Brandon T. Darden is a member of the firm. His practice focuses on representing large and small landowners in the management, use, and protection of their property, including negotiating oil and gas leases, mineral servitude agreements, pipeline and transmission line servitudes, access agreements, carbon sequestration and storage lease, and other traditional land use agreements. Brandon also has extensive experience in renewable energy matters, including the negotiation and drafting of solar energy and wind energy eases.
His commercial litigation practice includes general contract disputes, disputes over the development and use of mineral resources, and disagreements between landowners and their surface or mineral lessees. He has also handled lawsuits involving the expropriation of land by public entities and private companies vested with the power of expropriation, as well as claims by royalty owners and working interest owners under joint development and operating agreements.
Brandon actively assists certain landowners in the management of their family property holding companies and provides general business advice, including advising clients on how best to avoid litigation. His experience also includes the direct management of a landholding company, and handling various real estate transactions, including leases, sales, and the exchange of commercial and residential property. He also provided contract advice to the employer trade association, as well as to other clients engaged in the construction industry.
Brandon is licensed to practice law in both Louisiana and Texas and has made numerous appearances in the state and federal courts of both jurisdictions.
Brandon joined the Firm in 2016 after practicing with a large firm in Houston, Texas for several years. He received his Bachelor of Arts in History and Medieval Studies from Southern Methodist University in 2008, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He obtained his Juris Doctor from SMU’s Dedman School of Law in 2011. While in law school, he served as the Case Note & Comment Editor for the Science and Technology Law Review, and his Law Review Comment appeared in the Spring 2010 edition of that publication. He also interned for Judge Harlin D. Hale of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.
In 2026, Brandon was appointed to the Louisiana State Law Institute, Mineral Law Committee, which facilitates the development of mineral law and revisions to the Louisiana Mineral Code.
