Ms. Kelly Brechtel Becker
Shareholder
Liskow & Lewis, APLC
https://www.liskow.com/
Kelly Becker is often retained by clients as appellate counsel for complex litigation, including environmental, energy, and commercial matters. Her appellate practice regularly includes cases before the Louisiana courts of appeal, the Louisiana Supreme Court, and the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal. Because of her experience, Kelly is frequently retained to write amicus briefs on behalf of businesses and trade organizations in matters of industry-wide significance. Kelly is certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization as an Appellate Practice Specialist. She is one of only fifteen lawyers in the state of Louisiana with this designation.

Kelly is regularly engaged to assess the viability of appeal and often participates at the trial stage of a case as an appellate strategist. She also handles strategic motion practice at the trial court level. Currently, Kelly manages legal strategy and briefing for several energy industry clients in the Louisiana coastal land loss docket. 

Kelly is the co-chair of the firm’s Energy Litigation Practice Group and chair of the Appellate Practice Group. She is involved with various industry organizations and is a member of several appellate committees. Kelly is regularly recognized for her appellate practice by The Best Lawyers in America and the New Orleans Magazine. She is listed in the Chambers USA 2022 edition for Energy & Natural Resources: Oil & Gas and is noted by Chambers as “strong in the appellate space.”

Ms. Madeleine E. Breaux
Associate
Kean Miller, LLP
https://www.keanmiller.com/madeleine-e-breaux.html
Madeleine Breaux earned her J.D./D.C.L., magna cum laude, from the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 2022 and is a member of the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Madeleine joined the Louisiana Law Review, serving as a Senior Editor for Volume 82 and as a Junior Associate for Volume 81. Her publications include the Omnipotent Doctrine of Law: The Ministerial Exception After Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 82 La. L. Rev. (2021). She also worked as a research assistant to Professor William Corbett in the areas of Employment Law, Employment Discrimination Law, and Louisiana Civil Procedure.

Madeleine is a first-year associate in the Lafayette office of Kean Miller and practices with the oil and gas, business and corporate, and real estate groups. For the 2023-2024 term, she will clerk for the Honorable David C. Joseph in the Western District of Louisiana.

Mr. Michael B Donald
Partner
Jones Walker LLP
Michael serves clients in the oil and gas, natural gas transmission, transportation, electric utilities, and mining industries. He has served multiple exploration and production clients as counsel on commercial disputes concerning every phase in the development of unconventional resource (shale) plays. He has also served as project counsel for several interstate and intrastate pipeline and storage projects that involved salt dome and depleted reservoir matters and as trial counsel on condemnation/expropriation litigation in Texas and Louisiana.

As a go-to litigator for a number of well-known multinational, national, and regional corporations across the energy spectrum, Michael has specific experience with matters involving payment of royalty and allocation of post-production costs, as well as lessor and working interest disputes concerning lease maintenance, implied obligations, and cost allocation. He also has extensive experience with eminent domain matters involving interstate and intrastate matters in Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, and other jurisdictions.

Recently, Michael advised natural gas suppliers involved in the development of new and refurbished, multibillion-dollar liquified natural gas (LNG) facilities in South Texas and Louisiana. Working proactively with his clients, he has advised on onshore and offshore pipeline siting, eminent domain, environmental permitting, carbon sequestration, environmental justice, and other issues, helping ensure compliance with federal and state regulations and establishing a regulatory record that can withstand judicial scrutiny. Michael has also assembled teams of right-of-way agents and developed and delivered in-house training sessions to standardize the negotiation and closing of easement and other agreements.

At every step, Michael helps clients identify potential issues, mitigate risks, and ensure that projects remain on schedule and meet go-live dates. By avoiding such delays, his clients are able to meet cost projections, minimize negative effects on stock prices, and fulfill agreements with project partners and investors.

Michael is a recognized authority on the legal and regulatory issues surrounding carbon sequestration and related technologies. He authored Act 512, which established the Louisiana Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Act (La. R.S. 30:1101 et seq.) and was signed into law July 10, 2009. On behalf of American Electric Power, he has testified in support of the act before the House and Senate natural resources committees. Michael also served as Texas counsel for Denbury’s Green Line, a carbon dioxide transmission line from the Jackson Dome in Mississippi to the Hastings Field south of Houston used for secondary oil recovery and eventual sequestration.

