2022-2023 CAREERS IN ENERGY PRESENTER BIOS

University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law

Capital University Law School

Virtual

University of Pittsburgh School of Law

March 3, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. – University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law

Evan Buckley, a Partner with Dinsmore & Shohl, represents clients in a variety of business-related matters and delivers a strategic approach to ensuring regulatory compliance, addressing disputes, and overcoming legal challenges. He handles complex licensing, contract, collections, M&A, and civil litigation matters, and has significant experience representing individuals and businesses before federal, state, and local administrative agencies and courts. Evan has also served as a registered lobbyist and is focused on providing solutions-driven, responsive counsel. In addition to assisting individuals and small businesses with general corporate matters, Evan’s practice often entails representing businesses in highly-regulated industries. In the alcohol sector, Evan has provided licensing assistance, regulatory guidance, and corporate counsel to new and established breweries, wineries, and distilleries, as well as various retailers and alcohol brand owners. Evan has also served as counsel to non-profit charitable gaming licensees and their leadership in both administrative and related criminal matters, as well as advised for-profit entities dealing with litigation, regulatory compliance, and government affairs issues connected to historic horse racing, advanced deposit wagering, games of skill, and similar areas. Finally, Evan has dedicated a substantial part of his practice to the public utility field—he regularly provides assistance to electric, water, natural gas, solar, telecommunications, and related utilities and businesses before the Kentucky Public Service Commission and in other contexts. Originally from the city of Villa Hills, in Northern Kentucky, Evan now lives with his wife, Allison, a fellow UK Law alum, and three children, in Lexington, Kentucky.

Eric Conley serves as Associate General Counsel at Diversified Gas & Oil Corporation. A native of Knott County, Kentucky, Eric graduated Transylvania University in 1995 with a B.A. in Computer Science with a Business Emphasis, and then Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University in 1998.  Eric worked in various roles, both in private practice and in-house, in the coal and oil and gas industries before joining Core Appalachia Operating LLC in September of 2017.  Diversified purchased Core the following year and Eric stayed on as an Associate General Counsel, in which role he now manages litigation with Diversified’s legal team, and works with and supports Diversified’s land department and other departments to avoid litigation – negotiating or supporting negotiations involving differences or transactions with third parties, and reviewing and drafting agreements.

Anna Girard Fletcher has been the Executive Director of the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation since 2018. Previously, she was an attorney with the Commonwealth of Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet practicing environmental protection and natural resources law, and law clerk to the Honorable Phillip J. Shepherd. She is a former national Chair of the Conference of Government Mining Attorneys and was chosen for the Kentucky Bar Association’s inaugural leadership class in 2018. She currently serves as President of her local Women’s Lawyers Association, and is a member of the Women’s Energy Network. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law where she served as Student Bar Association president and was a member of Phi Alpha Delta. Her writing has been featured in such publications as the National Law Journal, and she is a former editor of the Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law, and current Editor-in-Chief of the Energy & Mineral Law Institute, the flagship publication of the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation. She resides in beautiful Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband and two children.

Elizabeth Nicholas is the Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Blackhawk Mining LLC. Blackhawk is a privately owned coal mining and marketing company headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. She joined Blackhawk in September 2010 shortly after its inception and focuses her practice primarily in the areas of mineral transactions, mergers and acquisitions, corporate compliance, and employment matters. Prior to joining Blackhawk, she was an associate attorney for 3 years at Jackson Kelly PLLC in the Lexington, Kentucky office. She attended the University of Kentucky where she received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, Master of Business Administration, and Juris Doctor, where she graduated Order of the Coif and was a Notes Editor for the Kentucky Law Journal. She lives in Lexington with her husband, Scott, and 2 children.

March 7, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. EST – Capital University Law School

Kara Herrnstein is an experienced energy attorney focusing on facilitating renewable generation in Ohio. She provides legal assistance and problem-solving to developers at every stage of their projects, from land access to permitting to operation. Her practice also includes litigation on behalf of a variety of energy companies including producers and midstream companies. In everything, she is a passionate about helping her clients build Ohio into a major energy-producing state.

