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Spotlight On: Fall Symposium Co-Chairs

The Fall Symposium is right around the corner – October 7 through 9 – and this year’s program chairs have been working hard with the planning committees to put together an excellent agenda.

Click here for registration and more. The 2025 symposium is particularly meaningful, because it is the fiftieth time an iteration of this program has been held in the fall in Kentucky. It was previously known as the Kentucky Mineral Law Conference, and through the years EMLF has worked with various partners such as the University of Kentucky Mineral Center and the Kentucky Coal Association on the program Chairing this year are three longtime members of EMLF: Ryan Purpura of Blank Rome, Candace Smith of Steptoe & Johnson, and Benjamin Verney of CNX Resources Corporation. Ryan Purpura represents oil and gas companies, private equity and hedge funds, and other financial institutions in mergers and acquisitions, project finance and development, and other transactions related to the energy industry. A recognized practitioner in Texas and Pennsylvania, as well as across the United States, Ryan also frequently lectures on topics related to oil and gas and has served as an adjunct professor teaching Energy Law at Duquesne University’s School of Law. He has served as in-house counsel to two publicly traded natural gas companies (including the first-ever exploration and production master limited partnership), where he advised on a range of commercial and operations issues, including oil and gas marketing arrangements, land acquisition and development, employment matters, and litigation. Ryan also serves as outside general counsel to several exploration and production and midstream companies, advising them on all aspects of their operations.

Purpura

Smith

Verney

Ryan is particularly excited about co-chairing the Fall Symposium, because the 2010 conference was his first ever speaking engagement.

Candace Smith is a member in Steptoe & Johnson PLLC’s Lexington, Kentucky office, where she has extensive experience representing coal, oil and gas, and renewable energy companies in a variety of disputes. She serves as a board member of the Kentucky Oil and Gas Association (KOGA), and is chair of the KOGA Legal Committee. She is also a member of the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation Board of Trustees. Candace has a B.A. from Transylvania University and earned her J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law. After law school, Candace returned to Lexington and is excited to welcome EMLF back as well.

Benjamin Verney is Senior Counsel for CNX Resources Corporation, where he provides legal support across a wide range of litigation and operational matters. His practice includes advising on environmental compliance, permitting, land use, midstream infrastructure, marketing disputes, and issues arising from CNX’s historical acquisitions, spin-offs, and the division of surface, coal, and gas interests. Ben also supports the company’s community and governmental affairs efforts, including involvement in CNX’s first-of-its-kind Radical Transparency initiative, which focuses on real-time environmental data collection and public disclosure.

Prior to joining CNX, Ben was an attorney at Jones Day in Pittsburgh, where he represented natural gas exploration and production companies and other highly regulated industry clients in complex litigation and investigations. His experience includes defending energy sector clients in landmark permitting appeals, toxic tort litigation across civil courts and the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, and representing companies in connection with statewide investigating grand juries.

A veteran of the Marcellus Shale boom in Pennsylvania, Ben brings extensive industry experience and a pragmatic legal approach to the evolving challenges of energy development. He earned his B.S. from Wake Forest University and his J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.

All three chairs are enthusiastic about the agenda for the conference, which mixes practical topics with issues that are on the forefront of the industry today. Returning this year is a track specifically geared toward young professionals, including the many students who attend this event each year.

The Fall Symposium will be held October 7-9 in Lexington, kicking off with a happy hour on the evening of the 7th and finishing up around noon on Thursday the 9th, just in time for the opening race at Keeneland, Lexington’s legendary and beautiful thoroughbred racetrack!

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