Practice Areas: Oil and Gas Law; Utilities Law; Real Property Law; Corporate Financing Law; Communications Law.
Admitted: 1978, North Dakota
Law School: University of North Dakota, J.D., 1978.
College: Mary College, B.S., 1975.
Member: State Bar Association of North Dakota (Member, Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law); American Bar Association (Member, Sections of: Natural Resources Law; Real Property, Probate and Trust Law; Administrative Law).
Born: : Independence, Missouri, October 11, 1954.
Biography: Author: "Horizontal Drilling-The Changing Role of Conservation Principles," Federal Onshore Pooling and Unitization II, Rocky Mt. Mineral Law Inst (1990); "Regulation of Gas Gathering Systems," 39 Rocky Mt. Law Inst. (1993).
John W. Morrison, Jr. is a shareholder specializing in natural resources law, public utilities law, and corporate and general business law. Following graduation from the University of Mary in 1975 and the University of North Dakota School of Law in 1978, John worked for the North Dakota Legislative Council, the North Dakota Board of University and School Lands and the North Dakota Attorney General's Office before joining the firm in October, 1981.
Since then, much of his work with the firm has involved the representation of oil and gas companies in state and federal administrative matters, including matters involving the North Dakota Industrial Commission (North Dakota's oil and gas conservation commission), the North Dakota Tax Department, the North Dakota Public Service Commission, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Interior Board of Land Appeals. He regularly represents producers in spacing, pooling, and unitization matters and, since 1983, has represented applicants in the formation of approximately twenty field-wide secondary recovery units, and has represented opponents in a number of other unitization matters. Since 1987, John has actively represented a number of clients engaged in horizontal drilling plays, including both the Bakken and the Bowman County Red River "B" drilling programs, and was actively involved in developing the system the North Dakota Industrial Commission has utilized to encourage and promote the use of horizontal drilling in North Dakota. He has also represented pipeline operators in facility siting and utility certification matters, as well as several telecommunications companies in regulatory matters before the Public Service Commission. He has advocated the interests of clients before the North Dakota State Tax Department in matters related to sales and use taxes, oil and gas severance taxes, and the apportionment and allocation of the income of multi-state taxpayers for state income tax purposes. John has also registered as a lobbyist for a number of oil and gas, pipeline, and telecommunications companies.
An experienced litigator, John has represented a wide variety of clients in natural resources and general business litigation in both state and federal court. The cases set forth below involve diverse matters such as:
- the interpretation of a pooling clause in an oil and gas lease in connection with the formation of a federal exploratory unit.
- the right of partners engaged in multi-state oil and gas partnerships to apply the unitary business principle in the apportionment and allocation of income for purposes of state income tax.
- the application of the doctrine of collateral estoppel to a breach of implied covenant claim under an oil and gas lease.
- the interpretation of a restrictive covenant prohibiting the sale of food products by a discount store.
- a constitutional challenge by a telecommunications company to a North Dakota statute prohibiting the Public Service Commission from ordering the implementation of equal access to "1+" long distance services.
- the use of the work-back method to determine the market value at the well of sour gas produced in association with crude oil for purposes of the payment of royalty.
Experienced in alternative dispute resolution forums, John represented the seller of electricity under a long-term power purchase agreement in a binding arbitration proceeding under the rules of the American Arbitration Association following an attempt by the purchaser to cancel the contract because of a dispute over the delivery point of the electricity under the contract.
In the transactional area, his practice has included the representation of both borrowers and lenders in a broad range of financial transactions, including the lead lender in mortgage financing for an aqua-culture facility, the borrower in the issuance of tax-exempt bonds for construction of health care facilities, and numerous lenders in multi-state financing transactions.
Long active in oil and gas industry associations, he has served as chairman of the Executive Committee of the North Dakota Petroleum Council , a director of the American Petroleum Institute, President of the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association, and a trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the North Dakota Supreme Court. Since 1995, he has been included in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of natural resources.
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