Ag Law In The Field

Today's podcast features my friend Ashley Ellixson, the Vice President of Legal and Environmental Affairs for the United Dairymen of Arizona.  We focus on two areas during our conversation today.   First, we talk about the winding, interesting path Ashley took from law school to landing her dream job with United Dairymen of Arizona.  She offers some great insight to anyone in the trenches working towards a job they have always wanted.  Her examples of flat out working hard and how she used networking to her advantage are both humorous and inspiring.  , Second, we talked briefly about some of the key legal issues facing the dairy industry.  Not surprisingly, animal rights was at the top of her list.  We discuss the FARM program, which helps to encourage and equip farmers to implement the newest and best animal handling and care practices.  Next, we turned our attention to farm labor and discussed the difficulties for the dairy industry when it comes to immigrant labor and not fitting into the current H2A visa

On today's show, we've got Amber Miller, an agricultural law attorney from Lubbock, Texas.  Amber is a Partner at the law firm of Crenshaw Dupree & Milam in Lubbock, where her practice focuses on agricultural law.  On the podcast, we focused on considerations for farms and ranches when it comes to utilizing business entities in their operations.    As we discuss, there is no one-size fits all entity for farmers and ranchers, and there are even situations where one family might utilize multiple different entities.  Amber says that, generally in her practice, folks are interested in business entities are looking for a way to organize management of their operation or are interested in liability limits.  We take the time to talk through four commonly used business entity structures in agriculture: general partnerships, limited partnerships, LLCs, and corporations.  Amber and I discuss the pros and cons of each, outline the filing requirements and other documentation that should be drafted, and we talk about h

Today I am joined by my friend and Texas A&M University alum, Cari Rincker, to talk about family law.  As Cari explains, practicing agricultural law can include a variety of legal areas, including family law. I absolutely love her tag line that she does "horses and divorces!"  I failed to mention this on the podcast, but Cari is extremely active on social media, so be sure to check her out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. During our discussion, Cari gives great advice related to why folks should consider prenuptial or postnuptial agreements and explains how she has converted from being against prenups, to being a proponent of them.  We talk about reasons for these agreements and what type of terms are often included. We also discuss different types of alternative dispute resolution available for family law issues, and why Cari is a proponent of those resources.  I love her thoughts on why divorce litigation differs from any other type of lawsuit and her encouragement for people walking through a divor

My guest for this episode is Austin and Ft. Worth-based attorney, Jim Bradbury. Not only is Jim a well-known and brilliant agricultural law attorney, he is also an avid fly fisherman, outdoorsman, and is absolutely hilarious on Twitter (@jimbluewind).  As he explains, he has a variety of clients across Texas including everything from private landowners to major industry groups.  He advises clients in a number of areas, including environmental issues, conservation easements, oil and gas leases, and condemnation matters. Today, our focus is the Waters of the United States ("WOTUS") rule.  We walk through some background on the Clean Water Act and the new rule defining WOTUS promulgated by the EPA and Corps of Engineers.  We then discuss legal challenges to the WOTUS rule and the recent Executive Order signed by President Trump.  Finally, we discuss why landowners are (or should be) concerned about this issue, and tackle it from a practical perspective, discussing how this really impacts landowners in the field.

Today, I visited with Kyle Weldon, a second year law student at Texas A&M University School of Law.  If you have ever wondered what law school is like or thought about applying, or if you're in the throws of the LSAT or your first year and looking for some advice, listen up!  Kyle and I discuss a variety of topics including how our unconventional undergraduate majors prepared us for law school, tips for prepping to take the dreaded LSAT exam (the admissions test for law schools), the application process, and what law school was really like.  Kyle and I also dish on our favorite law school classes, some of the activities that law students can be involved in, and what his career goals are.  I think you will find Kyle to be friendly, honest, and full of great advice and information. Links to topics mentioned on the show: Texas A&M University School of Law US News and World Report Law School Rankings Law School Admission Council Aggie Bar Association John Huffaker Texas Agricultural Law CLE (in Lubbock,