Michael E. Coney

Michael E. Coney Attorney  |  source
Name	Michael E. Coney
Profession	Attorney [retired]
Retirement	2016
Former employers	Shell Oil Company, 1978-2007 Carver, Darden, Koretzky, Tessier, Finn, Blossman & Areaux, LLC, ca. 2012-2016 [per archive.org captures]
Employee webpage	Michael E. Coney  [via archive.org]
Employer website	CarverDarden.com
Practice areas	Administrative Hearings and Appeals Offshore Oil and Gas Law Offshore Royalty Appeals Offshore Unitization Oil and Gas Arbitration Oil and Gas Conservation Oil and Gas Contracts Oil and Gas Exploration Oil and Gas Leasing Oil and Gas Regulation Oil and Gas Transportation Public Land Law Renewable Energy and Clean Technology
Known for	Legal counsel for Shell Oil Company  |  American Petroleum Institute Father of Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Biography	Member, Loyola Law Review, 1972 Law clerk to Honorable James A. Comiskey, U.S.D.C. E.D. La. 1972-1975 Guest Speaker: Louisiana Mineral Law Institute  |  Houston Bar Association  |  Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation ("RMMLF")  |  Institute on Federal and Indian Royalty Valuation and Management Speaker and Co-Chair: RMMLF Federal Offshore Oil & Gas Leasing & Development Short Course Member: the American Petroleum Institute Subcommittee of Exploration and Production Law, 1987-2007 Chairman, Offshore Operations Committee Legal Subcommittee, 1987-2007 Appointed Industry Representative by Secretary of the interior to Minerals Management Service Royalty Policy Committee, 2004-2007 Former Trustee, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Former Attorney, Shell Oil Company, 1978-2007
Sources	CarverDarden.com [via archive.org] LawyerDB.org Martindale.com TrueNorthResearch.org
Personal details
Born	ca. 1945-08
Nationality	American
Spouse	Linda Coney (née Vath; high school French teacher; homemaker)
Children	7  (6 daughters; 1 son) Eldest child: Amy Coney Barret (née Coney)
Education	University of New Orleans, B.A., 1968 Loyola University, J.D., 1972 Louisiana State University Law Center, M.C.L., 1977 Tulane University, LL.M., Energy/Environmental Law, with distinction, 1995
Law School Honors	Loyola Law Review
Bar admissions	1972, Louisiana U.S. Supreme Court U.S. Tax Court U.S. Court of Federal Claims
Membership	Louisiana State Bar Association
ISLN	908248979
Parish	St. Catherine of Siena Parish
Parish location	Metairie, Louisiana, USA
Parish position	Deacon
Webpage	Deacon Mike Coney [local copy]

Background

Michael E. Coney is "Of Counsel" to the firm practicing oil, gas and energy law. Mr. Coney received his B. A. from the University of New Orleans in 1968 and his J.D. from Loyola University, New Orleans in 1972 where he was a member of the Loyola Law Review. In 1977, while on an academic fellowship, he earned a Master of Civil Law degree from Louisiana State university. In 1995, he completed with distinction an LLM degree at Tulane University in Energy and Environmental law.

From 1972 through 1975, he served as a law clerk to the honorable James August Comiskey in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

After practicing law privately, in 1978 Mr. Coney joined Shell Oil Company as an attorney, where for twenty-nine years until retirement in October, 2007. His practice focused on the regulatory and statutory aspects of exploration, production and development on the Outer Continental Shelf as well as drafting and interpretation of agreements related to mineral development among co-lessees in the OCS.

In addition to support of shallow water shelf activity, Michael Coney was also integrally involved in legal support of Shell's expansion into the deep water Outer Continental Shelf beginning with the Auger project in 1990 and continuing through the 2007 Perdido Regional Development Project. His practice has encompassed MMS regulatory operational issues, OCS lease sales, OCS unitization proceedings and appeals, federal royalty appeals both regulatory and judicial, resolution of incidents of OCS non-compliance, the drafting and interpretation of shelf and deepwater unit and Joint Operating Agreements and their associated exhibits of gas balancing, COPAS, and integrated project team exhibits, as well as negotiation of drilling contracts, and drafting of fabrication contracts for offshore platforms and facilities.

Michael Coney's practice required frequent appearances before the Mineral Management Services on issues involving royalty, operational regulations and incidents of non-compliance.

Mr. Coney was for over twenty years an active member of the American Petroleum Institute Subcommittee of Exploration and Production Law, and served twice as its Chairman. He also served as Chairman of the Offshore Operations Committee legal subcommittee for twenty years.

During this time for both groups Michael was frequently involved in the review and drafting comments on both regulations and bills impacting the Outer Continental Shelf. In 2004, he was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior and served through 2007 as an industry representative to the Minerals Management Service Royalty Policy Committee, whose function is to advise the Secretary on royalty matters. For several years he served as a trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (RMMLF). He has been a guest speaker at the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute, The Houston Bar Association, the RMMLF Institute on Federal and Indian Royalty Valuation and Management, and has for several years served as co-chair as well as a speaker at the RMMLF Federal Offshore Oil & Gas Leasing & Development Short Course.

