Sharon O. Flanery

Chair, Energy & Natural Resources / Member

Biography

Sharon Flanery, nationally recognized as a leader in energy and natural resources law, chairs the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Department. As a lawyer and petroleum engineer with an executive, operating, and legal background in the industry, she brings real-world experience to her practice. This experience includes major acquisitions and divestitures, mineral leases, joint ventures, contract mining agreements, joint operating agreements, sales and marketing agreements, and gathering, transportation, and processing agreements. In addition, she has substantial experience with land and legal due diligence associated with mineral transactions, as well as in the legislative and regulatory arenas. Her general property background includes leases, deeds, rights of way, and land use and damage issues. Sharon’s broad legal, business and operating background also extends to handling issues in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) areas and includes extensive work on diversity, equity, and inclusion committees for the firm and two non-profit boards.

Representative Experience

Led property and operational legal team for separation of 150+-year-old public company’s coal and gas operations into two publicly-traded organizations, involving millions of acres and dozens of coal and gas entities
Oversee Energy & Natural Resources Department’s complex energy transactions with over $20B total value to date, including personally managing transactions totaling over $7B, in areas of asset and stock transfers, leases, property due diligence, and supply agreements
Led team drafting a multi-million dollar supply agreement for the production and sale of biomass to an electric generating plant, which involved traditional contract issues, clean air, and greenhouse gas regulations, potential tax credits and subsidies for renewable energy sources, corporate tax, and intellectual property
Drafted legislation on behalf of a Fortune 500 energy client that clarified the requirements for notification of landowners in connection with coalbed methane development
Drafted various legislation for deep oil and gas unitization and coalbed methane development

Licensed In

Ohio
Pennsylvania
West Virginia

Education

J.D. Duquesne University Kline School of Law

B.S. West Virginia University

Memberships

Executive Committee, Institute for Energy Law
Chair, Oil and Gas Practice Committee, Institute for Energy Law
Member, Energy & Mineral Law Foundation Board of Trustees
Past President, Energy & Mineral Law Foundation, 2013-2014
Chair, Energy Law Committee, West Virginia State Bar
Member, Women’s Energy Network
Member, Independent Petroleum Association of America
Past Director, North American Coalbed Methane Forum
Chair, WVU Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, Visiting Committee
Vice Chair, WVU Alumni Association Board of Directors
Member, WVU Petroleum Engineering Department, Visiting Committee
Inaugural Member, Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Academy, WVU Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, 2018
Past Board Member, West Virginia Chamber of Commerce
Member, The West Virginia Symphony Board of Directors
Past Vice President, Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council Board of Directors
Governance Fellowship, National Association of Corporate Directors, 2018
Duquesne University Law Review

Achievements

Honorary Doctorate, West Virginia University, Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering & Mineral Resources, 2019
Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business – Energy & Natural Resources (2008 – Present)
The Best Lawyers in America®, Administrative / Regulatory Law (2024-Present), Corporate Law (2024-Present), Energy Law (2007-Present), Energy Regulatory Law (2015-Present), Mergers and Acquisition Law (2025), Mining Law (2008-Present), Natural Resources Law (2007-Present), Oil and Gas Law (2007-Present)
Business Today News: Top 10 Influential Energy & Natural Resources Lawyers in West Virginia, 2023
Peer Review Rated™, AV Preeminent, Martindale-Hubbell®, 2023
Best Lawyers® 2025 Charleston, WV Energy Regulatory Law, Lawyer of the Year
Best Lawyers® 2025 Charleston, WV Oil and Gas Law, Lawyer of the Year
Best Lawyers® 2021 Charleston, WV Energy Law, Lawyer of the Year
West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow, 2021
Best Lawyers® 2020 Charleston, WV Energy Regulatory Law, Lawyer of the Year
Best Lawyers® 2019 Charleston, WV Mining Law, Lawyer of the Year
Best Lawyers® 2018 Charleston, WV Oil and Gas Law, Lawyer of the Year
John L. McClaugherty Award for Dedication and Service, Energy & Mineral Law Foundation, 2017
Best Lawyers® 2016 Charleston, WV Energy Law, Lawyer of the Year
Best Lawyers® 2011 Charleston, WV Lawyer of the Year
Super Lawyers®, Energy & Natural Resources Law, Business & Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Law, Charleston, WV (2009-2014)
Outstanding Alumni of the Year, WVU Mineral & Energy Resources Department
YWCA Woman of Achievement, 2015
Law360 Female Powerbroker, 2014

Speaking Engagements

Guest Lecturer, Distinguished Lecture Series, WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, 2022
Presenter, “Best Practices in Subsidiary Management,” Training Seminar for Industry Client Legal Department Retreat, Kennett Square, PA, September 2015
Co-author, “When Worlds Collide: Results of the Rise of Private Equity as the Funding Source of Choice for American Oil and Gas Developer,” Bloomberg BNA, April 2015
Panelist, “Gasification of North America Power Panel,” Bloomberg BNA 2015 Future of Energy Conference, New York, NY, April 2015
Guest Speaker, All-female Summer Camp, Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, West Virginia University, July 2014
“Overview of Pooling Affecting Appalachian Shale Development,” EMLF Annual Institute, May 2011
Co-author, “Recent Legal Developments in Carbon Sequestration,” 2008 Society of Petroleum Engineers Eastern Regional/American Association of Petroleum Geologists Eastern Section Joint Meeting
Co-author, “The Balancing of Coal and Coalbed Methane Interests Within the Coalbed Methane Statutory Schemes of Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky,” Journal of Natural Resources & Environmental Law, University of Kentucky College of Law, 2004-2005
Co-author, “Orphans, Foundlings, and Wards of the State: Plugging Liability for Orphaned and Abandoned Wells in the Eastern United States,” 14 EASTERN MIN. L. INST. ch. 19 (1993)
Co-author, “The Use of Minitrials in Mineral Disputes,” 14 EASTERN MIN. L. INST. ch. 9 (1993)
Florida v. Riley, 28 DUQ. L. REV 327 (1990)
Co-author, “Application of Log-Inject-Log in Granny’s”