Frank Erisman Of Counsel, Portland Office
Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt
Attorneys at Law

Professional Experience:
Frank Erisman focuses his practice on basic industries and the representation primarily
of mining, energy and other extractive clients throughout the world. He has experience
working with most minerals, including coal, uranium, precious and base metals and industrial minerals. Mr. Erisman has extensive experience in the areas of mining and oil
and gas law, including mineral financing, energy law, natural resources, mineral reservations, public lands law and federal and state mineral leases. He has represented Alaska Native Regional Corporations on land selection, mineral transactions, ANCSA 7(i) and land use issues throughout his career. He has served on numerous occasions as a neutral arbitrator in cases involving extractive industries and is a member of the American Arbitration Association’s Energy Panel.

Frank has decades of experience in land use, government leases and concessions, acquisition and sale of mining properties, financing and security of mining properties and mining claims. He has mining legal experience in Russia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Suriname. He has advised the Republic of Suriname on the form of its mining code and mining agreements. Frank also has expertise representing timber land owners in their mineral transactions.

Frank has been selected by his peers and clients in publications such as Best Lawyers in America, Colorado Super Lawyers, and The International Who’s Who Of Mining Lawyers as among the top attorneys in his field.

Professional & Community Activities:
Frank regularly speaks and writes on mining topics. The University of Denver College of Law appointed him the Distinguished Natural Resources Practitioner-in-Residence for 1995. He was an editor of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation American Law of Mining, 2d Edition. Mr. Erisman is internationally recognized in his field and is a past chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law and the past president of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation.

Mr. Erisman served for nine years on the Board of Trustees of the Colorado School of Mines, including five years as its president and currently serves on the Investment Committee of the Colorado School of Mines Foundation, Inc. Mr. Erisman also serves as a board member of the Sustainable Development Strategies Group.

Personal:
Raised the son of a steel metallurgist, Frank went to high school in Bethlehem, PA and traveled to Colorado to study engineering and attend law school. After completing a clerkship on the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, he returned to Denver where he maintained an international natural resources law practice at his former law firm for over 40 years. He continues to own a condominium on Washington Park in downtown Denver and has four children living nearby. Frank enjoys golfing, fishing, and road trips and in past years, was an avid curler.

Admitted to Practice:
Oregon
Colorado
United States District Court, Colorado
United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

Education:
University of Denver,Juris Doctor Degree (1968)
Colorado School of Mines,Metallurgical Engineer (1965)

Articles:
Dormant No More: Fracking Boom Causes States to Revist Dormant Mineral Statutes, August 31, 2015