Diaconate: St. Catherine of Siena Parish

Michael E. Coney and family
[Source]

[2018-02] Each of us has pivotal moments when the decisions we make and the events we experience shape who we are and what we believe. They are not random. I firmly believe the Lord is close at hand drawing us through human events closer to Him. I'll share a few which have shaped my own life.

In August 1962, the day before my 17th birthday, I came home from a summer job and found my mother dead. At first I was filled with grief and anger at God. Then somehow I remembered something about a guy named Job. Our bible was decorative. No one really read it including me. In glancing through Job I discovered the scripture where Job says, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We take good things from the Lord so should we also not accept the bad?" That passage dissolved the anger I felt against the Lord. All through the wake and funeral I kept repeating that passage as a kind of prayer. Although the grief remained, the anger left.

Over the next several months that death also led me to consider what really mattered in a person's life. My mom's jewelry was still in her drawer. Her birthday card to me remained unsigned in her purse. Then on my senior retreat I heard another scripture which became one of those decision points. It was St Matthew's and St. Francis Xavier's words from the Gospel, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but suffer the loss of his soul?" Sure money is necessary but it can't be the primary goal of life. That's not what life is all about. That passage led me to consider becoming a Jesuit. My experience of the 30 day retreat all Jesuits make and my 1 1/2 years in the novitiate have remained the foundation of my adult life, as has the axiom that love manifests itself in deeds and not just in words.

Linda and I were married in my first semester of law school. In the first months of our marriage two important events occurred which continue to impact our lives today. First, we wanted to share every aspect of our lives, but it occurred to us that there was one thing that we were not sharing and that was our spiritual lives. I timidly asked if we could pray together each night so we could share that. We very simply agreed to say an Our Father together and this prayer: "Lord, help us to conform to your will whatever it holds for us tomorrow." And as our family grew we added, "Give each of our children a personal relationship with you, a clear vision of your vocation and call to them, and for those who marry, lifelong and loving spouses." All seven of our children have chosen wonderful professions and vocations. Each is married to the same wonderful spouse. Just recently our 29th and 30th grandchildren were born.

The second important decision during the first months of our marriage arose through those tiny annoyances which, though small, can impact relationships. Rather than getting caught up in them, I resolved to simply do one thing daily purely our of love and without saying anything about it. So picking up a towel on the floor or a shoe or putting a single cut flower in a vase became a way to grow in love and unity. That practice continues to this day and the love grows.

Most of my legal career was spent as an attorney with Shell in New Orleans. But early in my career I was promoted and transferred to Shell's main office in Houston. From a career perspective it was fantastic. The salary increase and the potential for further management promotions were a dream. There was one problem. By then we had 6 children, one a baby. After jointly discerning what was best for our family and after securing another job, I resigned. Our discernment had told us that money and success were not as important as what was best for our family. Later Shell rehired me with the promotion and a promise to keep me in New Orleans.

Diaconate has spanned 36 years of our almost 49 years of marriage. Our call (I firmly believe it is a call to both husband and wife) came through the Charismatic Renewal. Like many people and most guys, I saw very little to like in Charismatics. I dodged it until I was trapped into attending a Life in the Spirit Seminar. When prayed with for a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit, nothing happened. Then later that night I began to speak in tongues. More importantly, I was filled with an insatiable appetite for reading scripture and spiritual books. Making time for personal prayer became important. I sensed a call from the Lord to serve. Linda surprised me by asking me if her sense that the Lord was calling me to be a deacon was correct. We jointly discerned that I should apply and the application was completed right before the application process closed. We had two children when applying, two during formation, and three after ordination. Juggling life as husband, father, attorney and deacon has made me depend much on the Holy Spirit. My continual prayer is a short one: "Give me wisdom, knowledge, discernment and sound judgement." Very often the Lord has made 5 or 6 hours of sleep feel like 8. Early on I made a deal with the Lord about preaching preparation, which, for the most part, remains true. At first preparing a homily took most of Saturday. That was unfair to my family, so I asked the Lord to help me get it done in about an hour. He has honored that request.

After ordination we felt a call to live life in a close knit Christian community, one like that described in the Acts of the Apostles, one that would help form our children into good Christians and strengthen our marriage and family. As a result, our family became members of an ecumenical lay covenant community called the People of Praise (POP). The glue which binds the members of the POP is a promise to share life together and to look out for each other in all things material and spiritual. Men and women separately meet weekly in small faith groups. In this ecumenical community my faith has been nourished and my commitment to my friend Christ has grown deeper and stronger and has borne good fruit.

As I wrote this it dawned on me how generous our Lord has been. This scripture from Deuteronomy sums up how I feel. "Do you not know that the Lord your God has carried you as a Father carries his child all along your journey?"

Additional Reading

Return to Persagen.com