Faculty
Professor Gary B. Conine
Research Professor and Judge Leon Karelitz Chair in Oil & Gas Law
B.A. 1970, Southern Methodist Univ.
J.D. 1977, Univ. of Oklahoma Law Center
LL.M. 1988, Harvard Law School
Member of the New Mexico and Texas State Bars
Before beginning his teaching career, Professor Conine practiced for ten years as an associate and then as a partner with a major law firm in Houston representing various clients across the country with interests in domestic and international petroleum matters. Upon completing his post-graduate studies at Harvard working under then Judge Stephen Breyer, he joined the faculty at the University of Houston Law Center, where he served as Director of the Graduate Program in Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law and was honored by being designated by that University as one its first Shell Interdisciplinary Scholars. His legal research has focused on the economic foundations of oil and gas law; operational contracts that shape the nature of petroleum operations; and international petroleum transactions. Several of his articles on oil and gas issues have been cited by appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
From 1991 through 1993, he was Associate Director of the Russian Petroleum Legislation Project funded by the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and several private foundations and multi-national corporations. This project, which involved over forty specialists from business, government and academe in the U.S. and Western Europe, assisted the Russian government and parliament in the preparation of legislation that has governed the licensing and regulation of petroleum operations throughout the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union. As the lead reporter for the Project’s Committee on Licensing, Prof. Conine was the chief western architect of Russia’s Natural Resources Code and its Statute on Licensing.
As a result of his extensive experience in the field of petroleum transactions and operations, Conine has been retained to work on educational and legislative projects involving the oil and gas industry by several international companies and organizations, including Petróleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s state oil company; the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation; the Chinese National Offshore Drilling Company; SOCAR, the state oil company of Azerbaijan; and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has also served as a consultant to the State of Alaska on petroleum operations at Prudhoe Bay, to the World Bank, and to several major oil companies and gas transmission companies.
Contact Information
Ph.: 505-277-0798
Fax: 505-277-0068
Office: 3243
Email: conine@law.unm.edu
