Landman or lawyer at oil and gas firm question

[SoonerSchooner]

There were several interns that were finishing law school and I imagine they got at least slightly higher offers (though I don't know for sure).  I do know that it is a big plus to have a JD, or at least an MBA, if you want to move up in the company.  That pushed me toward law school, while I enjoyed the internship I'm not sure if I'd want to do that all my life.  A professional degree creates more options, though I do wonder if it'll be worth the debt load.

[verbal]

what was a typical day like for u during your internship? do u think u would like doing that more than working for a law firm?

[SoonerSchooner]

On an average day I'd come in sometime before 8:00 and was expected to work about 9 hours, though no one kept tabs on it.  I'd work a couple hours longer sometimes if I was in the middle of something.  The hours were very flexible and the company was on the "9/80", so every other Friday was off.  My projects were varied, I did things like acreage inventories, researching government regs, mapping land areas using ArcGIS software, working on databases, a bunch of other stuff I can't recall.  It wasn't always the most exciting, but it could've been much worse.  I've never worked for a law firm, so I'm not sure which I'd prefer between those options.  My supervisors at both companies I interned with over my undergrad career seemed to genuinely enjoy their jobs.  I think land work is relatively laid back, at least compared with the long, intense hours I've heard come with a law firm.  But my supervisors both worked longer hours than I did and had real responsibilities.  If you have a year left before graduation I'd try an internship, you'll get a decent idea of what the job is like.

[correguachin]

just curious... what kind of undergraduate degree would you need to work as a landman?  engineering?  chemistry? 

it sounds fascinating to me.. probably pretty rugged.. but sure beats pounding away at some desk all day.. get to roam the countryside..

[SoonerSchooner]

The best degree program is Energy Management or Petroleum Land Management (same thing, different name).  There are about half a dozen colleges in the U.S. that offer this degree or a variation on it.  Oklahoma, Mississippi, Lousiana, Texas, Texas Tech, Houston, and Tulsa offer these or similar degrees.  Of these, Texas Tech's and Lousiana's are very solid and Oklahoma's is the oldest and generally considered the best.  Tulsa is starting a new program that will quickly rival OU's given Tulsa's established reputation as a top-notch petroleum engineering and oil & gas law school and an excellent director.

The program is basically a business degree, but it's somewhat interdisciplinary.  It's heavy in finance, legal studies, and accounting with some geology, basic engineering, and energy seminar courses thrown in.  Also, many landmen don't have an EM/PLM degree or a law degree, it's possible to get into landwork with any degree if you know someone.

[Chris_TX]

Keep in mind there are 2 types of Landmen, Inhouse and Field (Independent) Landmen and they do very different types of jobs. TO be an Inhouse Landman they usually look for an EM or PLM degree with JD as a bonus. For a Field Landman position you just need a degree usually to get hired and not even that if you have a lot of experience doing title work. Inhouse usually starts 65k and Field 50k with both making 6 figures after a few years. Field Landmen do the title work and leasing that keeps the oil & gas attorneys employed.