John F. (Jay) Hammond

Area of Emphasis

Jay Hammond is a member of the Energy and Natural Resources and Corporate & Commercial groups of Babst Calland. Mr. Hammond’s practice areas include: oil and gas upstream operational matters covering leasing, drilling, completions, sales, and regulatory compliance; farmouts and joint ventures; gas gathering; mergers and acquisitions; internal investigations; corporate governance; and general business counseling. Having served as in-house counsel of several publicly-traded companies for a number of years prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Hammond offers a business-focused perspective when advising clients on legal matters.

Mr. Hammond has handled a variety of domestic energy-related transactions for publicly-traded and private companies ranging from asset exchange and purchase transactions, to operating agreements, master gas gathering agreements, joint ventures, bulk acquisitions of oil and gas leases, intra-company restructuring transactions as precursor to merger transactions targeting specific shale formations, and title defect settlement agreements relating to large portfolios of leaseholds subject to joint venture agreements. Mr. Hammond has also contributed to the integration of acquired businesses and completion of post-closing adjustments and transactions.

In addition, Mr. Hammond has prepared board of directors and committee governing documents and meeting materials, taken meeting minutes, and overseen corporate governance matters for publicly-traded and private companies. He has also prepared materials for, overseen the solicitation of votes for and conducted meetings of equity owners of publicly traded companies. Mr. Hammond has prosecuted internal investigations for publicly- traded and private companies, and overseen the legal aspects of corporate compliance programs, including appropriate disciplinary measures for non-compliance.

Background

Mr. Hammond graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 1994 with an A.B. in History and Literature, received an M.St. in Historical Research from Oxford University in 1996 and earned his J.D. cum laude from the Cornell Law School in 2000. He was in private practice in Boston, Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh before joining a local energy company in 2004 as in-house counsel. Mr. Hammond held in-house legal positions of increasing responsibility at various energy companies thereafter, mostly focused on upstream oil and gas matters, corporate governance, and general legal advice to senior management teams.

Memberships and Affiliations

Mr. Hammond was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 2001, the District of Columbia Bar in 2002 and the Pennsylvania Bar in 2003.