I am in need of an oil and gas lawyer in the Houston, Texas area that might be willing to take my case on a contingency basis. Any advice that you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanking you in advance.
J.P.
Johnny,
I hate to burst your bubble, but the only lawyers that really work on a contingency basis is plaintiff's lawyers, who who work on those cases involving wrongful death, mutilation, etc. A good case in point would be the plaintiff's lawyers who are representing the survivors of Transocean Rig disaster, and one case which was settled for I think billions of dollars last year or the year before last, was the one filed by the surviving daughter of a worker killed in the Texas City BP explosion and these personal injury lawyers get generally get 1/3 of the fee awarded by the jury.
You should expect to pay anywhere from $350-$500/hr in out of court time spent on the case by an oil and gas attorney and if the matter ends up going to trial he will want to bring in a trial attorney who will get $3000-$6000/hour in court time.
I am sorry to tell you this, but since my late dad was a senior partner in Houston's biggest firm, I do have some insight into this. If you live in the Madisonville area, I can tell you a good lawyer who specializes in mineral leases and will probably cost you around $250-$350/hr plus you have to figure in $100/hr for paralegal and $30/hr for secretarial work. Contact me offline.
I think you could pique the interest of a lawyer if you offered 40% of 39 years production. That would still leave you a healthy amount more cash than signing a lease. I’d rather give it ALL to a lawyer than any to an oil co that made the lawyer necessary.
I don’t think they can determine a royalty rate untill there is a signed lease. I think that would be something you would have to agree to. Tell them to put it in writing and you might check about recording your calls, as I believe Tx is a 1 party state ( where it is legal as long as 1 party is aware that they are being recorded ). I have had oil people tell me the most outrageous lies, which doesn’t mean they all do, but it’s good to have it all on record since some do.
Well, I wish you the best of luck in finding a lawyer willing to work on a contingency basis, because he would also have to be basing his "fee" upon the contingency there is oil or enough gas to be worth something.
Just out of curiosity, what part of the state, particularly the county, is your land located, because knowing there is something definitely down there might change a lawyer's mind.
4 wells, 3 gas and 1 oil with no lease for 39 years? I think there might be a little bit there Mr. Ross. I expect that a lawyer working on contingency’s first objective would be finding out the production attributable to the acreage that isn’t covered by the lease. I don’t think that 1/8 set aside is the truth. As i said before I think they need a lease before they can set aside a certain royalty.
I have been looking for the proper forum to post this question and I cannot seem to find it...or even get over to another forum to post a question, but can anyone tell me what the average rate is to lease (or do pipeline companies expect to buy) the right to lay a pipeline across your property? If they lease, what is a reasonable rate?
One old fella told me that it was $7.50 a foot whereas someone with an oil company said it was a dollar a foot. After a while I got to thinking that maybe the fellow who said $7.50 a foot must have been talking about selling the right to lay the pipe whereas the landman with the pipeline company was talking about how much they were willing to spend each year to lease.
Any help would be appreciated.
See Oil Pipeline Right of Way Costs under the Leasing Help section of this forum. Mr. Cotten explains it very well.
Jack Ross said:
I have been looking for the proper forum to post this question and I cannot seem to find it...or even get over to another forum to post a question, but can anyone tell me what the average rate is to lease (or do pipeline companies expect to buy) the right to lay a pipeline across your property? If they lease, what is a reasonable rate?
One old fella told me that it was $7.50 a foot whereas someone with an oil company said it was a dollar a foot. After a while I got to thinking that maybe the fellow who said $7.50 a foot must have been talking about selling the right to lay the pipe whereas the landman with the pipeline company was talking about how much they were willing to spend each year to lease.
Any help would be appreciated.