I earned my bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and pursued my law degree at the University of Arkansas. I grew up in the oil & gas fields of West Texas. My father became an executive with Occidental Petroleum which led us to live and travel overseas growing up. Before becoming an attorney, I was a Petroleum Landman. I spent most of my time in the basement of courthouses researching mineral rights, real estate deeds, and probate court filings. My role was to trace land & mineral ownership going all the way back to sovereign of Texas. This process often led to finding people who owned oil royalties and didn’t even know it. Making those calls to those people about their newfound royalties made my day and theirs! Finding out exactly who owns what is critical to an oil company- a lot of money on the line. If we inadvertently left someone out it could potentially result in a lawsuit. When I found gaps or problems in my title research, I had a direct line to an attorney, and we worked to develop the “cure” for the title problem. This is how I became so familiar with finding answers to solve title issues, probate, affidavits of heirship, etc.
Initially, I didn’t need a law degree to be a landman, however, times changed and the only way to get further promoted was to achieve one. The trend of oil companies wanting their landmen to have law degrees was becoming permanent. After all, we are talking about multi-million-dollar deals that require expertise on all levels. During law school, I was offered a position with a law firm that focused on the same areas of my knowledge. And that is how I transitioned from Landman to Lawyer. Every day I still use my experience to solve complex title issues or prevent them from happening through the use of Trusts in estate planning.
My wife, Heather, was a 3rd grade teacher for 20 years, retired, and then jumped back into the civilian world as an entrepreneur. She owns and runs a med spa/health franchise in Frisco called Prime I.V. Therapy. She keeps me feeling good at a discount! We live in Frisco near The Star. Despite my allegiance to the Cowboys, she has made me a Kansas City Chiefs fan by force (she is from K.C.) As such, I’ve given my blessing for her to marry Travis Kelce if anything happened to me.