PRACTICE AREAS

NATURAL RESOURCES

We have more than 50 years of combined experience helping both major and independent energy producers, landowners, oil field service providers, and investors in connection with leasing, exploring, discovering, acquiring, developing, producing, and marketing California’s natural resources. We are highly proficient in complex business issues and have represented clients in a variety of related matters, including:

• Asset and entity purchase and sale transactions
• Oil and gas title matters
• Carbon capture and sequestration projects
• Joint operating agreements
• Assignments, deeds, and farm-out agreements
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Litigation and disputes
• Federal, state and local regulatory matters

We have substantial knowledge and experience in disputes and litigation that arise during all phases of natural resources exploration, development, and production, including royalty disputes, mineral ownership, operating agreements, lease termination, environmental cleanup, and commercial transactions involving purchase and sales agreements.

We help operators and landowners understand their legal rights and responsibilities and navigate their way through California’s increasingly complex and uncertain statutes and administrative regulations. We help our clients understand and comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the California Public Resources Code and related regulations of the Department of Conservation, Division of Geologic Energy Management (CalGEM), local county and city permitting and entitlement requirements, and applicable state, federal and local environmental laws.

BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS

We are experts at assisting and protecting business clients, working closely and creatively with them to secure the results that they desire in an efficient and cost-effective way. Whether you are seeking to create a new business, expand your current company, buy and/or sell assets, or solve an unforeseen or unavoidable problem, we have the experience, dedication, and skill to help your business successfully accomplish its goals.

We provide advisory, transactional and litigation services for clients on a broad array of corporate and business law issues, including:

• Corporation, limited liability company and partnership formation
• Corporate governance
• Corporate restructuring
• Business and growth strategies
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Contract drafting and review
• Asset purchase, sale and financing transactions
• Commercial litigation
• Partnership, member, and shareholder disputes
• Corporate securities
• Loans and security agreements

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Understanding the full scope of California’s complex and overlapping environmental laws requires detailed knowledge and experience with federal and state statutes and agency regulations, traditional common law property rights and remedies, and the benefits and limitations of contractual protections and insurance. We understand how important it is for clients to be environmentally responsible while at the same time moving their businesses forward. That often-difficult balance requires sound judgment, access to and influence with the regulatory decision-makers, and real-world common sense.

We have considerable knowledge of and experience with the following regulatory programs:

• California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
• California Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act
• California Hazardous Substances Account Act
• California Public Resources Code and CalGEM Regulations
• Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
• National Environmental Policy Act
• Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund)
• Federal Clean Water Act (CWA)
• Federal Safe Drinking Water Act
• Federal Oil Pollution Act

In addition, we have successfully handled numerous environmental disputes and litigation matters involving common law claims and remedies, including surface and subsurface trespass and public and private nuisance.

BUSINESS LITIGATION

All businesses, no matter how well they are managed, sometimes find themselves involved in disputes that they are unable to resolve without professional legal assistance. We are experts at assisting our business clients in resolving those difficult problems. In particular, we have the knowledge, know-how, relationships, reputation, and experience to help you and your business resolve the following types of disputes: