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Mike Beatty has represented energy clients since deregulation hit the natural gas industry in the late 1970s and threw it into a tailspin of take-or-pay litigation. He successfully handled cases for both plaintiffs and defendants, including a $549 million antitrust verdict (see WSJ article), the only successful commercial impracticability case and most of the successful force majeure cases for the pipeline industry. Along the way Mike handled other matters as well, including Donald J. Willy v. Coastal Corporation, a favorable 9-0 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the power of courts to sanction litigants even where there was no jurisdictional basis for the merits of the case.
Mike, a Harvard Law School graduate, began his career with the energy industry as in-house counsel for Colorado Interstate Gas Company, and ultimately became Executive Vice President, General Counsel and a Director of The Coastal Corporation. He also served as Chief of Staff to Colorado Governor Roy Romer from 1993-1995. His in-house management with major energy companies and first-chair litigation experience in big industry cases, combined with a hands-on understanding of the political and administrative process, provide Mike with uncommon insights into the oil and gas business, and the regulatory environment in which his clients operate. Mike's unique ability to achieve results has been nationally recognized (see NLJ article).
Prior to his work as an energy litigator, Mike was a law professor, where he became adept at explaining very difficult concepts in terms that students from a variety of backgrounds could easily grasp. He uses the same skills in front of juries. The law professor in him can tell when a juror’s eyes go blank, and he creatively recaptures their interest with easily understood analogies.
Fundamental to Mike’s success on behalf of his clients is a true passion for the nation’s energy. He is fond of saying, “The history of the world can be defined as the history of energy,” and he can cite much of that history. He can trace lines between oil production and Pearl Harbor, oil and the fall of the Berlin Wall, oil and Star Wars, oil and the collapse of communism in Russia. “East Texas oil fields were the source of America’s might in the first World War. It was our oil reserves that won the war.”
With his eyes on the future, Mike anticipates significant fallout from the California energy crisis, including a spate of new regulations. He sees the country raising the priority of its domestic reserves, and an increased interest in liquefied natural gas. He knows the continuing research into alternative fuels, like fuel cells, will impact the energy industry
as well.
Mike is ready for it. As he says, “This is a fascinating industry at a fascinating juncture!” |
