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Upon graduation from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1979, Rob was selected for the Solicitor's Honors Program and moved to Washington, D.C., to serve in the Solicitor's Office of the Department of Interior. Following his departure from government service in 1981, he entered private practice and focused on Indian law, federal litigation and natural resource development. Rob is a member of the Wisconsin and Colorado Bars, and is admitted to practice before various tribal court bars, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Claims, and the United States Courts of Appeal for the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits.
Rob has acted as general or special counsel for 12 Indian tribes and as litigation, transactional, and business counsel to numerous oil and gas industry clients. Some of his representative accomplishments include: (1) negotiation and passage of legislation addressing the dual severance tax imposed on Indian lands; (2) participation in recent revisions to Onshore Order No. 1 and successful insertion therein of procedures to ensure federal and Indian oil and gas lessees access to split estate, surface lands; (3) negotiation, drafting and completion on the part of the oil and gas industry, of traditional and non-traditional development agreements on Indian lands, including those of the Blackfeet Tribe, Northern Ute Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes; (4) representation of gas pipeline companies and the natural gas industry in the Congressionally mandated Section 1813 Study dealing with rights-of-way on Indian lands; (5) participation as a committee member on the group drafting the existing valuation regulations for natural gas production from Indian lands; (6) establishment of reserved water rights as counsel for the Northern Arapaho Tribe in adjudication of the Wind River in Wyoming; (7) negotiation and drafting of joint venture agreements and partnerships dealing with natural gas transportation systems between oil and gas companies and between oil and gas companies and Indian tribes; and (8) identification of acceptable and proper manufacturing allowances for natural gas in Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes v. Hodel, 903 F.2d 784 (10th Cir. 1990).
Rob is a nationally recognized expert on the development of Indian natural resources and the statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to such development. He has made presentations on issues pertaining to development of Indian minerals and enforcement of mineral agreements covering Indian lands to the National Academy of Sciences, the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, and the Federal Indian Bar Association.
Rob is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and he and his wife, Trish, are the proud parents of three adult children and the owners of two of the largest black dogs in Denver.
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