Best Lawyers in America for Oil and Gas Law
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Area of Emphasis Jim Curry is the Managing Shareholder of the Firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Jim is an energy lawyer with years of experience in government service and private practice helping clients navigate difficult regulatory and strategic challenges throughout the energy sector. His clients include pipelines, utilities, energy producers, LNG terminals, investors, technology companies, chemical makers, and hydrogen infrastructure developers. Jim takes a pragmatic, business-minded ...
Hugh M. Ray III is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Energy Law and Oil and Gas Law. Hugh M., who practices law in Houston, Texas, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Hugh M. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Rob Scheffy is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group, focusing on real estate, and a member of the Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources Industry Team. Rob Scheffy has provided businesses with a steady, guiding hand through all phases of the economic cycle, from booms to busts and everything in between. Often described as a “hybrid” lawyer, he draws on his years of private practice and his service as in-house counsel for an interstate gas pipeline company to advise pip...
Based in our Houston office, Paul Clote has been a litigation attorney handling trials and appeals for more than four decades. His cases involve commercial and business disputes across a variety of industries. He has tried to verdict in both state and federal courts, cases entailing fiduciary duties; partnership termination and windup; letters of credit; business fraud and civil theft; trust account funds; broker commissions; ERISA disability benefits; child abuse; minimum wage and overtime c...
Matthew W. Onest is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Oil and Gas Law. Matthew W., who practices law in Canton, Ohio, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Matthew W. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Marc Monteleone is the Managing Partner of Bowles Rice, acting as the firm’s CEO. His responsibilities include leadership, management and administration of the firm. Marc’s legal practice includes federal and state taxation, mergers and acquisitions, oil and gas law, construction law, commercial law and real estate development. He also serves as the chairman of the firm’s Small Business Development Team, which assists small businesses in all matters, from formation through d...
Dale Wainwright is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Appellate Practice and Oil and Gas Law. Dale, who practices law in Austin, Texas, has been recognized since 2020. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Dale is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Douglas C. Atnipp is the Texas Co-Regional Managing Shareholder, Co-Managing Shareholder of the Houston office and Co-Chair of the firm's national Energy and Natural Resources Practice. Doug has more than 25 years of experience representing clients engaged in all facets of the energy business. He is involved in a wide range of energy-related transactions including energy finance, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and acquisitions and dispositions of energy-related assets. In addition to...
Jane Jackson focuses her practice in the areas of environmental litigation, oil and gas, and commercial litigation. She handles the defense of environmental claims by landowners alleging environmental damage arising from oil and gas exploration and production operations. Ms. Jackson has represented public entities in land use cases involving the appropriation of property for constructing and maintaining hurricane protection levees, and she also has experience handling cases involving land los...
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 ...
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.