standards of ethics and consideration for the courts, litigants and all counsel.”

Ms. Kelly D. Perrier
Gordon Arata
https://www.gamb.com/
Kelly Perrier is a member of Gordon Arata’s New Orleans office. She practices in the areas of oil, gas and energy litigation and commercial litigation, particularly focusing on claims of historical and ongoing environmental damage allegedly caused by oil and gas exploration and production activities, commonly referred to as "legacy litigation." Ms. Perrier has represented many independent oil and gas companies in disputes regarding public use of private waterways, compliance notices issued by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, insurance disputes following blow-outs and concursus proceedings against the State of Louisiana, among others. Ms. Perrier has served as president of the South Louisiana Chapter of Women’s Energy Network and is currently vice president of the Professional Landman’s Association of New Orleans.

Professor Tara K. Righetti
Professor of Law and Energy Resources
University of Wyoming
Tara Righetti is a professor of law at the University of Wyoming. She is a member of the faculties of the College of Law and the School of Energy Resources. Tara teaches courses related to oil and gas and energy in the law, PLM, and Energy MBA programs. Her scholarship explores topics related to energy development and sustainability including split estates, property rights, contract disputes, and conservation regulation. Prior to joining the University of Wyoming, Tara worked as a landman, counsel, and in executive management at a privately held E&P company. Tara earned her B.A. in Environmental Design and a J.D. from The University of Colorado in Boulder, CO. Tara serves as a trustee-at-large for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and on the board of the Albany County Safe Project.

Ms. Phyllis Sims
Kean Miller, LLP
Phyllis Sims is of counsel to the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. She joined the firm in 2000 and practices in the governmental, legislative, administrative and tax practice groups. Phyllis practices primarily in the state and local tax area with an emphasis on Louisiana state and local tax planning, incentive programs, tax litigation, and legislative matters. She represents local, state, national, and international clients in Louisiana taxation matters, and represents some of Louisiana's most prominent businesses in governmental, legislative and regulatory matters. Phyllis has been actively involved in the legislative process her entire career and works closely with LOGA and LMOGA during legislative sessions. Phyllis has represented oil and gas companies in ad valorem tax disputes her entire legal career and in doing so, frequently represents clients before the La. Tax Commission and the district and appellate courts. Most recently, Phyllis was actively involved in an oil and gas property tax matter that resulted in a victory at the La. Supreme Court, as well as a brine mining well and salt cavern ad valorem dispute that resulted in a win at the First Circuit Court of Appeal. Both of those matters, as well as several related matters, will be discussed today.

Mr. Paul Alan Strickland
shareholder
Hargrove, Smelley & Strickland
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.

Dr. Gregory B Upton Jr.
LSU Center for Energy Studies
Dr. Greg Upton is Associate Research Professor at the Louisiana State University Center for Energy Studies. His research interests are related to the analysis of economic, environmental and public policy issues in the energy industry.

During his tenure at LSU, Dr. Upton has addressed a number of topical energy issues of significance to Louisiana, including Louisiana mineral taxes, solar tax credits, and net metering policies, the impact of the oil price collapse on Louisiana’s budgetary challenges, and implications of the crude oil export ban’s lifting on the Louisiana economy, among others. He has presented research on these topics to more than 100 industry, governmental, and academic audiences, and has been quoted or cited approximately 100 times in local and national media, including the Wall Street Journal and NPR’s Marketplace. He has written guest columns about energy related issues affecting Louisiana appearing in the Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Acadiana Advocate, Baton Rouge Business Report, New Orleans’ Times-Picayune, Lafayette’s Daily Advertiser, and Public Utilities Fortnightly Magazine.

He co-authors two yearly economic outlooks. The Louisiana Economic Outlook (LEO), with Dr. Loren Scott, includes employment forecasts for both Louisiana and its metro areas. The LEO has been ongoing for 40 years. The Gulf Coast Energy Outlook (GCEO), with Dr. David Dismukes, is a work product of the LSU Center for Energy Studies and includes forecasts of oil and gas sectors in Louisiana and Texas.

Dr. Upton holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Louisiana State University where he also received both an M.A. in economics and a B.S. in economics with a concentration in empirical analysis. He is a member of professional organizations including the American Economic Association (AEA), International Association of Energy Economics (IAEE), and the Southern Economic Association (SEA). He has taught courses the Department of Environmental Sciences and Department of Economics at LSU and is a program faculty member at Michigan State University’s Institute of Public Utilities.

Mr. Adam B. Zuckerman
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC
Adam Zuckerman is a shareholder in the New Orleans office of Baker Donelson. He serves as co-chair of the Firm's Energy Industry Service Team, and represents a wide variety of energy clients in complex litigation matters and transactions. He is currently assisting a solar developer with projects in the Southeast. Mr. Zuckerman's litigation experience involves numerous aspects of the energy industry. He has litigated a wide range of environmental issues (including groundwater and surface contamination as well as subsidence issues), royalty disputes, title and lease disputes, Louisiana Oil Well Lien Act claims, operating agreement and other breach of contract disputes, downhole and other alleged equipment failures, and the like. In connection with his litigation practice, Mr. Zuckerman routinely works with experts on complex engineering, geophysical, environmental, operational and other technical matters.