Henry “Hank” Walden

Hank Walden is based in Dallas, Texas, and handles title examination and transactional work for energy companies and landowners across Texas and New Mexico. Bringing the practical judgment of someone who has worked inside energy companies in the past, he builds every engagement around close communication and service that is tailored to the individual needs and specific priorities of each client.

Texas and New Mexico Title Opinions Across Fee, State, and Federal Leases

Hank prepares acquisition, drilling, and division order title opinions across every major oil and gas basin in Texas and New Mexico. Each state reads title differently, from how courts interpret deed language to community property and homestead rules, and he builds his analysis from extensive experience with the law that governs, including those specialized laws governing state and federal oil and gas leases. When his opinion flags a defect, he can often draft the curative instruments himself, so the attorney who prescribes the fix can also be the one who delivers it.

Practical Solutions and Efficient Management of Large Title Projects

A finance background and time working inside regional and multinational energy companies allow Hank to identify and appreciate the gap between a remedy that only works on paper and one that a client can actually implement. If a traditional solution isn’t realistic, he designs a more workable, less burdensome alternative. When managing large projects involving many tracts and opinions, he strategically assigns work to attorneys who already have experience in the area so that the work across the overall project is consistently high-quality and completed faster and at lower cost.

Unsettled Legal Questions and Emerging Natural Resources Development

Hank enjoys working through unique issues where standard industry practices aren’t yet set. With the advent of new rapidly developing technologies – such as multi-mile laterals that are now often drilled across dozens of tracts, partially overlapping legacy JOAs, and old pooled units – the law has struggled to keep up and leaves many new legal questions unanswered. Hank walks clients through the risks that arise from these questions and how best to minimize or eliminate those risks. His experience also extends to wind and solar development, lithium exploration, brine leasing, and produced water rights, where aspects of resource ownership and associated rights are often up for legal debate and vary by state.

Energy and Natural Resources Transactions and Ownership Counsel

Hank’s work reaches past title into the transactions and development operations that depend on it. He represents both energy companies and individual landowners, advising them on and negotiating:

• Oil and gas leases, purchase and sale agreements, and farmouts
• Joint operating agreements, pooling agreements, and royalty sharing agreements
• Wind and solar leases and brine/lithium leases
• Surface use agreements, rights-of-way, and easements
• Various other related land agreements

Also, when a client inherits land rights, Hank ensures those rights are properly vested through the necessary deeds and filings and helps the client decide whether to keep, sell, or transfer them. Owning land rights and minerals isn’t a sit-and-collect proposition, so he takes first-time owners through the considerations involved in managing those rights and coordinates with estate planning counsel when planning questions arise.