Scott O’Connor serves as Chair of the Oil & Gas Section for the Firm. Scott’s practice focuses on oil and gas and complex commercial litigation. He has litigated and arbitrated numerous disputes involving onshore and offshore operating agreements, mineral servitudes and leases, purchase and sale agreements, title disputes, royalty claims, gas balancing agreements, farmout agreements, decommissioning obligations, environmental and toxic tort claims, lien and security rights, partitions of co-owned property, preferential purchase rights, pipeline transportation agreements, severance tax claims and unit agreements. He has defended national and state class actions involving oil and gas pricing practices, including antitrust litigation, and he has represented oil and gas clients as creditors and debtors in bankruptcy proceedings and claimants in concursus and interpleader actions.

Scott joined the firm in 1990 after clerking for the Honorable A. J. McNamara, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. During law school, Scott was a member and Managing Editor of the Loyola Law Review and a member of the Moot Court staff.

Practices:

  • Appellate
  • Arbitration and Mediation
  • Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors’ Rights
  • Class Actions
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Oil, Gas and Energy Regulatory
  • Oil, Gas and Energy Litigation and Arbitration
  • Oil, Gas and Energy Transactions
  • Environmental and Toxic Torts

Industries:

  • Energy and Natural Resources

Admissions:

  • Louisiana
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of LA
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of LA
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of LA

Education:

  • Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, J.D. cum laude 1989
  • University of New Orleans, B.A.1985

Clerkships:

  • Honorable A. J. McNamara, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of LA, 1989-1990

Affiliations:

  • Federal Bar Association – New Orleans Chapter; Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Section
  • Louisiana State Bar Association
  • St. Thomas More Inn of Court
  • American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL)
  • Professional Landmen’s Association of New Orleans (PLANO) (since 1991, Board of Directors 2002-2005)
  • Louisiana Mineral Law Institute (since 1990, Advisory Council since 2015)
  • Institute for Energy Law of the Center for American and International Law (Member since 1993, Advisory Council since 2012)

Recognition:

  • AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  • Best Lawyers in America – Oil and Gas Law (since 2008)
  • Chambers USA – Energy and Natural Resources (since 2011)
  • Louisiana Super Lawyers – Energy and Natural Resources (since 2010)
  • New Orleans Magazine “Top Lawyers” – Oil & Gas Law (2019)