The General Land Office

The Office of General Counsel provides legal advice and counsel to the Land Commissioner, School Land Board,Veterans Land Board, Boards for Lease and all the various divisions of the Land Office. The Office of General Counsel is comprised of the following different practice areas:

Our oil, gas & energy lawyers advise agency clients on issues concerning the state’s ownership and leasing of oil, gas and other minerals, including lease maintenance, pooling and unitization, the Relinquishment Act, royalty payments, energy-related surface use easements and agreements, Railroad Commission matters, geochemical and geophysical permitting, mining, retail electric service under the State Power Program, and natural gas

marketing.

 

Our real estate lawyers advise agency clients on legal issues regarding the purchase and sale of land, land trades, commercial leases, and surface leases, with a particular focus on commercial transactions related to the Special Fund Account of the Permanent School Fund. These lawyers also advise agency clients on legal issues regarding easements, survey and boundary disputes, environmental law matters involving hazardous substances which may impact state lands, title disputes, Veterans Land Board matters, and other legal issues concerning real property.

 

Our coastal lawyers advise agency clients on legal issues related to coastal public lands. This may include coastal easements, coastal boundary disputes, environmental law matters involving hazardous substances which may impact state lands, title disputes, and other legal issues concerning coastal real property. These lawyers also support efforts related to protection of the public beach easement, administration of the Open Beaches Act and the Dune Protection Act, coastal erosion response, natural resource damage assessments, the Texas Coastal Management Program, oil spill prevention and response, alternative fuels, the coastal compliance program, and

wetlands mitigation banking.

 

Lawyers in the Office of General Counsel also provide legal advice regarding disaster response and recovery, contracting and procurement issues, litigation, open records, open meetings, rulemaking, legislation, ethics, employment/HR matters and general advice relating to state and federal laws relevant to all program areas of the General Land Office. Further, they provide legal counsel relating to all aspects of GLO’s operation and management of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.