South Texas College of Law Houston recently hosted the 32nd Annual Energy Law Institute, presented by the school’s Harry L. Reed Oil & Gas Law Institute, for nearly 100 of the state’s leading oil and gas attorneys and landmen.
Sponsored by the Houston Bar Association’s Oil, Gas, and Mineral Section; Gray Reed; and Haynes and Boone, the event attracted national energy experts who provided information on:
- Case law and statutory updates from across the U.S.;
- Recent trends in liquefied natural gas and oil pricing;
- The past and present of oil and gas finance; and
- The latest on executive rights and legal descriptions.
STCL Houston President and Dean Michael F. Barry welcomed attendees to the two-day forum and shared the history of the Harry L. Reed Oil & Gas Law Institute. He underscored the importance of having a dynamic, academic, oil and gas law institution in the heart of Houston — the energy capital of the Western Hemisphere. He also highlighted the vital partnerships the Institute fosters between the city’s energy law firms, land companies, regulatory agencies, and law school.
Houston is home to more than 5,000 energy firms and the world’s largest concentration of refineries and petrochemical plants. Since 1923, STCL Houston has grown with the city’s energy industry.
“The goal of the Harry L. Reed Oil & Gas Law Institute is to be the premier oil and gas law school — not only in Texas, and not only in the U.S., but in the world,” said Professor Christopher Kulander, Ph.D., director of the Institute. “South Texas College of Law Houston is unsurpassed in North America when it comes to its oil and gas law curriculum. STCL Houston students who focus on this area are fully equipped at graduation to enter the competitive energy industry and make immediate contributions to the field — whether working in-house with energy companies or for law firms with energy practices.”
STCL Houston offers ten energy-related law courses, ranging from Energy Finance Transactional Skills, to Domestic and International Petroleum Transactions, to Offshore Oil and Gas Development, and more. Students build on a strong foundation in corporate and business law, transactional drafting and negotiation skills, bankruptcy, dispute resolution skills, and an understanding of the regulatory environment.
Event attendees included members of the STCL Houston Energy Alumni Group — composed of approximately 300 oil and gas lawyers throughout the state and nation — and members of the school’s Oil and Gas Legal Society — South Texas’ largest student organization.
Through a wide-ranging regimen of courses, projects, symposia, and scholarship, the Harry L. Reed Oil & Gas Law Institute aims to ignite interest in oil and gas law, and provide one of the most diverse and international student bodies in the country with the practical knowledge and skills to contribute immediately to firms and companies upon graduation. The Institute focuses on developing applied petroleum-related transactional, title, and regulatory practice skills. Future areas of coverage will include international petroleum transactions and other sources of energy. The Institute seeks to be responsive to the practical needs of law firms and energy companies, and aims to give students the opportunity to acquire analytical and practice skills necessary to successfully begin careers in oil and gas law.
