Best Lawyers in America for Natural Resources Law
Select a location from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
State
Laura Maffei brings her experience as a geologist to her practice in environmental and natural resources law. She has extensive experience in Clean Water Act regulation in both Oregon and Washington where she assists clients with negotiating permit conditions and complying with permits. Ms. Maffei has litigated a number of Clean Water Act cases in both state and federal court, including defending against citizen suits and challenges to state-wide Clean Water Act regulations. Ms. Maffei provid...
Nora Sheriff is a Shareholder in Buchalter’s San Francisco office and a member of the Firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Practice Group. With decades of experience in the energy industry, Ms. Sheriff focuses her practice on electric and natural gas regulatory and administrative litigation, legislative efforts, and end-use contractual transactions; she works to ensure clean energy tools are available for large end-use customer use to help mitigate the impacts of the high cost of...
Mary F. Samuels is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Environmental Law and Natural Resources Law. Mary F., who practices law in Birmingham, Alabama, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Mary F. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Kevin represents a diverse clientele in virtually all aspects of the energy industry. With a background in petroleum geology, he has operated and participated in oil and gas exploration and development projects across North America. As a transactional lawyer, he has represented owners and operators with documentation, due diligence, and business counseling for acquisitions and divestitures and for exploration and operation. As a trial lawyer, he has represented plaintiffs and defendants, both...
Paul H. Stephenson, III was admitted to the Mississippi Bar in 1977. He is also admitted to practice before all state and federal district courts in Mississippi, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His practice has focused on business, commercial and financial disputes at the trial and appellate levels involving a wide array of subject matters. Paul's experience includes complex class actions, oil and gas controversie...
Troy A. Eid, the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, is a principal shareholder in the firm's Denver office. He has wide-ranging experience in complex federal, state and tribal litigation at the administrative, trial and appellate court level. Mr. Eid also handles a wide range of sensitive commercial transactions and disputes that require statutory, regulatory or administrative approval. Recent examples include: Spearheading the statutory review and community participation proc...
Scott B. Birkey is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Land Use and Zoning Law, Litigation - Land Use and Zoning and Natural Resources Law. Scott B., who practices law in San Francisco, California, has been recognized since 2018. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Scott B. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Chris Carr is widely regarded as one of the leading project development, environmental, and energy lawyers in the United States. Drawing on his experience with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of State, Mr. Carr represents businesses, land developers, public agencies, and nonprofits in all areas of environmental and natural resource law, including energy, transportation, water, forestry, mining, coastal and marine resources, and agriculture. In particular, his pract...
Glenn Gates Taylor is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Energy Law, Litigation - Environmental, Natural Resources Law, Oil and Gas Law and Water Law. Glenn Gates, who practices law in Ridgeland, Mississippi, has been recognized since 1989. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Glenn Gates is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Bland Williamson is a founding member of Pray Walker and has been affiliated with the firm and its predecessors since 1969. His legal practice has been concentrated in Oil and Gas law and related regulatory areas for over 30 years. During this period, he has been involved in the acquisition and disposition of oil and gas properties and mid-stream facilities on numerous occasions, involving various differing business structures and financing mechanisms.Bland has experience in the drafting and ...
Dan Jensen has been practicing natural resources law since 1988. His practice encompasses mining, water, oil and gas, public land and administrative law. Mr. Jensen focuses on transactional work involving mineral interests, water rights and public lands, acquisitions and transfers of mineral land and water rights, title and due diligence reviews, land use entitlements, and development agreements. Mr. Jensen also handles related litigation, including disputes concerning property titles and bou...
For over four decades, Chris has been a leader in the fields of water law, land use law, natural resources law, constitutional law, and road and public access law. He has extensive litigation experience at the administrative, district court and appellate levels (including 21 Idaho Supreme Court cases). Best Lawyers in America has named him “Lawyer of the Year” 11 times in the fields of water, land use, and natural resources. Three times, Super Lawyers placed Chris in the “To...
Stan Harris is a shareholder with Modrall Sperling and has twenty years of litigation experience. Stan practices in the areas of public lands, natural resources, and commercial litigation. He has advised clients at the judicial, administrative, and legislative levels on federal, state, and local issues. Stan has extensive experience in the representation of parties in their disputes involving cultural property, public lands, Indian lands, oil and gas industry, environmental infrastructure mat...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.