Texas Tech Law's current Energy Law Program boasts faculty with backgrounds in energy, administrative, business, and other related areas of law.

Stephen Black, J.D., LL.M.

Professor of Law

Course: Transactional Practice, Energy Law

• Principal shareholder in a boutique tax firm and represented individuals and businesses before the Internal Revenue Service and state tax agencies
• Cited in Forbes and published in the Washburn Law Review, the Seattle University Law Review, the Akron Law Review, and the Georgia State University Law Review

William R. Keffer, J.D.

Professor of Practice; Director, Energy Law Programs; Janet Scivally and David Copeland Endowed Professor of Energy Law; Co-Director, MSIS in Energy Degree Program

Courses: Oil & Gas Law I and II, Legislative Process, Oil & Gas Lease Negotiation

• Contributing columnist to SHALE Magazine
• Experienced Dallas-based practitioner; served as in-house litigation-management counsel for environmental safety and health at ARCO Oil and Gas Company; and focused exclusively on oilfield-pollution litigation for Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP (n/k/a Foley & Lardner LLP) in Dallas
• Served in the Texas legislature from 2003–2007 as state representative from District 107
• Serves on the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and as a neutral for the American Arbitration Association

Richard Davis, J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law

Course: Energy Transactions

• Experienced Midland, Texas-based practitioner with 45 years practice in fossil and renewable energy
• Served as in house general counsel for wind and solar energy developer with focus on renewable energy transactions and litigation in multiple states

Amy Hardberger, M.S., J.D. '05

George W. McCleskey Professor of Water Law; Director, Center for Water Law and Policy

Courses: Property, Water Law, Land Use Planning, International Water Law, Environmental Law

• Led partnerships with cities and interfaced with Texas state agencies on municipal water conservation policies, energy- water nexus and sustainable water planning, and co-created and authored a blog on Texas water policy
• Professionally Registered Geoscientist in the State of Texas
• Research of interest in the nexus of energy and water, the human right to water, and Texas groundwater law

William Hornberger, J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law; Partner, Jackson Walker

Course: Energy Tax

• Represented taxpayers on tax controversy matters in IRS administrative appeals and before the U.S. Tax Court, the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. Court of International Trade
• Experience with structuring oil-and-gas limited partnerships, energy-related acquisitions, including oil- and-gas interests (all types) and pipelines, international oil- and-gas operations, oil- and-gas private-equity funds; and handling production-payment transactions, tax planning for intangible drilling costs, and like-kind exchanges of oil- and-gas properties

Jorge A. Ramírez, J.D.

Walter and Anne Huffman Professor of Law

Courses: Admiralty and Maritime Law, International Business Transactions, Human Rights, and Public International Law, Commercial Law

• Participating Editor of the Baltic Journal of Law & Politics (Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania)
• Experienced international lecturer, having taught dozens of law courses or seminars in Bolivia, China, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Lithuania, and Mexico

Don R. Richards, J.D. '84

Adjunct Professor of Law; Partner, Richards, Elder & Gibson PLLC

Courses: Texas Administrative Practice, Telecommunication Law and Policy

• Board Certified in Administrative Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization
• Served as general counsel to more than 40 local-exchange telephone companies and electric-utility cooperatives before the Texas legislature and the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and is former General Counsel to the National Telecommunication Cooperative Association in Washington, D.C. and to the Texas Exchange Carrier Association, and is past chairman of the Public Utility Section of the State Bar of Texas

Brie D. Sherwin, M.S., J.D. '01, Ph.D.

Professor of Law; President's Excellence in Research Professor; Dean's Scholar and Director for Interdisciplinary Research

Courses: Legal Practice, Environmental Health Sciences, Toxicology & Public Health

• Scholarship involving trade-secret protection sought for the composition of hydraulic-fracturing fluid in the top-100 Ohio State Law Journal, and coal-ash waste in the Stanford Environmental Law Journal
• Worked as an associate at one of the largest toxic-tort litigation firms in the country, representing individuals and communities affected by environmental contamination, and practiced environmental law at theDallas office of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP (n/k/a Foley & Lardner LLP)

Victoria V. Sutton, M.P.A., J.D., Ph.D.

