Mr. James Blake Canfield
La Dept Of Natural Resources
Blake Canfield is Executive Counsel for the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources (LDENR). In this role Mr. Canfield manages LDENR’s Legal Division, is responsible for certain legislative matters involving the agency, and advises LDENR’s Secretary and staff on the administrative and operational functions of the Department, as well as LDENR’s regulation of Louisiana’s abundant natural resources, including but not limited to regulation of activities which impact the state’s coastal resources, management of the State’s property for energy development, water resources, and promotion of energy conservation. Prior to becoming Executive Counsel in 2013, Mr. Canfield was Senior Attorney for the Louisiana Office of Conservation, where he represented the agency in litigation and administrative matters and provided legal counsel to the Commissioner of Conservation regarding his office’s regulation of the development of oil, gas, lignite, and other mineral resources. Mr. Canfield is a lifelong resident of Louisiana and a graduate of LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Blake currently serves on US DOE’s CCUS Permitting Task Force, is a member of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute’s Advisory Council, and is past chair of Louisiana’s Public Recreational Access Task Force.
Mrs. Brittanie Wagnon Carpenter
Member
Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea LLC
Brittanie Wagnon Carpenter is a member at Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea LLC. She graduated from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law School in 2016, and she is the mother of a rambunctious two-year old. She began her oil and gas work when she started at BMKS in 2017. Since then, Brittanie has represented major and independent energy companies in litigation, title examination, and division order work. She advises clients in many stages of oil and gas exploration, including matters related to lease disputes, landowner, mineral owner, and royalty owner demands, title issues, and Louisiana risk-fee issues. Brittanie has examined title in the various oil and gas fields in Louisiana. She enjoys rendering drill site, preliminary, and division order title opinions in addition to helping clients with curative work. Beyond oil and gas, Brittanie provides advice to businesses regarding employment law, with an emphasis on handbooks, policies, and contracts, litigates in defense of large insurance companies in their special investigative units, including coverage opinions, examinations under oath, and defense of both first-party and third-party claims, and engages in general corporate representation in both litigation and transactional work.
Mr. Anderson O. Dotson III
Chief Disciplinary Counsel
Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board
Mr. Dotson has served in various positions with the Disciplinary Board, starting from working with the hearing committees, moving to the board where he served as Vice Chairman, and ultimately becoming Chairman of the Disciplinary Board.
Mr. Dotson earned his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University in 1996 and his juris doctor degree, magna cum laude from Southern University Law Center in 2000. From 2009 until his appointment as Chief Disciplinary Counsel, Mr. Dotson served the City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge in the parish attorney’s office. He worked as an Assistant City Prosecutor, 2009-2011; First Assistant City Prosecutor, 2011-2015; Chief City Prosecutor, 2015-2019; and Parish Attorney, 2019-2024. Mr. Dotson taught as a part-time Adjunct Professor of Law at Southern University Law Center, 2010/2011-2022, and at Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, 2022-2024. He also worked at Phelps Dunbar LLP, Baton Rouge, La. as an Associate Attorney, 2000-2009, and in private practice, 2010-the present.
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.
Ms. Amelia L. Hurt
Kelly Hart
Amelia L. Hurt is an associate in the firm’s Bankruptcy and Business Reorganization section. Her practice focuses on bankruptcy and bankruptcy litigation, where she represents debtors, debtors-in-possession, creditors, and trustees in Chapter 11 cases throughout the country. Ms. Hurt also handles bankruptcy-related litigation matters and appellate work, including cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Hurt’s legal expertise includes prosecuting and defending preference actions in bankruptcy, requiring an in-depth analysis of both the elements and defenses to a preference.
Ms. Hurt routinely consults clients on bankruptcy claims. Her representation includes advising clients on the terms and conditions of plans of reorganization in large bankruptcy cases.
Ms. Hurt’s experience also includes representation of both individuals and businesses in a wide variety of commercial litigation matters, including oil and gas contractual disputes, class actions, administrative proceedings, and arbitration.
Amelia Hurt earned her J.D., cum laude, from Louisiana State University, where she served as Senior Editor of the Louisiana Law Review. During law school, Ms. Hurt interned for the Honorable Harlin Hale, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Texas. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Hurt was a term law clerk to the Honorable Craig A. Gargotta, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Texas.
Mr. Anson Bradley Ives
Louisiana State University
Brad Ives is the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Innovation at Louisiana State University. Prior to joining LSU in 2023, Mr. Ives led Catawba College to become the first certified carbon-neutral college in the Southeast as Executive Director of its Center for the Environment. He also served as Chief Sustainability Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor at the University of North Carolina and as North Carolina’s Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources where he drove policy resulting in the state’s first wind farm.
Mr. Ives began his career as a finance lawyer on Wall Street where he worked on Louisiana’s only hydroelectric power plant. He later moved to institutional money management working on an early clean technology venture capital fund and spending four years in London.
After returning to the U.S., Mr. Ives developed an award-winning landfill gas project to supply renewable energy to ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Polyolefins Plant. Mr. Ives also led a biomass energy technology company and worked in energy storage and solar power sectors.
Mr. Ives holds the Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate from the Global Association of Risk Professionals, is a GRI Certified Sustainability Professional and is the recipient of the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association’s Individual Energy Leader Award. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees from the University of North Carolina where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar.
