Houston, Texas USA

Lindsay Jennings

Lindsay is Commercialization Manager for Halliburton’s Oil and Gas Management division in Houston, TX. Lindsay's primary responsibilities include business development for global new ventures, negotiating exploration and production contracts as well as interfacing with host country government agencies. Lindsay helped co-found the Young Negotiators in 2008 and served on the AIPN Board of Directors from 2009 to 2010.

Lindsay earned a BBA from The University of Oklahoma in Energy Management and International Business and received an MBA from the University of Houston. Lindsay is fluent in Spanish and German and has a passion for tennis, skiing and world travel.

Jerrod Jones

Jerrod Jones is an International Negotiator for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in The Woodlands, Texas. Since 2005, Mr. Jones has had the opportunity to work in very diverse corners of the company including Anadarko’s Risk Consistency Team, International Business Development, Delaware Basin Land, Southern Region Land Administration and International Negotiations. During his tenure on the international side of Anadarko’s business, Mr. Jones has gained experience working with fiscal and contractual systems around the world, including those of Australia, Benin, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago and Tunisia. Mr. Jones’s experience has varied from the beginning steps of Anadarko’s participation in international competitive bid rounds and direct negotiation opportunities to above-ground risk analysis, new country entry and the winding up of Anadarko’s Benin operations. Today, Mr. Jones is responsible for negotiating Anadarko’s business ventures in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Mr. Jones is a native of the small Far West Texas town of Van Horn and is a 2003 graduate of Texas Tech University. In addition, Mr. Jones earned a Certificate in Advanced International Affairs at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University in 2007. Currently, Mr. Jones is a student at South Texas College of Law in Downtown Houston, Texas and expects to complete his legal education in May, 2013. Mr. Jones speaks Spanish and Portuguese and enjoys learning and experiencing diverse business cultures in all corners of the world. He and his wife, Amanda, reside in Atascocita, Texas.
 

David Sweeney

David Sweeney serves as Vice President Legal and General Counsel of Van Dyke Energy Company, an exploration and production company focused on projects outside of the United States. Prior to his current role, he was an attorney in the Houston, Texas office of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP where he was recognized by Chambers USA in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Mr. Sweeney holds a BA, cum laude, from Yale University, and a JD, with honors, from the University of Texas School of Law. In addition to serving as part of the YN leadership, he serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute for Energy Law and is the Chair of that organization’s Young Energy Professionals committee. He has authored a number of publications, including a summary, handbook, and training module covering worldwide joint operating agreements and articles in the Oil & Gas Financial Journal and the University of Texas Journal of Oil, Gas and Energy Law. Mr. Sweeney is licensed to practice in Texas.

Mariam Zarasvand

Mariam Zarasvand is an attorney working as a Commercial Representative at Shell Oil Company in Houston, Texas. Her work has primarily focused on Offshore Exploration matters in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, however she has also extensively participated in Stakeholder Strategy efforts.

She studied Government and French at the University of Texas at Austin and at the University of Paris - Sorbonne in France. Mariam has a passion for learning new languages and cultures, and has travelled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Tiago Cruz

Tiago is an attorney currently heading Miranda Alliance’s Houston liaison office. Miranda Alliance is an international alliance of law firms and lawyers, with local offices in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Macau (P.R. China), Mozambique, Portugal, Rep. of Congo, Sao Tome and Timor-Leste. He is responsible for business development primarily, but not exclusively, within the international oil & gas industry active in said countries. Ever since Tiago joined the firm he became involved in many petroleum upstream and downstream transactions and projects in Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Timor-Leste and other countries. Before coming to Houston, Tiago was the attorney in charge of setting up Miranda Alliance’s Equatorial Guinea (2005) and Timor-Leste (2007-2008) offices.

Tiago has a Law Degree and a Post-graduation on Securities Law from the Law School of the University of Lisbon (Portugal). He loves to scuba dive every time he has the chance.

