Will brings extensive carbon capture and sequestration experience to his already robust energy sector and property law practice. Will has given numerous presentations on oil and gas, property-related matters and carbon capture. He is an industry pioneer in negotiating unique carbon capture deals covering hundreds of thousands of acres in Louisiana and Texas. An accepted expert in “Title and Mineral Law” who has provided testimony before Louisiana’s First Judicial District, Will was also the Editor of the award-winning landman publication, The Register, for the Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen.
Over the last several years, Will has been heavily involved in drafting and negotiating carbon sequestration servitude and lease agreements. These transactions involve more than 200,000 acres in Louisiana and Texas, together with other legal and regulatory facets of CCUS, including appearing before the Louisiana Office of Mineral Resources regarding state-owned lands. Notably, Will is an active member of the LMOGA Carbon Committee.
In addition to his focus on carbon capture and sequestration, Will represents and assists energy and midstream companies with their exploration, production, and operational matters. This includes advising on oil and gas title, due diligence and curative, purchase and sale agreements, gas gathering agreements, master service agreements, exploration and farm-out agreements, joint operating agreements, mineral leases, saltwater disposal, regulatory compliance, and surface use-related agreements involving well pads, roads, pipelines, powerlines, and frac ponds.
As an advocate and litigator, Will guides energy companies and owners of mineral and property rights through demands, disputes, and litigation involving energy-related contracts, mineral rights, property rights, and legal compliance. He is fluent in the laws and regulations of this specialized discipline of the law and advises on La. R.S. 30:10, La. R.S. 31:137, La. R.S. 30:103.1, as well as issues associated with concursus/interpleader, surface use, royalty payments, unleased mineral owners, unitization, continuous operations, shut-in payments, production in paying quantities, and the public records doctrine.
Moreover, Will is called upon by various businesses, large landowners, timber companies, and banks to advise on acquisition and property management matters, including acquisitions and divestitures of both land and minerals/royalty, title matters, curative, oil and gas matters, mineral and royalty servitudes, road and access issues, surface use, farming and hunting leases, and trespass and boundary issues.
Will is valued by clients, colleagues, and matter constituents alike for providing solutions and explanations that everyone can understand. He is appreciated for finding common ground without compromising what his client needs to succeed, as well as for being a dealmaker who keeps client matters on track and progressing toward the right result.
- Assisted with the first large (25,000+ acres) carbon and capture lease/servitude agreement in Louisiana.
- Assisted with a carbon capture project involving direct air capture in Louisiana.
- Prevailed at summary judgment in federal court on the interpretation of the scope of mineral lease assignment language (descriptive language held to not be limiting).
- Prevailed on appeal wherein the Louisiana Second Circuit found that surface production testing interrupted the prescription of non-use on a mineral royalty.
- Prevailed at summary judgment in federal court on the interpretation of the assignment of a mineral lease (was not a wellbore assignment).
- Successful representation of an E&P company in a suit concerning entitlement to production proceeds attributable to roads annexed into the City of Shreveport, with a favorable ruling obtained at the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal.
- Obtained a judgment in favor of a mineral purchaser under the Louisiana public records doctrine against the claim of a potential heir.
- Successful prosecution of a suit involving accretion by the Red River and resulting trespass.
- Assisted with the successful representation of an E&P company in a suit seeking to prohibit the City of Shreveport from regulating oil and gas drilling and well locations, with a favorable ruling ultimately obtained at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Assisted with the successful representation of an operator in a claim involving the collection of expenses and counterclaim for damages, with a favorable ruling ultimately obtained at the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal.
- Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, J.D., 2001
- Member, Louisiana Law Review
- Recipient, "Associate Henri Capitant Award," Louisiana Chapter, for best student paper with an emphasis on civil law
- Millsaps College, B.B.A., cum laude, 1997
- Louisiana
- Texas
- United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
- Master, Harry V. Booth and Henry A. Politz American Inn of Court
- Board Member, Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen (ALTAPL)
- Member, Louisiana State Bar Association
- Member, Shreveport Bar Association
- Member, Texas State Bar Association
- “Best Newsletter Medium Association,” awarded by the American Association of Professional Landmen, Editor, The Register, a publication of the Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen, 2022
- “Rising Star,” Louisiana Super Lawyers, 2010-13
- "From Pores to Pearls: A Broad Discussion of Trending CCS Initiatives Along the Gulf Coast," Stay Out of Hot Water, A Kean Miller CLE, Houston, TX, April 18, 2024
- "CCS: Revisions to the La. Geologic Sequestration of CO2 Act and Trending Topics," LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources Annual Symposium, January 26, 2024
- "Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to Assume Primacy for Issuance of Permits for Carbon Capture and Sequestration in Louisiana," Louisiana Law Blog, January 2, 2024
- “Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Overview, Multi-State Review and Selected Topics,” Rose Rock: An Energy Panel, Tulsa County Bar Association, April 7, 2023
- “Carbon Capture: Selected Issues and Not-So-Standard Forms,” Association of Corporate Counsel Energy Forum, February 15, 2023
- “Carbon Capture and Sequestration with a Louisiana Focus,” Louisiana Certified Public Accountants Energy Conference, December 9, 2022
- “Carbon Capture and Sequestration – Louisiana and Texas Overview,” ERM Kean Miller Greenhouse Gas Forum, November 8, 2022
- “Preparing for Our Energy Future: Carbon Capture and Sequestration,” Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen Educational Seminar, February 25, 2022
- “Oils Well That Ends Well: Texas First Purchaser Lien Act Affords Working Interest Owners Greater Secured Rights,” Texas Law Blog, September 27, 2021
- “Overview of the Differences Between Texas and Louisiana Mineral Law,” Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen Seminar, February 26, 2021
- “Carbon Capture and Storage – A Ray of Light for the Louisiana Energy Economy?” Louisiana Law Blog, August 20, 2020
- “Undeterminable Payees in the Oil and Gas Industry: Suspense Accounts, Concursus and Escheat Law,” Ark-La-Tex COPAS Society, February 26, 2019
- “Staying on Track – Railroad Title and Ownership Issues in Louisiana,” Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen, February 17, 2018
- “Buying and Selling Minerals and the New Sale of Mineral Rights by Solicitation Act,” Biz Magazine Shreveport, October 12, 2017
- “Bill Would Cut Taxes for Fossil Fuel Producers Reviving Dormant Wells,” New Orleans CityBusiness, May 23, 2017
- “A Brief Examination of 'Mineral Acre' and 'Royalty Acre' in Louisiana,” Louisiana Law Blog, June 1, 2016
- “Notes and Lessons for Landmen from Recent Louisiana Jurisprudence,” Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen Annual Seminar, January 2015
- “Legal Update: Notice of Mineral Lease Reauthorized,” The Register – ALTAPL, October 2007
- “A Primer on Usufructs of Minerals,” The Register – ALTAPL, September 2007
- “Three Title Pitfalls Examined,” The Register – ALTAPL, 2007
- “Energy Mgmt. Corp v. City of Shreveport: La. Office of Conservation’s Authority Over Oil and Gas Exploration Preempts Local Regulation of Drilling Operations,” The Register – ALTAPL, February 2007
- “Potential Pugh Clause Trap for the Unwary: Pooling with Other Lands or Leases Required in Certain Instances,” The Register – ALTAPL, 2006
- “The New Law of Interdiction: Clear and Convincing Revision?” 47 Loyola Law Review 1059 (2001)
- “Hulin v. Fibreboard Corp.: In Pursuit of a Workable Framework for Adjudicative Retroactivity Analysis in Louisiana,” 60 Louisiana Law Review 1003 (2000)
- Pro Bono Counsel, various matters at Caddo Parish Juvenile Court
- Editor of The Register, Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen Publication, 2020-2021
- Krewe of Justinian, Duke XX