Gregory A. Mountain

Practice areas

Energy & Natural Resources, Business/Corporate, Real Estate: Business, General Litigation

Gregory A. Mountain is a Partner at The West Firm and currently oversees the firm’s corporate and transactional divisions, including its integrated practice in oil and gas land, title, and transactions.

Greg provides legal representation to both corporate entities and individuals across a wide range of legal areas. His expertise encompasses general corporate matters like corporate formation and governance, real estate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, land use, development, zoning, regulatory affairs, eminent domain proceedings, tax certiorari proceedings, and complex commercial litigation. He boasts substantial experience advising and advocating for clients involved in real estate development and renewable energy projects.

In his previous role, Greg served as corporate counsel for a real estate and hydroelectric generation project developer. He also represented a public benefit corporation that owned a significant flood control and flow augmentation reservoir, benefiting multiple downstream stakeholders. Greg’s involvement extends to proceedings before the New York State Public Service Commission and appearances on behalf of clients before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, addressing project licensing and compliance matters. He has also represented clients in front of various local municipal bodies, handling matters such as New York State Environmental Quality Review Act compliance, siting issues, zoning concerns, and negotiations for payment in lieu of tax agreements.

Greg’s wealth of experience includes asset management, structuring and restructuring material contracts, and resolving intricate disputes with interconnected issues. He has successfully negotiated asset purchase and sale agreements, power purchase agreements, and various types of financing transactions.

In the realm of oil and gas, Greg represents operators in their land operations, negotiating and finalizing development agreements, joint venture and joint operating agreements, asset purchase and sale agreements for leases and development rights. He is also involved in rendering drilling, acquisition, and division order title opinions, as well as lease and right-of-way acquisitions, due diligence reviews, curative actions, force majeure rights, drill site and pipeline permitting activities, complex division order calculations, lease foreclosure proceedings, and other land-related matters. Greg handles compulsory integration proceedings, including integration hearings and related adjudicatory proceedings, along with land-related litigation. He has appeared before various New York State Courts to defend oil and gas leases and has responded to inquiries from the New York State Attorney General. Greg has actively engaged on behalf of service providers in the environmental review process conducted by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for high-volume hydraulic fracturing.

Greg’s litigation background includes appearances before the New York State Supreme Court in multiple Article 78 proceedings related to government agency interpretation of governing statutes, Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Article 15 actions, and plenary actions concerning oil and gas lease matters. Additionally, he possesses extensive litigation experience in real property disputes, building code violations, and safeguarding corporate trade secrets and proprietary information. His litigation portfolio extends to various tribunals, including the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, where he successfully challenged a local municipality’s condemnation proceedings, the United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of New York, where he protected a right of first refusal in a bankruptcy auction, and the New York State Division of Tax Appeals, where he secured an Administrative Law Judge decision overturning a long-standing policy on franchise taxes by the New York State Department of Tax and Finance.