Mrs. Mary Catherine Joiner
Attorney
Bradley, Murchison, Kelly and Shea
Mary Catherine Joiner is an associate in the Baton Rouge office of Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea LLC. After graduating from Southern University Law Center in 2018, Mary Catherine began practicing law at BMKS with a focus on energy and natural resources. She represents major and independent energy companies in a variety of matters, including oil and gas title examination, regulatory compliance, and transactional work. She has experience preparing preliminary, drill site, and division order title opinions, as well as assisting clients with curative title issues. Mary Catherine also advises clients on matters related to landowner, mineral owner, and royalty owner demands. In addition to her oil and gas practice, she has contributed to legal scholarship, co-authoring publications on funeral and cemetery case law and leasehold issues for oil and gas title examination. She is an active member of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, and she is currently serving as Fifth District Representative on the Louisiana State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division council. Outside of her legal practice, Mary Catherine enjoys spending time with her family and supporting local community initiatives.
Professor Bruce M Kramer
McGinnis Lochridge
BRUCE M. KRAMER is a nationally known oil, gas, energy and land use legal scholar and a long-time professor at Texas Tech University School of Law. Bruce has advised companies on a wide array of legal issues and strategies in the energy arena for more than 40 years. His areas of experience include state and federal laws, as well as regulations and rules affecting exploration, production and upstream facilities. Bruce is the co-author of several important books that have become the definitive references for energy lawyers, including two multi-volume treatises, The Law of Pooling and Unitization and Williams and Meyers Oil and Gas Law (since 1996). Bruce’s books and legal articles have been cited as authority in numerous court rulings and appellate opinions, including decisions of the Supreme Courts of Texas and multiple other states, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and numerous Federal District Courts as well as testifying before legislative and administrative bodies.
Mr. Anthony C. Marino
Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis and Eagan, LLC
Tony Marino’s practice focuses on energy transactions and regulatory matters. His work includes drafting and negotiating oil and gas agreements, acquisitions and divestures of mineral properties, and energy financings. Additionally, he advises clients on regulatory issues on mineral leases both onshore in Louisiana and offshore in state and federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Tony represents clients before regulatory agencies, including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), and Interior Board of Land Appeals. Such matters range from plugging and abandonment liability issues and oil spill financial responsibility to royalty valuation and relief and non-compliance.
Tony began his career as a paralegal at Gordon Arata, then joined as an associate after law school. After years growing his energy practice at firms across New Orleans, he returned to Gordon Arata in 2024.
Tony has been listed as a The Best Lawyer in America® since 2021 and was named a New Orleans “Lawyer of the Year” for Energy Law in 2023. He was ranked by Chambers USA for Energy & Natural Resources: Oil & Gas – Louisiana from 2019 – 2021. Tony serves as an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans teaching mineral law.
Professor Patrick H Martin
Attorney At Law
Patrick H. Martin is Campanile Professor of Mineral Law, Emeritus, at Louisiana State University Law Center. Professor Martin taught at the LSU Law Center from 1977 to 2011, including courses in Jurisprudence, Contracts, and Mineral Law. From 1982 to 1984, he served as the Commissioner of Conservation for the State of Louisiana. Professor Martin holds the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Louisiana State University and the J. D. degree from the Duke University Law School. His publications include Pooling and Unitization (with B. Kramer) and Williams & Meyers Oil and Gas Law (update and revision author with B. Kramer) and three casebooks, Jurisprudence: Text and Readings on the Philosophy of Law (with Christie & MacLeod), Oil and Gas Cases and Materials (with Kramer, Hall & Ritchie) and Economic Regulation: Energy, Transportation and Utilities (with Pierce and Allison, 1980) as well as numerous articles on oil and gas law, energy regulation, and early modern English history. Professor Martin has served as an arbitrator, mediator, and consultant in the oil and gas industry.
Ms. Marjorie McKeithen
Jones Walker LLP
Marjorie McKeithen affiliated with Jones Walker after serving as Secretary of the Louisiana Mineral and Energy Board and Assistant Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, Office of Mineral Resources, where she oversaw the granting and administering of mineral leases, storage agreements, and alternative energy agreements on state-owned land and water bottoms. While serving as Secretary of the Louisiana Mineral and Energy Board, Marjorie undertook a comprehensive revision of Louisiana's statutory scheme relating to agreements for underground storage.
Marjorie routinely serves as project counsel for large infrastructure projects, including hydrogen and ammonia facilities (both blue and green hydrogen facilities), carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration, storage and enhanced recovery projects, wind energy facilities, chemical plants, petrochemical plants and refineries, pipelines, LNG and liquefaction facilities, solution-mining facilities, hydrocarbon storage facilities (salt dome and reservoir storage), and commercial saltwater disposal facilities.
She understands and helps clients navigate the challenges of being a first mover in a space. She served as counsel for both the first CO2 sequestration agreements with the State of Louisiana and the first offshore wind energy agreement in state waters in the Gulf of Mexico. She also obtained for her client the first certificate of public convenience and necessity from the State of Louisiana for a CO2 pipeline to transport CO2 to a storage facility.
Marjorie also understands that successfully and efficiently navigating regulatory and land use issues can dramatically increase the odds of success of a project and works tirelessly to help ensure that clients’ projects proceed through the regulatory process in a timely and efficient manner. She routinely works on permitting and regulatory matters regarding US Army Corps of Engineers Permits, Louisiana Coastal Use Permits, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources/Office of Conservation Permits (including all Classes of Underground Injection Control Permits and Pipeline Permits), Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Water Withdrawal Agreements, Louisiana Department of Environment Quality Air and Discharge Permits, and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Permits.
Marjorie also has extensive experience in the construction and engineering arena with respect to contractor and engineering licensing, having assisted a number of clients in acquiring contractor and engineering licenses throughout the United States when numerous licenses are needed in short periods of time in connection with transactions or projects.
After clerking with the Honorable Frank J. Polozola in the US District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, Marjorie was in the private practice of law from 1992 to 2006, during which time she concentrated on civil litigation, including environmental and toxic tort litigation. Previously, she served as campaign manager to her father, W. Fox McKeithen, during his initial campaign for the office of Louisiana Secretary of State.