Among other publications, Michael authored the chapter in the Louisiana Treatise on Mineral Law concerning Mineral Code art. 122 and implied covenants in mineral leases. He is a longtime member of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute and is also active in The Foundation (formerly the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation), serving on its Programs Committee. Michael also speaks frequently to industry associations, economic development groups, and other organizations on various issues concerning the energy industry, including the future of carbon sequestration in Louisiana, Texas, and other jurisdictions across the United States.

Michael has broad experience in environmental litigation involving private cost recovery and citizen action suits, subsurface trespass, groundwater contamination, migration of hazardous chemicals, property value diminution, environmental audit supervision, and risk-based corrective actions. His experience includes serving as trial counsel in environmental litigation cases involving jurisdictional, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, and Environmental Protection Agency enforcement. Michael also has represented clients before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on a number of issues.

Prior to joining Jones Walker, Michael served as a law clerk to the Honorable Donald E. Walter of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Ms. Kathleen L. Doody
Shareholder
Liskow & Lewis, APLC
Kathleen Doody is an accomplished oil and gas attorney practicing in the firm’s New Orleans office, with over 15 years of transactional experience representing and advising E&P companies, oilfield service companies and lending institutions on a broad range of corporate, energy, regulatory, secured financing and real estate matters.

Kathleen’s current practice is primarily focused on the following:

Representing clients in the drafting and negotiation of various oil and gas related agreements, including operating agreements, memorandum of operating agreements, like-kind exchanges, areas of mutual interests, and withdrawals from joint operating agreements.
Representing clients in connection with appeals of BOEM and BSEE orders to the Interior Board of Land Appeals in connection with issues related to supplemental bonding and incidents of non-compliance.
Providing legal analysis and advice to oil and gas companies related to preserving and perfecting security rights under their joint operating agreements.
Representing clients in connection with the purchase and sale, financing and refinancing of mineral properties and other assets, including negotiating purchase and sale agreements and security instruments and the rendition of third-party closing opinions.
Providing legal analysis and advice to lending institutions related to secured financial transactions, including those secured by real and personal property, their rights upon debtor distress and issues arising in Chapter 11 bankruptcies.
Examination of onshore and offshore mineral title and advising clients on complex mineral title issues and title curative solutions.
Kathleen also routinely provides general advice to clients on various secured transaction matters, Louisiana Uniform Commercial Code matters, mineral rights and real estate matters, business and corporate matters, including business entity selection and formation, and regulatory and permitting matters relating to onshore and offshore mineral leasing.

Prior to joining a law firm, Kathleen was senior counsel at Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc. As senior counsel, she reviewed, drafted and negotiated a broad range of commercial contracts and agreements related to the acquisition and divestiture of oil and gas leases and in support of the development and production of oil and gas, including asset purchase and sale agreements, farmout agreements, confidentiality agreements, production handling agreements, and master service agreements.

Kathleen has helped her clients identify, assess and mitigate their risks, solve problems and achieve positive outcomes in complex and difficult scenarios and under tight time constraints. She is a results-driven advocate, committed to meeting and exceeding client expectations.

Mr. Joseph C. Giglio III
Randazzo Giglio & Bailey LLC
Joseph C. Giglio, III is a native and life-long resident of Lafayette and is a graduate of LSU Law School. Since 2001, Joe has routinely represented clients in connection with the exploration, development and operation of oil and gas properties, including transactions, litigation, title examination, and regulatory matters. Joe also handles environmental and general business litigation and transactions, representing various businesses and their principals in many areas of Louisiana. Joe has given presentations to various oil and gas industry groups, including the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute, the Lafayette Association of Petroleum Landmen, the North Houston Association of Professional Landmen and the Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen.

