More About This Office

Between the early 1990’s and mid-2000’s, this office published a newsletter, The Federal Oilpatch, dedicated to “helping clients and colleagues stay informed of recent developments, and providing insights on current issues.”  Here is how the first issue (December 1992) described the background of this office:

This firm, for many years, has assisted clients from its vantage point in the Washington, D.C., area, in a broad range of natural resources law matters — particularly federal oil and gas leasing and public lands.  Tracing its ancestry back to the enactment of the oil and gas leasing law in 1920, the office, in recent years, has done business as McDade and Lee; McDade and Warran; and McDade Warran & Zimmerman.

My own involvement with the firm dates back to 1976, following a law degree from Georgetown University and an undergraduate degree in geology from Duke.  I have been admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and North Dakota; and I am [a] member of the American Association of Professional Landmen.

As many of you know, Jim McDade passed away in 1988, and Dale Zimmerman the following year; while Georgette Lee is in retirement.  [She has since passed away as well.]  Since 1990, the office has been located in the Maryland suburbs, continuing to provide its clients — from small independents to large companies — with the same services as always, including:

• appeals to the Interior Board of Land Appeals from Bureau of Land Management decisions, and practice before federal courts
• examining records for federal oil and gas leases at the Bureau of Land Management, and providing opinions as to proper issuance, ownership, and status of leases
• examining Bureau of Land Management records, advising as to original severance of lands from the public domain, obtaining certified patent copies, and assisting in resolution of severance problems.