Larry Lawrence P. "Larry" Simon, Jr. Of Counsel, Lafayette D 337.267.2323 lpsimon@liskow.com 822 Harding Street P.O. Box 52008 Lafayette, Louisiana 70503 Overview Larry Simon is an experienced trial lawyer focusing on complex, high-stakes litigation involving energy, oil, gas, title and property issues in Louisiana. Larry is known for handling oil and gas royalty and other mineral lease issues, energy marketing contract disputes and cases involving the processing of natural gas and the contracts affecting these operations. He also has experience in utility regulation, including telecommunications regulation, having served as counsel for the Louisiana Public Service Commission in its rate cases for Bell South Corporation, and in the implementation of price regulation for the company. Oil and gas companies and operators often turn to Larry when there are competing claims from a servitude involving a mineral lease. He is wellversed in the regulatory overlay in Louisiana and the history of the state's Civil Code and Mineral Code. "I know the mineral law and its history," he adds. "When I want to assert a right, I can explain why it's written the way it's written." For four decades, he has handled a wide variety of general commercial disputes in federal and state courts throughout Louisiana. His extensive experience in energy litigation cases covers each of the major substantive areas affecting the oil and gas industry for the past 40 years. He also has broad experience litigating issues involving regulatory rulings and orders of the Department of Conservation. Practice Areas Appellate Energy Litigation Government Investigations & White Collar Defense Bar Admissions Louisiana, 1972 Education Tulane University Law School, J.D., 1972 Tulane Law Review, Member Morrison Award for Outstanding Law Review Comment, 1971-1972 Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, B.A. Th., with honors, 1967 Notre Dame Seminary, B.A., 1965 Languages French Larry received the Instituite for Energy Law's Lifetime Achievement Award for Energy Litigation in 2015, and was inducted into the Lafayette Bar Association Hall of Fame in 2018 for his exemplary career, dedicated service to the community, and participation in the Lafayette Bar Association. Experience Larry helps energy sector clients with their complex, bet-the-farm cases throughout the Gulf Coast. In his more than four decades of work, he has earned a reputation for cover-to-cover knowledge of the Mineral Code of Louisiana, particularly the historical background of its rules and regulations. He is regularly called on to handle title issues, contract litigation involving mineral rights and the payment of mineral royalties and cases that deal
with the valuation of crude oil or natural gas for royalty or other purposes. He was one of the leaders of a defense team for approximately 18 energy producers against a putative class action aimed at nullifying orders for units by the Commissioner of Conservation: In the precedent-setting case, Larry was part of firm s team defending six oil and gas, E&P companies in Texas. The claim against them involved a challenge by landowners to units established by the Commission of Conservation. In pre-trial motions, the defense team argued against revising or nullifying the thousands of units at issue, saying instead that they had been properly granted. The defense convinced the trial court, lost in Court of Appeals after several hearings and eventually prevailed in the Louisiana Supreme Court, which in 2014 reinstated the trial court s decision confirming the validity of the units. "We identified several core issues," Larry explains, "regarding the method of challenging the Commissioner Orders as exclusive. We understood the history of the law and how to attack the plaintiffs' assertion." Larry represented a major energy producer in a legacy case where landowners filed claims for land damages, in addition to claims for royalties on the processing of gas they allege weren't properly paid on leased land. "The accounting on the processing claim," as Larry put it, "was very complex." Larry was invited to help with a lease case being handled by other lawyers. "It had become bitter and personal between the lawyers, when the case was really a pretty straight-forward question of accounting." Larry stepped in, things calmed down, and the claim was settled for $250,000 when it had been $1.5 million. Involvement Professional and Community American Inn of Court of Acadiana - President 2004-2005; Member, 1999 - present Lafayette Parish, Louisiana State and American Bar Associations - Member American Bar Association -Young Lawyers Division, Executive Council, 1979-1980 American Judicature Society - Board of Directors, 1985-1989 Louisiana Bar Foundation and American Bar Foundation - Fellow Institute of Energy Law Executive Committee and Chair of the Institute Louisiana State Bar Association - Young Lawyers Section -Board Member 1977-1979; Chairman, 1978-1979 Louisiana State Bar Association Outstanding Young Lawyer, 1983 Louisiana State Bar Association Nominating Committee, 1980-1981, 1988-1992 Louisiana Supreme Court Louisiana State Bar Association Board of Governors, 2008-2010 Louisiana State Bar Association House of Delegates, 2000 2004 From 1980 and forward, Larry served on numerous committees of the Louisiana State Bar Association either as chairman or as a member U.S. Army Reserve, 1968-1974, Honorable Discharge, 1974 U.S. Army Intelligence School, Ft. Holabird, 1969 Recognition Lafayette Bar Association Hall of Fame Honoree Best Lawyers 2019 - Natural Resources Law "Lawyer of the Year" Acadiana Profile Top Lawyer in Natural Resources, 2018 Acadiana Profile Top Lawyer in Appellate Practice, Energy Law, 2017, 2018 The Best Lawyers in America, 2007 2019
Baton Rouge Area "Best Lawyers Natural Resources Lawyer of the Year," 2011 and 2013; Baton Rouge Area "Best Lawyers Oil & Gas Law Lawyer of the Year," 2012 Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America Selected as a Top Lawyer by Corporate Counsel Chambers USA America s Leading Lawyers for Business, Energy & Natural Resources: Oil & Gas, Band 1, 2010 2018 Listed as a Louisiana "Local Litigation Star" in Benchmark Litigation, 2012 2018 Louisiana Super Lawyers, 2010 2018. Listed as one of the top 50 attorneys in the State of Louisiana, 2017 Awarded the Institute of Energy Law s Lifetime Achievement in Energy Litigation Award Lawrence P. Simon, Jr. SELECTED IN 2018THOMSON REUTERS Presentations Recent Developments in Louisiana Law on Servitudes, Louisiana Law of Servitudes Seminar, 2003, 2004, 2005 Implied Covenants of a Mineral Lessee: A Survey of Case Law in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, The Center for American and International Law, Energy Litigation Conference, November 2004 Contra Non Valentem: A Survey of Case Law, 51st Mineral Law Institute, April 2004 Documenting Your Case, Tulane Law School Seminar, December 1999 Recent Developments and Trends in Oil and Gas Litigation, Liskow & Lewis Seminar, Houston, September 1999 Gas Royalty Issues in the Era of Take or Pay, Executive Enterprises, Houston, 1987 Publications "Comment, Equal Protection in the Urban Environment - The Right to Equal Municipal Services," 46 Tul. L. Rev. 496 (1972) Additional Background Larry speaks French. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve for six years and attended the U.S. Army Intelligence School at Ft. Holabird. Prior to his law career, Larry received a theology degree from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. After Hours "I enjoy reading philosophy, history and fiction. And I really enjoy travel and duck hunting."
News/Insights 9.6.18 Lawrence P. Simon Inducted into Hall of Fame for Contributions to Profession and Industry 8.15.18 Eight Liskow Attorneys named Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year and Fifty-Two Attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, BL Rankings, LLC, 2019 5.3.18 Fifteen Liskow Lawyers, Eight Practice Areas Recognized in Chambers USA 4.6.18 Fourteen Liskow Lawyers Selected to Acadiana Profile s Top Lawyers 12.27.17 Forty-Four Liskow Lawyers Selected to 2018 Louisiana Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters 10.4.17 Liskow & Lewis Receives 2018 Benchmark Litigation s Highly Recommended Ranking and Six Local Litigation Stars Are Recognized 8.16.17 Seven Liskow Attorneys Named Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" and Forty-Nine Attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Woodward White, Inc. 2018 5.26.17 Twenty Liskow Lawyers, Seven Practice Areas Recognized in Chambers USA 4.10.17 Twelve Liskow Lawyers Selected to Acadiana Profile s Top Lawyers 12.29.16 Forty-One Liskow Lawyers Selected to Louisiana Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters 2017 8.15.16 Eight Liskow Attorneys named Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" and Fifty-One Attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Woodward White, Inc. 5.27.16
Twenty Liskow Lawyers, Seven Practice Areas Recognized in Chambers USA 11.10.15 Liskow Attorney Lawrence Simon Awarded IEL's Lifetime Achievement in Energy Litigation Award 8.17.15 Fifty Attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Woodward White, Inc. 5.27.15 Twenty-One Attorneys, Seven Practice Areas Recognized in Chambers USA 1.9.15 Liskow & Lewis Attorneys Named to Louisiana Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters 2015