Anna Sanyal is an associate at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP.   Drawing on her previous experience as an administrative law judge at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the Ohio Power Siting Board, Anna provides practical advice to clients on a wide range of utility and energy matters, including the development and permitting of solar farms and gas-fired electric generation plants in Ohio.  Anna also has extensive experience in litigating matters before the Ohio Power Siting Board.  

Anna strives to promote diverse lawyers and women in general as a board member of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Central Ohio, chair of the National Asian Pacific Bar Association’s Energy, Environment and Sustainability Committee, and a member of the Jump at the Sun Society for Zora’s House.  Anna is a first generation Indian-American and speaks, reads, and writes Bengali and Hindi. 

Michael Settineri is a partner in the Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease Columbus office and a member of the energy group.  In addition to his legal experience, he has 11 years of project engineering and operations management experience including design and construction of large capital projects.  Using that experience, he provides practical advice to clients on a wide range of utility and energy matters, including developing and permitting wind farms, solar farms and gas-fired electric generation plants in Ohio.  Mike also has extensive experience litigating matters before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the Ohio Power Siting Board, and the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission. In addition to Mike’s regulatory and litigation practice, he regularly advises clients on matters related to the supply of energy services from the competitive market, including generation supply from renewable energy resources and compliance with PUCO regulatory requirements for suppliers. He also advises clients on matters involving the Ohio Building Code and regularly appears before the Ohio Board of Building Appeals.     

Kevin West practices with Steptoe & Johnson in Columbus. The majority of his current practice involves handling litigation for oil and gas producers and transporters but he also represents defendants in other civil litigation and does federal criminal defense work.  After obtaining his undergraduate degree in English and Economics from Centre College, he obtained his law degree from the University of Kentucky and then had a general litigation practice with a small firm in Lexington, Kentucky for twenty-one years.  In 2006, he was then asked by one of his clients, EQT Production Company to serve as its General Counsel and held that and other management positions with that company for six years.  In 2012, he returned to Ohio where he grew up in order to be closer to family and began his current position with Steptoe.   

March 9, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. EST – Virtual

Stefanie Burt is Assistant General Counsel at EQT Corporation, where she manages the company’s litigation docket and provides counsel on litigation risk and avoidance, pre-litigation claims, and procurement, indemnity and insurance. Prior to joining EQT, Stefanie was a partner at Reed Smith. She is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School and the University of Pittsburgh and is on the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium. 

Bridget Furbee is a member of Steptoe & Johnson PLLC where she is a practice group leader in the Energy Dept.  She focuses her practice in the area of energy law. She is the former in-house counsel for a major Fortune 500 energy company where she was responsible for legal issues related to gas exploration and production, including the development of major new geologic plays in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Bridget has extensive experience in major transactions as well as litigation and regulatory work. With over 35 years in the oil and gas industry, she brings a practical perspective to find legal solutions to various types of contract disputes, including joint operating agreements, farmouts, leases and gas contracts.

Clayton Harkins is an associate in the Charleston, West Virginia office of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP where he focuses his practice on commercial litigation, with an increasing emphasis on administrative, utilities, and regulatory law. Working with clients in the banking, energy and natural resources, insurance, and waste management industries, he has successfully defended businesses and individuals against a variety of claims, including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, legal malpractice, negligence, nuisance, removal of lateral support, strict liability, trespass, and unjust enrichment. He has a wide range of litigation experience, including pre-suit investigations, case assessment and development, pleadings, high volume discovery, complex motions practice, and settlement negotiations. He also has experience with expedited litigation involving temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. Clayton has litigated cases in both state and federal court. His practice also includes representing public utilities, landfills, motor carriers, transfer stations, and other clients before the Public Service Commission of West Virginia. Clayton is also a member of the CJA Panel for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia where he represents accused persons who are financially unable to retain counsel in federal criminal proceedings. He received his J.D. from West Virginia University College of Law, where he was a member of the Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic, and his B.A. from Texas A&M University.

