Michael J. Black is a senior energy partner and a member of the firm's Executive Committee. Michael has extensive experience in the energy sector, providing counsel to numerous domestic and international energy companies.

Michael has worked exclusively in the energy field, both in private practice and as in-house counsel, with a comprehensive focus on both the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas business. He has actively participated in and led many Canadian merger and acquisition negotiations and has successfully closed numerous resource-based transactions. He has also negotiated and drafted a wide variety of domestic and international energy agreements, including joint operating, acquisition, joint venture, product marketing and transportation, as well as farmouts and production sharing contracts. Michael also has a very significant and diversified North American gas marketing and midstream practice with extensive experience pertaining to the natural gas liquids extraction and transportation business.

In the area of international energy matters, Michael provides considerable legal and commercial advice with respect to transactions in numerous jurisdictions, in addition to providing counsel to numerous domestic and international energy companies. He previously managed the legal department of a state-owned oil and gas corporation in the Middle East. More recently, Michael has acted as the lead counsel on several multi-billion dollar international energy merger and acquisition transactions. These transactions have been multi-jurisdictional, with participants, financing and targets located in many countries.

Michael is a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors in Canada. He has experience as both an officer and director of several energy companies, and is currently a director of a publicly traded energy services company. Michael has also recently prepared and presented papers on energy-related matters.