© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(Nov. 10) – Michael P. Darden and Stephen Szalkowski are fluent in the language of oil & gas, but they recognize that not every other professional whose work touches the industry is. So, they, along with every other attorney in Latham & Watkins’ oil & gas transactions group spent the last couple of years creating the Rosetta Stone of oil & gas lingo that energy bankers, lawyers and others may encounter in their everyday dealings with oil patch clients.
The Texas Lawbook conducted a Q&A with the two Houston corporate partners to find out more about their latest piece of work.
The Texas Lawbook: What inspired you to create the Book of Jargon?
Michael P. Darden and Stephen Szalkowski: Every industry has its own jargon— both technical terms and slang — as a shorthand for what they do. The oil and gas industry is no exception, and we felt that a Book of Jargon® – Oil & Gas would make a lot of sense and be a valuable resource for our clients and others in the industry.
It’s worth noting that the Book of Jargon® – Oil & Gas is the latest in a series from Latham & Watkins. The full series includes Books of Jargon® on restructuring, M&A and corporate and bank finance among others.
TLB: Who is your target audience?
MD & SS: From the start we focused on people early in their careers – bankers, lawyers and others new to the domestic oil and gas industry. Given the influx of capital into the sector in the U.S. in recent years, more and more young professionals are finding themselves involved, directly or indirectly, in aspects of oil and gas work. Our goal was to provide those individuals with a resource that could help them to explain a buzzword they heard at a meeting, decipher a client’s press release or better understand a particular legal document. To meet that goal, we tried to include jargon from a broad range of oil and gas subsectors, including financial-focused terminology, oil patch slang, operational lingo and legal terms of art.
We believe that the Book of Jargon® – Oil & Gas can be a resource for anyone whose work in some way touches the oil and gas industry, but those folks who have been thrown headlong into the deep end of the sector are likely to find it most helpful. We’ve been gratified that a number of senior contacts of ours in the industry have requested extra copies of the book to share with more junior members of their teams.
TLB: Is there a particular nugget of information you hope most readers to get out of this? If so, what is it?
MD & SS: If the Book of Jargon® – Oil & Gas can help someone analyze an investment, understand a deal or evaluate a legal document one time, 10 times or 100 times, then we’ll consider it a success. There are more than 900 terms in the book (ranging from A&D to zone), so we think there are many nuggets that will be of help.
TLB: What are some of the biggest misperceptions or misunderstandings either in the oil & gas industry or regarding particular oil & gas terms, and how does Book of Jargon address those misperceptions or misunderstandings?
MD & SS: The oil and gas industry can seem like a closed circle and the terminology and slang that is used on a daily basis likely promotes that perception. By “cracking the code” and giving newer professionals a chance to better understand the terms, concepts and slang that we use in the industry, Book of Jargon® – Oil & Gas can help to lower barriers to entry and ease the path for new players to gain that all-important first foothold in the business. We love working in the industry – many of us have for a long time – and it’s great to welcome new talent to the oil and gas sector.
TLB: Describe what went into the research and writing process of Book of Jargon, and how long it took to put the book together. Also, how many from Latham were involved?
MD & SS: In 2014, we felt that our Oil & Gas Transactions group, of which we are both a part, and the larger oil and gas and energy practices within the firm had grown to a point that the project would be both timely and successful. For more than a year, the majority of the Oil & Gas Transactions group, in one way or another, participated in the project.
All of the lawyers in the group submitted lists of terms that they felt should be included. We included jargon from across the oil and gas subsectors, including financial-focused terminology, oil patch slang, operational lingo and legal terms of art. The project went on from there, growing to include subsequent terms that came up in our review of the initial terms. We split the Book of Jargon® – Oil & Gas up alphabetically into several parts, assigned teams of associates to each part, then had those teams trade sections once initial drafts were complete. The result was that each team of associates worked on each piece of the book, whether in the creation stage, initial review stage or in the final review.
TLB: Michael, I understand you worked for an energy company on the business development side before you became an energy M&A attorney. How did that prior experience help you in writing this book? Are there many others at Latham who helped with this who also worked in oil and gas prior to becoming energy M&A lawyers?
MD: Having worked in the industry was definitely a benefit, because I used these terms on a regular basis in the field. But everyone in our Oil & Gas Transactions Practice is immersed in this industry, so we all speak the language covered in the book.
TLB: Who else within the oil & gas industry, if anyone, did the group enlist for help in writing Book of Jargon?
MD & SS: This was an in-house project for us and we’re pleased that everyone in Latham’s Oil & Gas Transactions practice contributed to the book. Of course, we’ve had many opportunities to work with great clients in the industry over the years and those interactions undoubtedly contributed to our base of knowledge.
TLB:I see that this Book of Jargon is the “first edition.” Are there others in the works?
MD & SS: With this book just out, we don’t have a new version in the pipeline just yet. We think our robust first edition will be useful to our audience for some years to come. At the same time, we’re mindful that the world and industry can change quickly and we’re open to revisiting the book if market changes dictate it – so stay tuned!
Click here explore the terms included in Book of Jargon® – Oil & Gas online. Click here to learn more about Latham’s other Books of Jargon. Click here to download the app version of the glossary in iTunes, and here in Google Play. To inquire about receiving a hard copy of the book, contact Darden (michael.darden@lw.com) or Szalkowski (stephen.szalkowski@lw.com).
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