Scott A O'Connor

• Appellate

• Arbitration and Mediation

• Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors' Rights

• Commercial Litigation

• Environmental and Toxic Torts

• Oil, Gas and Energy Litigation, Arbitration, Regulatory, and Transactions

• Renewable Energy

Scott O'Connor serves as Chair of the Oil & Gas Section for the Firm. Scott’s practice focuses on oil and gas and complex commercial litigation. He handles matters involving sales, purchases and exchanges of oil and gas assets, negotiations of leases, operating agreements, participation agreements, farmouts, farm-ins, and other agreements used in the oil and gas industry. He has litigated and arbitrated numerous disputes involving onshore and offshore operating agreements, mineral servitudes and leases, purchase and sale agreements, title disputes, royalty claims, gas balancing agreements, farmout agreements, decommissioning obligations, environmental and toxic tort claims, lien and security rights, partitions of co-owned property, preferential purchase rights, pipeline transportation agreements, severance tax claims and unit agreements. He has defended national and state class actions involving oil and gas pricing practices, including antitrust litigation, and he has represented oil and gas clients as creditors and debtors in bankruptcy proceedings and claimants in concursus and interpleader actions.

Scott joined the firm in 1990 after clerking for the Honorable A. J. McNamara, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. During law school, Scott was a member and Managing Editor of the Loyola Law Review and a member of the Moot Court staff.

Recognition:

• Ranked in Chambers USA, Energy and Natural Resources: Oil & Gas, 2011 - 2016 and 2021 - Present

• Recognized in the 2026 Benchmark Litigation Guide

• Recognized in the 2026 Legal 500 New Orleans Elite Guide - Energy Law

• Recognized in the Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America Guide (2025 & 2026)

• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation, Energy Law, Natural Resources Law and Oil and Gas Law (Listed in publication since 2008)

• Louisiana Super Lawyers, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2010 to Present

• Named a New Orleans Magazine Top Lawyer - Oil and Gas Law, 2019

• Rated Martindale-Hubbell® A-V Preeminent™

• Federal Bar Association – New Orleans Chapter

• Louisiana State Bar Association

• St. Thomas More Inn of Court

• American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL)

• Professional Landmen's Association of New Orleans (PLANO) (since 1991, Board of Directors 2002-2005, 2023 - present)

• Louisiana Mineral Law Institute (since 1990, served on Advisory Council )

• Institute for Energy Law of the Center for American and International Law (Member since 1993, Served on Advisory Council)

• The Foundation for Natural Resources & Energy Law