Paul Whitfield Horn Professor; Associate Dean for Digital Learning and Graduate Education; Director, Law and Science Certificate Program

Course: Cybersecurity Law & Policy, Emerging Technologies

• Environmental-law scholarship published in the top-100 American Journal of Law & Medicine
• Served in the President George H. W. Bush Administration as Assistant Director in the White House Science Office and in the EPA, and in the George W. Bush Administration as Chief Counsel of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration in the Department of Transportation

Gary R. Terrell, J.D. '77

Adjunct Professor of Law; Partner, Key Terrell & Seger, LLP (Retired)

Course: Texas Land Titles

• Practiced real-estate law, corporate law, probate law, commercial law, and commercial litigation with Key & Terrell, LLP in Lubbock
• Former advisory board member for Texas Tech University's Department of Natural Resources Management

Roderick E. Wetsel

Adjunct Professor of Law; Partner, Wetsel, Carmichael, Allen & Lederle, L.L.P.

Course: Wind & Solar Law, Texas Mineral Titles

• Board Certified in Oil, Gas and Mineral Law
• Co-Author – Wind & Solar Law (LexisNexis 2021); Texas Business & Commercial Fundamentals of Wind Leasing Transactions (LexisNexis Matthew Bender 2015)
• Serves on the Texas Title Standards Joint Editorial Board of the State Bar of Texas

Ty J. Wood, J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law

Course: Oil & Gas Lease Negotiation

• Represents parties in real estate, oil-and-gas and renewable-energy transactions
• Served two terms as Mitchell County Attorney

Advisory Group

Texas Tech Law's Energy Law Advisory Group is made up of alumni who meet to discuss relevant issues and enhancements to the energy-law program. The Advisory Group members serve as general counsel, practitioners, section heads, and owners of exploration and production companies.

• Craig Adams '92 – Matador Resources
• Doug Atnipp '85 – Egan Nelson
• Charles Boettcher '99 – Waste Management, Inc.
• David Copeland '82 – SM Energy Company
• Michael Cuda '91 – K&L Gates LLP
• Greg Curry '89 – Holland & Knight
• Mike Curry '89 – Henry Resources, LLC
• Jacob Davidson '07 – Davis, Gerald & Cremer
• Mike Denham '99 – Quantum Energy Partners
• Dan Fergus '83 – Fergus & Fergus, L.L.P.
• Anna Gryska '14 – Woodside Energy
• Stephanie Hall '97 – Valero Energy
• Jeff King '87 – K&L Gates LLP
• Kiersten Kita '05 – HF Sinclair
• Carol Leach '78 – Concho Resources (Retired)
• Curtis Leonard '79 – ICA Energy, Inc.
• Cottie Miles '97 – Martin & Drought, P.C.
• Jill Pennington '98 – Smith Clark Pennington
• Jon Platt '09 – Baker Botts LLP
• David Poole '88 – Range Resources
• Stephen Robertson '07 – Permian Basin Petroleum Association
• Todd Spake '96 – Kelly, Hart & Hallman LLP
• Barry Thomas '88 – Pioneer Natural Resources
• Corey Wehmeyer '06 – Santoyo Wehmeyer
• Ty Wood '06 – Ty J. Wood, Attorney at Law, PLLC

Important Links

• Giants in the Field
• Lecture Series and Workshops
• Beyond the Classroom

For more information, please contact:

William R. Keffer
Professor of Practice
Director, Energy Law Programs
Janet Scivally and David Copeland Endowed Professor of Energy Law
Co-Director, MSIS in Energy Degree Program
(806) 834-3178
william.keffer@ttu.edu