Elvis Angyiembe

Elvis Angyiembe is Associate Counsel at Burleson Cooke LLP where his focus is in domestic and international oil and gas law. He also advises on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and international trade law issues. Prior to joining Burleson Cooke, Mr. Angyiembe worked on complex oil and gas agreements for a large Houston-based oil company. He also worked for an international trade law firm in Dallas, concentrating on export/import control laws and regulations; he drafted export control compliance manuals for oil companies and other companies involved in the manufacture of military-related products. During law school, Mr. Angyiembe was a legal intern for BP Oil, where he rotated through all the legal practice groups.

Elvis serves as the Chair of the Houston YN committee.

Gabriel Salinas

Gabriel Salinas is an attorney in Mayer Brown’s Global Energy Practice Group. He focuses his practice on international energy transactions and development projects with an emphasis on Latin America.

Gabriel has a law degree from the Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey (Mexico) and an LL.M (Master in Laws) degree from Harvard Law School.

 

Washington, D.C.

Guly Sabahi

Guly Sabahi is a partner in Dentons' global energy group. Guly’s practice focuses on oil and gas acquisitions in Africa, the Middle East and the Caspian Region. Prior to joining Dentons, Guly practiced law at Baker & McKenzie in Washington, D.C. and at Coudert Brothers in Central Asia. Guly presently serves as the Lead Course Advisor for the International Oil and Gas Development Program at the International Law Institute in Washington, D.C., and also co-chairs the International Investment and Development Committee of ABA Section of International Law. Guly is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Guly is the AIPN YN's Representative/Liaison in Washington, D.C.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Chad Roth

Chad is a member of Talisman Energy Inc.'s legal group, based out of the head office in Calgary. As International Legal Counsel, he advises and supports a variety of Talisman's international operations and Kurdistan in particular. Chad also provides assistance to Talisman's Exploration and Global New Ventures groups in the search for new opportunities and acquisitions.

Chad shares responsibility for E&P contract negotiations, including joint bidding arrangements, JOAs, farmout agreements, confidentiality agreements and related documents, in addition to general legal and strategic advice and some supply management support. Prior to joining Talisman, Chad was an associate in the International Energy practice group in Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP's Calgary office. While at FMC he worked on projects and transactions in Kurdistan, Turkmenistan, Madagascar, Kenya, Namibia, Somalia, Guyana, Peru and others. Chad also provided strategic advice on structuring for security of investment matters. Before his legal career, Chad spent a number of years working in Alberta's oil patch with Precision Drilling.

Chad holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New Brunswick (LLB, 2006) and presently serves as Chair of the the AIPN Young Negotiators Canadian Chapter.
 

London, UK

John Stockdale

John Stockdale is an energy specialist in SNR Denton’s London office. He advises on oil & gas transactions and regulatory matters. His experience is broad, from negotiating typical oil & gas contracts (such as transportation & processing agreements, rig contracts and pipeline crossing agreements), through to specialist energy input on major and complex corporate and finance transactions (such as joint ventures, M&A transactions and corporate listings). Typically this has been in the North Sea, Africa, Russia/the CIS and the Middle East. In his time at SNR Denton he has been on a full-time secondment to the firm’s Dubai office (6 months), where he focused on work in that region, and to 2 high-profile industry clients (1 for a year, 1 for 6 months).

Active in the AIPN since training, John is chairperson of the AIPN Young Negotiators Europe/Africa Chapter.
 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Danielle Valois

Danielle Valois is the partner of the Brazilian law firm Trench, Rossi e Watanabe Advogados, associated with Baker & Mckenzie International. Mrs. Valois is based in Rio de Janeiro and she focuses her practice on oil and gas development projects (public auctions, financing and construction of FPSOs, FSO’s, pipelines, refineries), M&A and joint venture transactions involving oil and gas and biofuels companies (shareholders agreements, farm-ins, joint-ventures) and arbitration involving a variety of oil and gas (take-or-pay agreements) and construction (EPC Contracts) disputes. She is ranked by Chambers Latin America 2010 for having an impressive portfolio of oil and gas clients and has worked on numerous project finance projects, M&A transactions and arbitrations involving companies engaged in the oil and gas industryCaracas, Venezuela

