The Daily Law Blog

I just wanted to use the opportunity to plug the Arkansas Bar Association's Natural Resources Law Institute, which takes place this week.  Here is a summary of the schedule: Wednesday 9:00 A.M. The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission will convene for March hearings.  The hearings will last throughout the day. 4:00 P.M. Arkansas Title Standards Committee Meeting 5:00 P.M. Natural Resources Law Section Meeting 6:00 P.M. Natural Resources Law Institute Reception Thursday 7:30-7:55 A.M. Registration 7:55-8:00 A.M. Welcome and Introduction Matthew Davis 8:00-9:00 A.M. 2012 Update: Development in Natural Resource Law Tom Daily, Daily & Woods, PLLC 9:00-9:30 A.M. Updates from the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission Shane Khoury, Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission 9:30-10:00 A.M. Just Go Ahead and Give it to Me:  Discovery of Title Opinions in Oil and Gas Litigation Chad Brown, Kent Tester, P.A. 10:00-10:15 A.M. Break 10:15-11:15 A.M. Unconventional Litigation in Unconventional

The Standards for Examination of Real Estate Titles in Arkansas, or "title standards" for short, have been published since 1995, with the most recent and fourth edition being published just this past week.  Attorneys frequently rely on title standards when conducting  title examination  for their clients.  Each state where I practice oil and gas law, including Arkansas, publishes a set of title examination standards. These title standards are not only used by title examiners for oil and gas interests, however.  Arkansas real estate lawyers, title insurers, and mortgage lenders frequently consult the title standards as a guide to determine whether a particular tract of land has marketable title. As the chair of the title standards committee, I am glad to say that the latest edition of this comprehensive guide came to fruition from the hard work of several real estate and oil and gas lawyers from all over the state.  Once again, the committee, and the entire bar association h