Mr. Tyler P Gray
Secretary
Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources
Tyler Gray currently serves as the corporate secretary for the Placid Refining Company, LLC; an independent and privately owned, oil and gas company, producing and distributing a full range of transportation fuels across the Southeast from Texas to Maryland. At Placid, he’s responsible for governance, human resources, and external affairs. Previously, he served as president and general counsel to Louisiana Mid-Continent’s Oil and Gas Association, advocating for members on all oil and gas issues as the youngest president in the Association’s 100 year history. Prior to that, Tyler served as an attorney in the Department of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation and for the City of New Orleans. He received his B.A. in Economics from James Madison University in Virginia, a J.D. from Loyola University in New Orleans, M.B.A. with a specialization in Economics from Louisiana State University, and is licensed to practice law in Louisiana. Lastly, he serves on multiple for profit and non-profit boards, including Louisiana Arts and Sciences Museum, St. James Episcopal Day School, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, Public Affairs Research Council, West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, the Governor’s Climate Task Force, and several other state boards.

Hon. John Michael Guidry
Chief Judge
Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal
Chief Judge John Michael Guidry has been a member of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal since 1997. On January 1, 2023 he made history when he became the 15th Chief Judge of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal and the first African American to hold that position in the more than 100-year history of the court. Prior to being elected to the Court of Appeal, he served five years as a member of the Louisiana State Senate and served a year prior to that as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. Chief Judge Guidry is a former Assistant Parish Attorney for the City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge. He is a former Assistant Clerk of the Louisiana House of Representatives. Additionally, he maintained a private general law practice prior to his election as judge. Chief Judge Guidry is a past President of the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Judicial College and a member of the Louisiana Judicial Council. Chief Judge Guidry is an Adjunct Professor at the Southern University Law Center and a past adjunct professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy at Southern University-Baton Rouge. He is a frequent CLE lecturer. Chief Judge Guidry is a member of several professional organizations including the American and National Bar Associations, the American Judges Association, the Louisiana Bar Association, the Louisiana Judicial Council of the National Bar Association, the Baton Rouge Bar Association, and the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society. He is also a member of the Baton Rouge Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee and the Louisiana Protective Order Registry’s Domestic Violence Curriculum Development Advisory Committee. Chief Judge Guidry received his B.A. in Political Science from Louisiana State University and his Juris Doctorate from the Southern University Law Center, graduating Cum Laude.

Professor Keith B. Hall
LSU Law Center
Professor Keith B. Hall is the Campanile Charities Professor of Energy Law, and the Director of the Mineral Law Institute at LSU Law Center. He teaches Mineral Rights, Advanced Mineral Law, International Petroleum Transactions, and an Energy Law Seminar which focuses on environmental issues relating to the oil and gas industry. Prior to joining the Law Center’s faculty in 2012, he taught Introduction to Mineral Law as an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University School of Law from 2008 until spring 2012, and practiced law for 16 years at Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC in New Orleans. His publications have focused on oil and gas leases, pooling and unitization, hydraulic fracturing, induced seismicity, and the management of produced water. He is co-author of one of the two national casebooks on oil and gas law and also is co-author of a book on the legal issues relating to hydraulic fracturing. He is a frequent speaker at national and international oil and gas, energy, and environmental law conferences, and is a contributing co-author to the forthcoming new edition of the leading textbook on international petroleum transactions. In addition to teaching at LSU, he has taught energy law classes as a visiting professor at Baku State University in Azerbaijan and at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and as an adjunct professor at Loyola University College of Law. Professor Hall is a member of the Board of Editors for the Oil & Gas Reporter, the Board of Trustees for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, the Advisory Council for the Institute for Energy Law, and the Board of Trustees for the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation. He is a former Chair of the Louisiana State Bar Association's Environmental Law Section and former Chair of the Oil & Gas Committee of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. He serves on the Louisiana Law Institute’s Water Law Committee and is a registered professional engineer. He co-authors “Recent Developments: Mineral Law” for the bimonthly Louisiana Bar Journal. Professor Hall received his law degree, summa cum laude, from Loyola University College of Law, where he served as Managing Editor of the Loyola Law Review. He graduated from Louisiana State University with an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering.

