Joseph A. Schremmer

Associate Professor of Law

Judge Leon Karelitz Oil & Gas Law Professor

Education

B.S., B.A., University of Kansas
M.B.A., University of Kansas
J.D., University of Kansas School of Law

Member of the Kansas Bar

Contact Information

Ph.: 505-277-5665
Office: 2532
schremmer@law.unm.edu

Profile

Joe Schremmer is the Judge Leon Karelitz Oil & Gas Law Professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where he teaches courses across the fields of oil and gas, property, business, and commercial law. He writes primarily about oil, gas, and mineral law and property rights in the subsurface of land. Schremmer’s articles have appeared in the Harvard Environmental Law Review, the Washington Law Review, the University of Colorado Law Review, the Utah Law Review, the University of Kansas Law Review, and the Journal of Legal Education (forthcoming), among others.

Schremmer joined the law faculty in 2019 following six years in private practice with small firms. Among many other areas of civil practice, Schremmer maintained a comprehensive oil and gas practice, representing numerous producers and royalty owners in litigation and transactional matters. He also served as general counsel for a privately held oil and gas exploration, production, and service company. He is a past president of the Oil, Gas, and Minerals Section of the Kansas Bar Association and has been recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers. Before becoming a lawyer, Schremmer worked in a variety of jobs in the oil and gas industry in Kansas, where he was born and raised.

Schremmer received his J.D. from the University of Kansas in 2013, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the University of Kansas Law Review, was inducted into the Order of the Coif, and was recognized by the faculty with the Samuel Mellinger Award as the top overall graduate in the areas of scholarship, leadership, and service.

Courses

Advanced Oil and Gas Law
Business Associations I
Contracts I
Natural Resources Law
Oil and Gas Law
Property I
Secured Transactions

Publications

Books & Book Chapters

The Law of Oil and Gas: Cases and Materials (11th ed. Foundation Press 2021) (co-authored with Patrick H. Martin, Bruce M. Kramer, Keith B. Hall, and Tara K. Righetti).
Available at: Your Library

Regulation of Refining and Marketing (the “Downstream” Sector), Law of Environmental Protection (2022).
Available at: Your Library

Oil, Gas & Mineral Law, Kansas Annual Survey of Law (2022) (co-authored with Casey L. Jones & Charles A. Steincamp).
Available at: Kansas Bar Association

Oil & Gas (Kansas), Environment, Energy & Resources Law: The Year in Review (2018) (co-authored with Charles C. Steincamp).
Available at: American Bar Association

Articles

Subsurface Trespass: Private Remedies and Public Regulation, 101 Neb. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2023).

Available at: SSRN

Ad Coelum and the Design of Property Rights, Tex. A&M J. Property L. (forthcoming 2022–23) (symposium)

A Unifying Doctrine of Subsurface Property Rights, 46 HARV. ENVTL. L. Rev. 525 (2022).
Available at: UNM-DR

Waste and the Governance of Private and Public Property, 93 U. COLO. L. REV. 609 (2022) (co-authored with Tara K. Righetti).
Available at: UNM-DR

Pore Space Property, 2021 UTAH L. REV. 1 (2021).
Available at: UNM-DR

Regulating Natural Gas Venting and Flaring as Waste: A Review of the New Mexico Approach, 20 OIL GAS & ENERGY L. INTELLIGENCE 1 (2021).
Available at: SSRN

Crystal Gazing: Foretelling the Next Decade in Oil and Gas Law, ROCKY MOUNTAIN MINERAL L. INSTITUTE (2020).
Available at: UNM-DR

Getting Past Possession: Subsurface Property Disputes as Nuisances, 95 WASH. L. REV. 315 (2020).
Available at: UNM-DR

Imputing Regulatory Failures in Oil and Gas Licensing: A Discussion and Proposal, 57 WASHBURN L.J. 265 (Spring 2018) (co-authored with Charles C. Steincamp).
Available at: UNM-DR

Private Enforcement of the Kansas Wage Payment Act, 62 U. KAN. L. REV. 1227 (June 2014) (co-authored with Sean M. McGivern).
Available at: UNM-DR

Avoidable Fraccident: An Argument Against Strict Liability for Hydraulic Fracturing, 60 U. KAN. L. REV. 1215 (June 2012).
Available at: UNM-DR

Essays

Join with Me Won’t You: Civic Engagement, COVID-19, and the Millennial Generation of Law Professors, 69 J. LEGAL EDUC. 689 (2020).
Available at: Journal of Legal Education

The Curious Policy Implications of In re SemCrude: Do Crude Oil Markets Need a Volcker Rule?, WASHBURN L.J. ONLINE (September 4, 2018).
Available at: UNM-DR

Bar & Trade Publications

Rediscovering the Doctrine of Waste and Common Law Environmental Governance, NAT. RESOURCES ENVT. (Winter 2022) (co-authored with Tara K. Righetti).
Available at: American Bar Association

When Engineering Solutions Cause Legal Problems: The Developing Field of Reservoir Rights and Liabilities, LVIII SIPES Q. 1 (August 2021).
Available at: UNM-DR

Is It Time to Revisit Qualified Immunity?, J. KAN. TRIAL LAW ASSOC. 29 (November 2020) (co-authored with Sean M. McGivern).
Available at: UNM-DR

Laches Held to Be a Cognizable Offensive (As Opposed to Defensive) Claim to Establish Title to Mineral Interests in New Mexico, OIL & GAS E-REPORT 12 (April 2020).
Available at: Oil & Gas E-Report

First Assignee of Oil and Gas Lease Loses Title to a Subsequent Assignee Under New Mexico’s Recording Statute Because of a Defective Notary’s Acknowledgment, OIL & GAS E-REPORT 14 (April 2020).
Available at: Oil & Gas E-Report

A New Associate’s Field Guide to Partner Compensation, J. KAN. B. ASSOC. 18 (October 2019).
Available at: UNM-DR

Integrated CCS for Kansas (ICKan) Final Technical Report, OFFICE SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL INFORMATION (December 31, 2018) (co-authored).
Available at: OSTI

Oil and Gas Secured Transactions in Kansas, J. KAN. B. ASSOC. 23 (November/December 2017).
Available at: UNM-DR

The Fair Labor Standards Act: A Tool for Those Who Represent Employees, Claimants, and Plaintiffs, J. KAN. ASSOC. JUSTICE 18 (January 2014) (co-authored with Sean M. McGivern).
Available at: UNM-DR

Book Reviews

Decarbonisation and the Energy Industry: Law, Policy and Regulation in Low-Carbon Energy Markets (Oyewunmi, Crossley, Sourgens and Talus eds.) 19 OIL GAS & ENERGY L. INTELLIGENCE 1 (2021).
Available at: OGEL

Briefs

Brief for the National Stripper Well Association as Amicus Curiae, L. Ruth Fawcett Tr. v. Oil Producers, Inc. of Kansas, (2021) (KAN. SUP. CT. NO. 120,611).
Available at: UNM-DR

Brief for the Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association as Amicus Curiae, Jason Oil Co., LLC v. Little, (2018) (KAN. SUP. CT. NO. 118,387).
Available at: UNM-DR