Sergio Casinelli

Sergio Casinelli is a partner of Macleod Dixon’s Caracas office. He received his law degree summa cum laude from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas, Venezuela, and a master of laws from Columbia University, New York City. He is currently based in Caracas, Venezuela, and specializes on Energy and Corporate matters. As a Corporate partner, his practice focuses on assisting companies, negotiations, drafting corporate documents and a wide range of contracts, and conducting due diligence. He also has broad experience in the national and international Energy area assisting in writing and reviewing several services contracts for oil and gas companies and related Venezuelan regulatory matters, including reviewing and assisting on contractual matters regarding association agreements and services contracts executed in Venezuela, and providing advice in the processes of conversion of previous hydrocarbon projects into new joint venture company projects, among other cases. Sergio has also been involved in energy projects in Mexico and Colombia, and has been recognized with the Roberto Goldschmidt Award for Academic Excellence and as a Leading Individual on Corporate / M&A and Energy & Natural Resources matters by Chambers.

Conrad Müller-Klingspor

Conrad von Müller-Klingspor (28) is an Attorney specialized in Corporate and Oil & Gas law in Venezuela. During the last 2 years of Law School he served as President of the Law Students Association, completing afterwards an International Law Program at Cambridge University in the UK (2006), Diploma on Mining and Hydrocarbon Law at Universidad Monteávila (2008), Specialization on Corporate Law at Universidad Metropolitana (2009) and an Strategic Planning Diploma at Universidad Simón Bolivar (2010). He served the Oil Industry through the law firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLC, moving on to the Venezuelan Hydrocarbon Association and eventually joining INPEX Corporation, Japan’s largest Upstream Oil & Gas company, managing the Legal and Corporate Affairs for the corporation in Venezuela. He also served during 2 years as Director for a regional chapter of FEDEINDUSTRIA, second largest Industrial Business Chamber in Venezuela, and now supports AIPN in developing the Young Negotiators.

Dubai, UAE

Cameron Cuffe

Cameron Cuffe is a Senior Associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Dubai. Cameron specialises in contentious and non-contentious projects and construction law in the renewables, energy, construction, major projects and infrastructure sectors. Cameron advises concessionaires, owners, developers, contractors and consultants on all aspects of project delivery, including project tendering, procurement strategies, and contract negotiation. Additionally, Cameron represents clients in arbitrations, adjudications, expert determinations and mediations concerning a variety of contractual, technical, and financial matters including complex contractual interpretation, challenges to jurisdiction, delay and disruption, defects, liquidated damages, payment, variations, and termination. Cameron is a committee member of the Society of Construction Law (Gulf).

Bangkok, Thailand

Renuka Sharma

Renuka Sharma is an Associate at Chandler and Thong-ek in Bangkok, Thailand. She represents owners, contractors, developers and financiers in the development, construction and financing of public/private projects involving oil and gas, power, industrial, and commercial facilities. She attended the University of Surrey, U.K, Inns of Court School of Law, Kings College London, and Chulalongkorn University. Renuka is fluent in Malay, English, Hindi, Russian and Indonesian.

Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Carlos A. Vila Moret

Carlos A. Vila Moret is an attorney specialized in Corporate and Energy law in Buenos Aires. He is currently an Associate Counsel at Alliani & Bruzzon L.L.P., one of the leading law firms in Argentina. As an Associate Counsel, his practice is mainly focused on Corporate issues, M&A, Contracts, and Energy matters, providing full legal advice to a broad scope of clients including major and junior multinational Oil & Gas Companies. He also has broad experience in representing start-up business in Latin America and in conducting Due Diligence proceedings around the world.

Carlos holds a Bachelor of Laws from the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), a Post-graduate degree on Oil & Gas Law from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), and a specialization Training Course on Stock Exchange investment and Derivative Instruments -Forwards, Futures & Options- from the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange Institute (MERVAL). He presently serves as a Young Negotiator’s Representative in Buenos Aires, Argentina.