Monday Mentors with Midland Oil and Gas Litigator Derek Cook

Derek Cook of the Midland law firm Lynch, Chappel and Alsup is our guest today. We talk about taking care of yourself, practicing law in West Texas, and the early days of practicing law in a COVID-19 world.

Early COVID response (recorded March 19)

• At-risk people work from home
• Jury trials cancelled; non essential hearings postponed
• Public events slowed
• Low/dropping oil price is also a factor with their clients
• Mediation/depo/etc. going on a case by case

Midland/West Texas Practice

• Derek grew up in Wichita Falls; undergrad in DFW; law school at Baylor; thought he would wind up in Dallas or Fort Worth
• He came out during the low point for new lawyer hiring after the '08 recession
• Even though he was on law review and had good grades, it was hard to find a job
• Baylor's Career Development Office sent out notice for this great Midland firm, and it was a great opportunity that, once he sold his wife on it, was the right fit
• Litigation that pretty much all ties back to oil/gas
  • Collection
  • royalty payments
  • leases
  • individuals and entity clients
• More camaraderie here than in most places; you're going to see opposing counsel again, and probably soon!
• So everyone works well together, including the judges
• Midland is a sophisticated practice with institutional oil/gas clients with significant commercial litigation
• Their firm has 25 lawyers with groups that do all the major practice areas; other firms have 10-40 lawyers (won't find that in the other West Texas cities)

Advice to young lawyers and what they are looking for when they hire in their firm

• Critical to take care of yourself
  • TLAP and State Bar/local Bars are doing great work
  • Recent study: 25%-35% of lawyers are prone to problem drinking
  • Communicate with someone about what's going on with you
• Their firm is a modified sink/swim model with young associates
  • So they try to hire people who have a propensity for the specific section they are hiring for
  • Looking for people who can get up to speed on their own, figure out the issues, put in the effort, and shortly get to a point where they need little/to no partner oversight
• What in your experience demonstrates an interest and/or aptitude for the specific job/practice area you are applying to
• Interview is a huge part of the process, because they are really looking as much/more for fit than just credentials
• Also love to see some type of Midland or West Texas connection
• Looking for people who want to be there for an extended period of time; not just a year or two and move on or move back to a large city
• Don't have to commit to an entire career at the firm; but showing just a strong interest in oil/gas and related complex work, that can be enough and will make the firm confident you could be a long-term fit

Work/Life Balance

• Recently the firm has moved to laptops with remote access so attorneys are able to work from home / the road
• However, oil/gas legal work is still driven mostly by more senior lawyers (60+) who aren't as comfortable with lawyers working from home, so it's been a longer transition period
• Realistically, much of what lawyers do can be done remotely, and he thinks the move in that direction will happen

Rapid Fire

• Most important trait/characteristic in associate: go getter
• Key habit: responsiveness (generally return calls/emails within 24 hours)
• App/tool: Google Chrome Remote Desktop
• Favorite Social Distancing Activity: checking toilet paper stash
• Favorite Legal Movie: The Verdict; Idiocracy (courtroom scene)

Thanks again to Derek Cook for joining us on the show!