Tim Miller is a shareholder in the Energy and Natural Resources and Litigation groups of Babst Calland.  Tim is primarily involved in general civil litigation and has tried more than 30 significant cases to jury trial conclusion in the federal courts in both the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia, and numerous state courts. He also has appellate experience before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Tim maintains an emphasis on oil and gas, as well as natural resources and energy-related litigation.  He has represented electric utilities, natural gas utilities, exploration and production companies, as well as land and timber owners and operators.  

Austin Rogers is an associate in the Charleston, West Virginia office of Babst Calland, where he practices in a variety of litigation practice areas, including commercial, employment and labor, environmental, and energy and natural resources.  Austin graduated from Old Dominion University with a B.S. in Political Science and a B.S. in Criminal Justice and received his J.D. from the West Virginia University College of Law. Prior to joining Babst Calland, he worked as a staff attorney for the Public Service Commission of West Virginia, representing the Commission’s Staff in administrative hearings regarding utility regulation.

March 14, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. – University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Travis Brannon is an energy lawyer in K&L Gates’ Pittsburgh office and focuses his practice on commercial matters with an emphasis on energy litigation. Travis represents companies focused on modern energy solutions in multiple areas, including business disputes, royalty disputes, class actions, and project development. Also, Travis counsels energy clients on legislative and regulatory developments at both the state and federal level.

Natalie Jefferis is Sr. Counsel for BHE GT&S, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. In her role as Sr. Counsel, Mrs. Jefferis supports land, land administration, gas storage and operations teams. She earned her Juris Doctor from West Virginia University, College of Law and holds an undergraduate degree in Finance from Fairmont State University. Mrs. Jefferis has spent her entire career focused on real property issues as they pertain to the energy industry. As an associate at Bowles Rice, her practice focused on coal issues, including commercial coal contracts, abstracting title, and assisting with due diligence projects.

Mrs. Jefferis left private practice in 2006 to join EQT Production Company as a title landman. She worked in various roles during her 13 years at EQT Corporation. In 2008, she was promoted to a Regional Land Manager in EQT’s Midstream business unit where she spent the next 8 years honing her management skills and ensuring her team acquired the necessary land rights, zoning permits, and road permits necessary to construct over 150 miles of gathering pipelines. Mrs. Jefferis would go on to be the VP of Commercial Operations and then VP of Land, Land Administration & Title. In 2020, Natalie returned to private practice at Peacock Keller in Washington County, PA before accepting a position as Sr. Counsel at BHE GT&S in May of 2022.

Natalie has been married to her husband Andy for 16 years and has an 11-year-old son named Trey. In addition to her position at BHE GT&S, Natalie is President of the Women’s Energy Network, WV Chapter; an adjunct lecturer at WVU College of Law; Chair of WVU’s Davis College Visiting Committee; and Trustee and past president of the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation.

 Lucas Liben is a partner in the oil & gas team of Reed Smith’s Energy and Natural Resources group. Luke has spent over a decade representing energy industry clients litigating a variety of cases involving all aspects of hydrocarbon development. Luke handles lease and landowner litigation, as well as complex contractual disputes, including cases involving drilling contracts, joint operating agreements, and other industry specific relationships.  Luke has significant experience representing exploration and production companies in royalty litigation, both class action and individual cases. Luke also represents midstream companies in storage field cases, land use disputes, encroachment cases, and condemnations, and industry contractors on issues including workplace fatalities. Luke routinely represents clients at trial in state and federal court, as well as before the American Arbitration Association.    

 Josh Snyder is a Shareholder in the Litigation and Energy and Natural Resources groups of Babst Calland.  Josh has extensive experience representing oil and gas producers in a range of disputes.  His energy litigation experience includes defending oil and gas producers and contractors from personal injury, toxic tort, nuisance, and lease dispute claims.  He has served as a member of the Franklin Park Borough Environmental Advisory Council.  Josh received a Best Lawyers®: Ones to Watch recognition from BL Rankings for Commercial Litigation and Energy Law since 2021.  He has also been selected to the Pennsylvania Rising Stars list (Thomson Reuters) since 2020.  Josh received his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.