Sharon Flanery joined the firm in March 2004 as a Member of the Business Department. Ms. Flanery concentrates her practice in the areas of Energy and Mineral Law. Prior to joining Steptoe & Johnson Ms. Flanery served as Vice President of Exploration for Columbia Natural Resources Inc., where she was responsible for the Geoscience, Reservoir Engineers, Gas Supply and marketing Land Departments. Previously she was Assistant General Counsel to Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. and NiSource Corporate Services Company and was a member of the Law Department of CONSOL, Inc. in Pittsburgh. Before obtaining her law degree she worked as a reservoir engineer for Aramco in Saudi Arabia from 1983 to 1985.

Oil and Gas
Ms. Flanery has drafting, negotiating and interpretation experience with leases, joint venture agreements, joint operating agreements, gas sales and marketing agreements and transactional experience in acquisitions and divestitures including serving as lead counsel on an $80 million disposition. She has general property experience in land development and dispositions issues including asset sales, rights of ways, deeds, land use and damage issues.

Coal
Ms. Flanery has experience in drafting contract mining agreements along with land development and disposition issues associated with mining and closed mining operations and facilities. She also has experience with federal industry benefits statues and admiralty experience including the Jones Act.

Pipeline and Storage
Ms. Flanery has pipeline protection experience including development and implementation of encroachment policies. She has worked with the Department of Transportation on regulatory issues including defending against enforcement issues. Her dispute experience involves various property estates including a dispute involving a $100 million plus storage field and a major long wall mining operation.

Legislative
Ms. Flanery has extensive experience in drafting legislation and regulations in the energy industry including:

• drafting of coal bed methane  statutes in Virginia and West Virginia
• developing proposed special field rules regulations for coal bed methane in West Virginia

She also has legal, business and technical expertise to develop the carbon sequestration statute and to review the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission model statute.

PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS

Ms. Flanery is a member of the West Virginia, Pennsylvania and District of Columbia state bars and holds an United States Patent and Trademark License.

She serves on the Board of Directors for the Black Diamond Girl Scout Council and is a Trustee for the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation. Ms. Flanery is also a member of the Advisory Accreditation Committee for the Department of Petroleum Engineering at West Virginia University. She is co-author of "Orphans, Foundlings and Wards of the State: Plugging Liability for Orphaned and Abandoned Wells in the Eastern United States" and "The Use of Minitrials in Mineral Disputes." She also co-authored the paper "Application of Log-Inject-Log in Granny’s Creek Oil Field" for a Society of Petroleum Engineers Regional Conference. In the past, Ms. Flanery served on the Board of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and was President of the Alumni Association for WVU Minerals, Energy and Resources. Ms. Flanery was also named outstanding alumni of the year, WVU Minerals and Energy Resources.  Ms. Flanery is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America in the fields of energy, mining, natural resources and oil and gas law.

Ms. Flanery received a Juris Doctor degree from Duquesne University in 1991, where she was a member of the Law Review. Ms Flanery also received a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering from West Virginia University in 1978, graduating cum laude.