landman.expertOur Landmen LLC · for counsel Conflicts check

How an engagement runs

Five steps, in this order. Nothing about the merits is sent or discussed until the conflicts check is clear.

  1. Conflicts check

    You send the parties, counsel and related companies, and the court and deadlines. We check the names against our own engagement records and reply whether we can take the matter, with a CV. Nothing about the merits is needed yet.

  2. Scope letter

    A letter sets out the assignment, who we work for, the lands and records, the deliverables, the schedule against your deadlines, and the fee. Work starts when counsel signs it.

  3. Record work

    County clerk, probate and court records, the appraisal district, the state oil and gas commission and land office, and the documents produced in the case. Instruments read from their images.

  4. Report

    Findings of record with citations, opinions limited to land practice, and exhibits, drafted to your designation deadline and supplemented if new records or testimony come in.

  5. Testimony

    Deposition and trial support on the report: exhibits, preparation with counsel, testimony.

What we need from counsel, once conflicts clear

  • Case caption, court and cause number, or the county where suit will be filed.
  • Every party, its counsel, and related companies, for the conflicts check.
  • Deadlines: expert designation, reports, discovery cut-off and trial setting.
  • The lands: county and legal description, or the tracts in suit.
  • The question about the land record you need answered.
  • Documents produced so far that bear on title, leases or payments: deeds, leases, title opinions, division orders, pay decks.
  • Protective order terms, if any, before anything confidential is sent.

What we do not do

  • Give legal opinions: the meaning of an instrument as a matter of law, liability, damages or what is owed.
  • Act as counsel. We are landmen, not attorneys.
  • Survey, or decide a boundary.
  • Take a matter the conflicts check does not clear.
  • Leave out a fact of record because it does not help the side that engaged us.

More than one county

Send the county or counties in suit. We check how each keeps its records before the scope letter, and the letter says what we can run there and for what period.

Start with the parties

The conflicts check needs only the case type, the court and the parties.

Start with a conflicts check