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Babst Calland expands to Ohio for energy service
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Pittsburgh-based law firm Babst Calland is opening an office in Akron, Ohio, expanding the firm's energy practice and positioning the new office to capture legal work stemming from development in both the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.
The firm made the announcement on Friday. Now with four offices -- Pittsburgh, State College and New Jersey, in addition to the newest Ohio office -- more than half of Babst Calland's 105 lawyers are servicing at least one energy client.
"The significant growth of Marcellus and Utica shale development over the past year has created the need for geographic expansion so that we can provide that same level of service to our clients in West Virginia and Ohio," said Chester R. Babst III, managing shareholder of Babst Calland, in a statement.
The "shales" are underground rock formations that hold natural gas and other liquid petrochemicals. Advances in deep drilling made over the last decade have made it possible to more easily, and more efficiently, harvest that gas.
The Marcellus Shale is largely under Pennsylvania, as well as parts of New York and Ohio, and much of West Virginia. The Utica lies below the Marcellus Shale, but is closest to the surface -- and more accessible to drillers -- in the western part of the formation in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
Three attorneys will head up the Akron office: shareholders Clay K. Keller and Richard J. Lolli, as well as veteran Ohio attorney David E. Northrop, who joined Babst Calland last month.
First Published June 16, 2012 12:00 am
