News Release

For more information contact: Jesse Borjon, (785) 271-3269

August 15, 2014

Commission Partners with Washburn Law School To Provide Oil and Gas Conservation Law And Practice Course

Topeka, KS - The Commission will convene for a mock adjudicatory hearing focused on oil and gas issues from 10:50 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday, August 18, at the Kansas Corporation Commission Oil and Gas Conservation Division's offices, 266 N. Main Street, Suite 220, Wichita, Kansas.

The Commission is pleased to partner with Washburn Law School to provide a unique learning opportunity on the regulation of oil and gas," stated Chair Shari Feist Albrecht. Oil and gas is one of the leading industries in the Kansas economy and it is important that we provide educational opportunities to ensure that our regulatory structure continues to protect correlative rights and prevents waste of our oil and gas resources."

Washburn Law School Professor David Pierce, commenting on the course, stated: "Dean Romig and the Washburn Law faculty are delighted to join with the Commission, its staff, and attorneys to take the classroom to the hearing room. The ability to be taught by the legal and technical staff that comprises the agency they will be practicing before as lawyers, and the ability to be instructed by the very lawyers who engage in that practice today, is invaluable. It also allows students to observe first hand career paths they may want to pursue."

At the mock hearing, the attorneys and witnesses to a prior completed proceeding before the Commission will re-enact the litigation process and the presentation of evidence. The proceeding was a contested application for a location exception that demonstrates the use of expert testimony to establish essential geological and engineering facts required to support a Commission decision.

The mock hearing is part of a three day Oil and Gas Conservation Law and Practice course being offered through a partnership with Washburn Law School. The course examines the statutes and regulations administered by the Conservation Division of the Kansas Corporation Commission, and the laws and practices that have developed around the Kansas program. Students will work directly with the Conservation Division's legal and technical personnel, oil and gas conservation law practitioners, and observe first-hand the Division's operations.

Professor Pierce is the Director of the Washburn Oil and Gas Law Center and the Norman R. Pozez Chair in Business and Transactional Law.