« Featured Job: Landman
In his 30 years of attorney career counseling, Richard L. Hermann has worked with countless lawyers who seek to transition from a “mainstream” law job to a position outside of the law firm, corporate counsel, or government GC’s office. Through this experience he has developed a wealth of knowledge as to where a legal education can pay off in a job. He has organized that into 30 broad career fields and 600+ job titles.
Periodically Legal Career Web will look behind the title and showcase the opportunity …
Featured Job: Landman
Landing a "Landman" Job
If you are interested in a job where you can apply your legal training and not be desk-bound all day every day, becoming a "Landman" may be ideal for you.
What on Earth is a Landman?
"Landman" is probably an unfamiliar term to you. This is not a position that you hear about very often, if at all, in law school or in practice.
A Landman is the individual who goes out to negotiate and document deals with owners of land or mineral rights so that an energy company can explore and develop resources, principally oil and gas. Landmen also put together economic mining units for coal mining, which is a somewhat different and more complex undertaking.
For specific duties read more …
- Negotiating for the acquisition or divestiture of mineral rights.
- Negotiating business agreements for the exploration for and/or mineral development.
- Determining land and mineral rights ownership via researching public and private records.
- Reviewing the status of title.
- Curing title defects.
- Managing mineral rights and obligations.
- Unitizing or pooling mineral interests.
Given time, most careers develop specialties within the generic career field. Landmen are no exception. While the majority of positions are general in nature, there is an increasing demand for specialists in Leasing, Title, Drilling, and Negotiating.
Why Become a Landman?
This is a propitious time in history to seriously consider a career as a Landman for several reasons:
- "Peak oil," the point in time when global oil extraction reaches its maximum rate, is currently a hotly debated topic among petroleum industry analysts. The consensus is that if peak oil has not already passed, it will very soon. That means that supply will go into steady decline at the same time that world population and demand for oil is increasing.
- Stepped-up domestic and Outer Continental Shelf oil exploration and production is one component of the Obama Administration's plan for energy independence. Increases in exploration and development cannot happen without additional Landmen to negotiate and manage land and mineral rights in oil, tar sands, shale oil and other promising regions.
- "Energy Independence" initiatives. Increased petroleum exploration incentives are all part of the administration's proposals. In addition, securing the land and/or the tens of thousands of easements necessary to build transmission and distribution systems for alternative energy initiatives, such as wind and solar power, in order to connect them to the existing grid, as well as building new grids, is a major centerpiece of these initiatives.
- Renewed interest in natural gas development, combined with both exciting new domestic discoveries and new deep drilling and extraction technologies, is already upping the demand for Landmen.
- Finally, energy companies' have a recent track record of hiring attorneys, including recent law graduates, for Landman positions. While you do not have to be an attorney or have studied law in order to work as a Landman, a legal background positions you competitively for these jobs. Around 20 percent of Landmen are attorneys. A larger percentage have some legal training.
Who Hires Landmen?
Traditionally, energy exploration and pipeline companies were and still are the principal employers of Landmen. More recently, wind energy and solar companies have begun to utilize these services. In addition, Landmen can work as independent contractors.
Landman Compensation
Size matters. Large multinational corporations, such as the former Seven Sister oil companies, are able to pay their Landmen more than small exploration companies. The median salary of approximately $68,000 is skewed toward the smaller companies that comprise the largest number of employers. Independent contractor Landmen typically earn up to $500+ per day plus expenses.
Future Prospects
The future for Landmen is extremely bright. The U.S. needs to develop all of its fossil fuel resources as well as alternative energy resources. New discoveries, particularly of natural gas, make a Landman career a very solid one for years to come.
While to date, the vast majority of Landmen positions were concentrated in the "oil patch" – Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas – the geography is changing rapidly. A very recent natural gas discovery (the Marcellus Formation, stretching from Central and Western New York through Western Pennsylvania, Western Maryland and into West Virginia, combined with a huge formation centered in Red River Parish, Louisiana, are estimated to double U.S. natural gas reserves. In both cases, the gas is trapped in shale rock more than a mile deep. However, new technologies that can crack the shale and extract the gas from these shale deposits, combined with rising energy prices, make extraction economically viable.
Wind and solar energy development is moving fast. To date, only a small percentage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a., stimulus) funds for energy independence projects has been awarded. Much more of these billions will be awarded in 2010.
Breaking In
Law school courses in real estate are a strong platform from which to launch a Landman career. Courses in land use, environmental law, and energy law are also helpful.
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