Gerald J. Schissler has practiced natural resources law in both private practice and corporate settings since 1969. On the corporate side, Jerry has been in-house counsel for The Continental Oil Company, Western Regional Counsel for Consolidation Coal Company, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Meridian Minerals Company, and Executive Vice President, Law & Administration, of Burlington Resources Inc.

In private practice, Jerry was a partner in a large Denver-based law firm, where he served as Chairman of the firm’s Natural Resources, Environment and Real Estate Department and on the firm’s Management Committee.

Jerry’s law practice and corporate responsibilities have been focused in the domestic and international natural resources industry and have related to the exploration for and development and production of oil, gas, coal, uranium, base and precious metals, aggregates, industrial minerals, and oil shale. His experience includes counseling in virtually all phases of a minerals project, from exploration for and acquisition of the applicable resource, through the permitting, development, extraction, transportation and marketing of the resource.

While at Meridian Minerals Company, Jerry handled the multi-faceted business and legal aspects of the sale of Meridian Gold Company, Meridian Aggregates Company, Meridian Industrial Minerals Company, and the majority of the company’s coal and iron ore assets. At Burlington Resources, he had responsibility for the law, human resources, environmental and safety, corporate secretary, and government affairs functions of the company, and facilitated negotiations for the company in its definitive agreement to acquire The Louisiana Land and Exploration Company for approximately $3 billion.

Jerry is a past Chairman of the Mineral Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association, a former Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, and a former Vice Chairman of the Hard Rock Minerals Committee of the Natural Resources Section of the American Bar Association.

Jerry is active in civic and charitable pursuits and has served on the Board of Directors of the Burlington Resources Foundation, the Houston Symphony and the Santa Fe Opera, and on the Board of Trustees of the Houston Grand Opera. He has also established and underwritten the Natural Resources Practitioner-in-Residence Program at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law.

Jerry has written and spoken widely on various natural resources subjects and was a member of the Editorial Board and a contributing author for the American Law of Mining treatise published by Matthew Bender Publishing Company.