Mrs. Colleen C Jarrott
Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP
Colleen C. Jarrott represents businesses across a diverse cross-section of industries, including energy, transportation, and hospitality. Ms. Jarrott provides guidance to companies throughout Louisiana on a variety of commercial disputes, contractual issues, and regulatory matters. She also provides guidance in the emerging area of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS). Ms. Jarrott is a litigator who has more than 15 years of experience assisting clients in a variety of industries including energy, transportation, and other commercial businesses. Ms. Jarrott focuses her practice on helping businesses resolve disputes with particular experience in complex commercial litigation, transactional and regulatory matters. A large portion of Ms. Jarrott's practice focuses on commercial contracts, including review and input on provisions that protect her clients' businesses and operational concerns, as well as defending businesses should a dispute arise. In addition, Ms. Jarrott provides advice related to CCUS. She advises her clients on statutory and regulatory requirements surrounding CCUS in Louisiana as well as expropriation issues relating to lands, wells and deep geological formations. Ms. Jarrott also provides guidance on the developing legislative initiatives related to the Louisiana Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Act (La. R.S. 30:1101 et seq.) and actively participates on the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources' Ad Hoc Committee on Carbon Capture as well as the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association's (LMOGA) Carbon Committee. Ms. Jarrott served as law clerk to the Honorable Robert H. Hodges, Jr., United States Court of Federal Claims.

Mr. Terrence K. Knister
Member
Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis and Eagan, LLC
https://www.gamb.com/attorney/terrence-k-knister/
Terry Knister has 40 years of litigation experience in bench and jury trials as well as appeals. His practice focuses on energy, environmental, construction and toxic tort litigation; he has defended individual, mass tort and class action lawsuits.

For over two decades, Terry has defended oil and gas companies in numerous “legacy” lawsuits asserting environmental damage claims typically in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Terry's trial strategy for these cases includes formulating concise discovery for obtaining the most information for the least cost. He is intently involved in selecting key expert and fact witnesses and preparing them for effective testimony at deposition and trial. Where actual environmental damage has occurred, Terry is involved in advising the client with respect to any remediation program required as part of the settlement.

Terry has also helped to formulate the immediate response to emergency situations while they are occurring. These situations have involved oil and gas pipeline ruptures, oil and gas well blowouts, chemical railroad car explosions and derailments and asbestos contamination of buildings, including schools. In these emergency situations, Terry has been involved in the prompt identification of potential hazards, notification of all potentially interested regulatory agencies and potential damage control with regards to the immediate effect of the emergency situation to human health, wildlife and the environment. A key issue in these emergency situations is the identification and involvement of expert witnesses on an expedited basis.

Terry has been an invited speaker at the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Environmental Litigation seminar and has previously spoken at legal programs sponsored by the Association of Corporate Counsel, American Association of Professional Landmen, Defense Research Institute, corporations and insurance companies in the areas of environmental and toxic tort litigation, class actions, mass torts and case management. Terry has served as lead counsel in numerous lawsuits involving allegations of historic and ongoing oil and gas production activities (“legacy” litigation), personal injury and property devaluation/damage caused by hydrocarbon and chemical releases, hazardous materials such as Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM), asbestos, asbestos containing materials, silica, lead, ethylene dichloride, nitrogen tetroxide and pesticides and remediation. A number of these matters have included thousands of plaintiffs seeking extensive monetary damages in both class action and mass tort cases.

Terry also has in-depth experience in admiralty, maritime personal injury (Jones Act and Longshoreman and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act), Occupational Safety and Health Act, workers' compensation, products liability, premises liability, redhibition and individual chemical exposure.

He has dealt with state and federal regulatory agencies, including the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, Louisiana State Police, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Texas Railroad Commission, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, U.S. Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Labor - Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Mr. Stephen H Lee
Department of Natural Resources - Office of Conservation
Director of Injection and Mining Division, Office of Conservation, Department of Natural Resources

Mr. Jamie S. Manuel
Louisiana Department of Natural Resources/Office of Mineral Resources
Jamie S. Manuel joined the Office of Mineral Resources as the Assistant Secretary in June of 2017. Jamie earned his Juris Doctorate from the Paul M. Hebert Law School at Louisiana State University in 2001. Following graduation, Jamie joined Gordon, Arata, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, law firm of New Orleans, Louisiana, as an Associate in the oil and gas section where he remained for four years. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Jamie returned to Baton Rouge and took a position with the office of the Louisiana Attorney General, serving as Special Counsel for the Louisiana Mineral Board. Thereafter in 2006, Jamie joined the firm of Mayhall Fondren Blaize and managed the firm’s oil and gas litigation for the majority of the 11 years he was there. Jamie has written several articles for oil and gas publications and given educational seminars for oil and gas professionals, including LSU’s Mineral Law Institute.