How I got here
My path to Minerals Guy started while studying law at LSU. Of all the subjects I studied (from torts to contracts to civil procedure), I found myself gravitating towards property law – the rules and cases for determining who owns the dirt under our feet and the minerals buried deep beneath the surface. Every case I read in school or worked on in private practice told a story about a piece of land, a family and about our nation’s heritage. I was intrigued watching how property flowed from generation to generation: the single homesteader becoming a multi-generation family, a wildcatter buying leases during the Great Depression, fortunes made and lost, and made again.
My journey started in private law practice, but my love for land took me into this industry. The need for dirt lawyers in the oil and gas business exploded after I graduated, and I found myself playing my own role in the Shale Revolution. I went on to serve as an in-house attorney and head of the land department for an oil and gas company, where I learned the business of exploring for and developing oil and natural gas reserves. Eventually, I would take a more entrepreneurial path: buying, selling and developing oil and gas properties all across the country.
A Fair Buyer
Besides educating sellers, the part of the business that I enjoy most is being a mineral buyer, and I strive to be the most transparent buyer anybody could work with. I like everything about the process, finding good value, educating sellers along the way, and in the end, walking away knowing that everybody got a good deal.
There is a piece of fairness inside of me that refuses to take advantage of people. I don’t know if it’s from my upbringing, or from being a lawyer, but I will not sacrifice my integrity to make a buck. But, what does this mean in practice? It means being honest and forthright with you about drilling and permitting activity in your area and about the value of your property. I can’t promise to beat every bid for your minerals, but I will guarantee you this, we are always fair.
Of course, we have to remember
what it is all for in the end.
First and foremost, its all His and I’m just a steward. Second, I’m a husband and a father and the biggest satisfaction of my vocation is being able to provide for my wife and two (soon to be three) young boys. Home is in Colorado now but we get back to our Louisiana roots as often as possible. I’m a sucker for boiled crawfish and LSU football. When I’m not working, you can find me playing golf with my boys or standing in the middle of a trout stream, rod in hand.