Top Law Schools

Applying to law school this fall and interested in becoming a landman attorney. Which university and courses should I take to achieve this? Environmental law? Land law?

Thanks in advance!

I'm confused by your question. I think you're asking where you should go to law school in order to become an oil and gas lawyer and what classes you should take once you're there. The answer to where to go is somewhere very high ranked that places well into oil-heavy markets (e.g. Harvard places well into Texas) or somewhere regional that places well into the nearby oil-heavy market (Colorado, maybe?). The answer to take once you get there is the required set of 1L classes; you don't get to choose your classes in the first year. After that, it'll probably be pretty obvious what leads to oil and gas law.

I graduated in 2013, currently work as a landman. I don't think it really matters what classes you take unless they are specifically geared to land management, which you are probably only going to find anyway if you go to law school in a traditional oil & gas state.

If you want to be a landman, best bet is to network via AAPL with whatever your local chapter is where you go to law school. Become a member, and start meeting people and networking. If someone likes you, they might give you some work over the summer so you can learn ropes as far as running title goes and whatnot.

Personally I think the jobs incredible and you couldn't pick a better time to be a landman.

wtf is a landman

Clearly there is some confusion about landmen among TLS. Every exploration & production company has a land department which manages the companies mineral interests. A landman negotiates for the transfer of mineral rights to the company, usually makes sure the title on the rights aren't defective, and deals a lot with the pooling of mineral interests for a unit to drill.

If this is something you're interested don't go to Harvard. The major public school in a oil producing area is a good bet (UH, UT, OU, LSU, Alabama, CU). I've heard real estate transactions and oil & gas law are helpful. My school also had an Advanced Oil & Gas Contracts Drafting class...

Thanks for the input all. Some great info!

Obviously I'm biased but I find landman work to be much more enjoyable than traditional law practice. The pay is very generous as well.

If you want to do oil & gas law starting as a landman is a good entry to that as well. A lot of brokers and companies, especially for field landmen, have been hiring JD-preferred candidates with no experience and letting them learn on the job.

That's good to know, actually. Thanks again.