Scott Gaille

Scott Gaille is a lawyer and academic, teaching at Rice University’s Graduate School of Business and the University of Chicago Law School. Scott has authored two energy textbooks (International Energy Development and Shale Energy Development) and five peer-reviewed articles in the Energy Law Journal, and he frequently speaks on topics affecting the energy industry. Scott’s law firm, GAILLE PLLC, is an outside general counsel and energy transactions boutique with national and international reach, including representation of matters in Africa, Asia, and South America. Prior to founding GAILLE PLLC, Mr. Gaille served as the Chief Compliance Officer, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary for a NASDAQ-listed exploration and production company focused on developing shale formations in Texas and Europe. As its chief legal officer, he was responsible for the corporation’s transactional, litigation, securities, and regulatory matters. Scott also acted as the lead negotiator of the corporation’s many transactions, including its shale joint ventures with major industry and private equity partners. Previously, Mr. Gaille was Managing Director & General Counsel to a $400 million investment fund, President of a private equity-funded petroleum venture in Africa, and Director – Business Development for Occidental Oil & Gas Corporation. His responsibilities at Oxy included starting and growing business units in Africa, the Middle East and South America. Prior to joining Oxy in 2001, Scott practiced law with the Energy Section of Vinson & Elkins and was a judicial clerk to the Honorable Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, III of the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Mr. Gaille was an Olin Fellow in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago, where he received his Doctor of Law Degree with High Honors in 1995. He was elected to Order of the Coif and to The University of Chicago Law Review and served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy (Vol. 18, No. 2). Through various economic workshops at the University of Chicago, Mr. Gaille participated in the analysis of certain issues with Nobel Laureates Ronald Coase and Gary Becker, and worked as a research assistant to The Honorable Judge Richard Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Mr. Gaille attended undergraduate college at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government with High Honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Scott has served on the Board of Trustees and the Finance Committee for the Houston Grand Opera and is a Life Member of the National Eagle Scout Association. Having traveled to more than 100 countries and lived in the United Arab Emirates for three years, Mr. Gaille has built business relationships with a culturally diverse range of partners from around the globe.

Teaching Interests: 

-Oil and Gas -Energy -Business development