Michael Joy

Michael, who joined the firm in 2012, is a partner in the Energy & Natural Resources Group. He focuses on providing legal services primarily to natural gas exploration and production companies, service providers, and land services companies from around the country. With a Ph.D. in geology, Michael combines his unique experience as a lawyer and a geologist into a practice focused on natural gas development, specifically in the areas of administrative and regulatory; public relations, energy policy and lobbying; mergers, acquisitions and producing property transactions; land leasing and development acreage transactions; and litigation issues associated primarily with natural gas development in the Northeastern United States. Michael played a key role in the negotiation, drafting and development of the 2005 amendments to the Oil Gas and Solution Mining Law of New York. He also represented a founding member of the Marcellus Shale Coalition in its attempt to formulate a well-spacing and compulsory-integration statute in Pennsylvania for specific application to the Marcellus Shale play. Michael is an adjunct professor at State University at Buffalo Geology Department, teaching classes on Stratigraphy & Paleontology. He previously served as an adjunct professor at State University at Buffalo School of Law, 2003-11, teaching Oil and Gas Law – the only course of its kind in the Eastern United States. Employment History 2012 - Reed Smith 2001 - Biltekoff & Joy, LLP (Previously Lipman & Biltekoff, LLP and Lipman, Biltekoff & Joy, LLP) 2001 - Duke Holzman Yeager & Photiadis, LLP – Law Clerk 1997 - New York State Research Foundation – Research Assistant; also 1993-95, Soil Gas Analyst and Field Geologist 1995 - State University of New York at Buffalo Department of Geology – Lecturer and Teaching Assistant State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, 2002, J.D., University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 2002, Ph.D., Geology University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 1998, M.A., Geology University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 1995, B.A., Geology