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SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

BAKERHOSTETLER: IPAA Honors BakerHostetler Partner for 25 Years of Outstanding Legal Service

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BakerHostetler issued the following announcement on July 9.

BakerHostetler partner Poe Leggette was honored by the Independent Petroleum Association of America in late June for the quarter-century he has dedicated to successfully representing the association and its members, and having helped save the industry billions of dollars during that time.

Leggette, co-leader of the BakerHostetler’s energy team, sat among the board of directors of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) at its mid-year meeting where he was expecting to deliver an update on the litigation he is handling for the organization. However, when IPAA President Barry Russell began Leggette’s introduction, Leggette quickly realized he would not be delivering the presentation he had prepared. Instead, he would be honored for providing “25 Years of Outstanding Legal Representation” to the IPAA.

Russell shared with the attendees – which included 30 board members, comprised of senior executives from leading independent U.S. oil and natural gas producers, and 50 IPAA members and staff – an extensive list of successes Leggette has achieved for the association.

The victories amount to approximately $25 billion in savings for the industry over the 25 years Leggette has been representing the organization.

“For an industry that faces the challenges of market volatility, organized opposition and excessive regulation, Poe has championed access and the fight against unnecessary and costly burdens on your operations,” Russell said. “He has been a great friend to IPAA and its members, and we’re pleased to recognize his 25 years of outstanding representation.”

Among Leggette’s successes noted by Russell are:

His initial win for IPAA in 1996, when a court of appeals rejected the government’s claim to a royalty share in members’ settlements with interstate pipelines over take-or-pay obligations. The claims were already more than $1 billion – and growing – when the court ruled.

Successfully challenging the government under the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act in a case in which the government had tried to limit royalty relief by spreading it out over the area of an offshore field instead of granting it lease by lease. Leggette successfully avoided Supreme Court review, even though the government told the Court the financial impact of denying review would be $20 billion.

Successfully challenging the government’s claim that lessees cannot deduct firm demand charges paid to interstate pipelines from their royalty payments. The court agreed those were deductible transportation costs. The IPAA estimates the industry has saved hundreds of millions of dollars as a result.

Along with Partner Mark Barron, successfully challenging the Obama Administration’s hydraulic fracturing rule, which the IPAA estimates has saved the industry $200 million per year. Leggette and Barron are defending the Trump Administration’s repeal of the rule.

Leggette called the recognition a “great honor.”

“I am lucky that I have been allowed to work on projects I love, and I am luckier still to have done that work for people I admire,” Leggette said. “You independent producers know how much energy you contribute to the American economy, and American energy is the foundation on which we have built the most prosperous and healthiest civilization in the history of the world.”

Original source can be found here.

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