Speakers

Charles G. Blaize Jr.
Office Managing Partner, Fondren Blaize Law Firm

Charles Blaize is a founding member and the managing member of Fondren Blaize and the closing attorney at FB Title Solutions. Blaize has been in private practice for over 20 years, with his practice focused on oil and gas title examination, complex property ownership and right-of-way litigation, royalty/leasehold and commercial real estate. Throughout his career, he has also assisted clients in the negotiation of Oil, Gas and Mineral Leases, Joint Operating Agreements, Seismic Options, as well as other oilfield agreements and negotiations. Additionally, he has handled a wide variety of complex litigation, title review and title opinions including severance issues, property ownership issues and mineral law issues.

Blaize has participated in numerous boundary action cases, pipeline expropriation cases and has tried two tax sale cases all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court. He received the annual President’s Award from the Baton Rouge Bar Association and has led mini-courses at LSU Law as part of the Trial Advocacy Program.

Tyler Gray
Director of Energy Innovation, LSU Energy Institute

Tyler Gray is Director of Energy Innovation at LSU’s Energy Institute, where he works at the intersection of energy law, policy, and applied research to support Louisiana’s evolving energy economy. He previously served as President of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, Corporate Secretary for Placid Refining Company LLC, and most recently as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy, where he led a comprehensive reorganization of the state’s energy and natural resources governance framework, including reforms to permitting, enforcement, and long-term stewardship of legacy assets. Gray’s work focuses on institutional design, energy regulation, and infrastructure development, with particular emphasis on hydrocarbon management and water resources. He holds a B.A. in economics from James Madison University, a J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, and an M.B.A. with an economics specialization from LSU, and is licensed to practice law in Louisiana.

Keith Hall
Professor, LSU Law

Keith Hall is the Nesser Family Chair in Energy Law at Louisiana State University, where he serves as Director of the Mineral Law Institute and as Director of the John P. Laborde Energy Law Center. He teaches Mineral Rights, International Petroleum Transactions, Civil Law Property, and Energy Law & Regulation. He is the co-author of three books on oil and gas law, and co-editor of a book on offshore oil and gas decommissioning. He is also the author of Louisiana Real Property Law and Practice.

His shorter publications have focused on such topics as carbon capture and storage, implied covenants in oil and gas leases, joint operating agreements, and pooling and unitization.  He also has worked on issues relating to the right to extract lithium from subsurface water.  Professor Hall has taught energy law classes as a visiting professor at Baku State University in Azerbaijan and at the University of Pittsburgh, and as an adjunct professor at Loyola School of Law in New Orleans.  Before joining the LSU faculty, Professor Hall practiced law at a major firm in New Orleans for sixteen years, and before that he worked for eight years as a chemical engineer in the petrochemical industry.

Maureen Harbourt (’83)
Senior Counsel, Environmental and Regulatory for Venture Global LNG, Inc.

Maureen Harbourt joined Venture Global LNG, Inc. as Senior Counsel, Environmental and Regulatory in 2024. Maureen graduated from LSU Law Center in 1983 and practiced environmental law with the Kean Miller firm in Baton Rouge until joining Venture Global as a member of its project development group. Harbourt has represented local, national and international industrial and commercial clients in a wide variety of substantive environmental areas, including air, coastal use, state and federal NEPA matters, and carbon capture and storage. She has represented clients over the years with regard to environmental permitting and project planning, as well as rulemaking and legislative issues.

While at Kean Miller, she was a founding member of the Diversity Council and regularly participates in activities to encourage diversity within the legal profession. Harbourt is also listed in Chambers USA as Band One in 2024 in the specialty of environmental law. She is listed by Best Lawyers for a number of years for Environmental Law. She was named in the Capital Region 500 in 2024 and 2025 as an influential community leader.

Mary Catherine Joiner
Partner, Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea LLC

Mary Catherine Joiner is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea LLC. After graduating from Southern University Law Center in 2018, Mary Catherine began practicing law at BMKS with a focus on energy and natural resources. She represents major and independent energy companies in a variety of matters, including oil and gas title examination, regulatory compliance, and transactional work. She has experience preparing preliminary, drill site, and division order title opinions, as well as assisting clients with curative title issues.

Mary Catherine also advises clients on matters related to landowner, mineral owner, and royalty owner demands. In addition to her oil and gas practice, she has contributed to legal scholarship, co-authoring publications on funeral and cemetery case law and leasehold issues for oil and gas title examination. She is an active member of The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, and she is currently serving as Fifth District Representative on the Louisiana State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division council.

Patrick Schenkel
Director of Transactions and Partner, Oliva Gibbs

Patrick Schenkel represents both publicly traded and privately held clients in a variety of upstream and midstream energy matters. His primary areas of practice include title examination and due diligence analysis for the acquisition and divestitures of producing and non-producing assets. He regularly assists clients with drafting, negotiating, and interpreting agreements required for modern oil and gas development, including purchase and sale agreements, joint operating agreements, development agreements, farmout agreements, surface agreements, oil and gas leases, mineral and royalty conveyance, and pooling and unitization agreements. He also advises clients on mineral and leasehold ownership disputes, relinquishment act matters, title curative procedures, pooling, PSA and allocation well, and regulatory issues.

He has drafted and reviewed hundreds of title opinions, including acquisition, drilling, division order, and supplemental title opinions, covering hundreds of thousands of acres on fee, state, and federal lands, and manages a team of attorneys working in conjunction with landmen, division order analysts, and in-house counsel to conduct extensive title examination and transactional due diligence.

Thomas Smart (’82)
Shareholder Attorney, OneBane Law Firm

Thomas Smart is a shareholder with the Onebane Law Firm, where he has practiced for over 40 years and heads up its Energy Law Section. He received his Bachelor of Science degree and Juris Doctorate degree from LSU and LSU Law. His practice focuses on a broad range of energy related transactional, title and regulatory matters, including a number of carbon sequestration (CCUS) projects and the representation of producers engaged in onshore and offshore oil and gas operations in Louisiana and Texas.

Smart was involved in giving industry input on the revision of the Louisiana State Mineral Lease Form, which was completed in 2019. He served on the 2022 Risk Charge Commission, which resulted in revisions to the Risk Charge Statute in 2022. He has participated in providing industry input and in testifying before the Louisiana legislature on CCUS matters, including the past few legislative sessions.