Scott’s is Managing Partner of a boutique law firm employing six University of Chicago Law School graduates. His legal practice focuses on representing clients in domestic and international energy transactions and serving as outside general counsel to energy companies. Mr. Gaille has been a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School since 2013, where he teaches the Energy Law Seminar and the Energy Transactions Seminar. He also was an Adjunct Professor of Management at Rice University from 2008-2022, where he taught International Energy Development and Energy Infrastructure courses to MBA students. Scott is routinely retained by leading energy companies around the world to teach versions of his energy courses to private audiences. As a thought leader on matters of energy law, Scott has authored three energy textbooks and seven peer-reviewed articles in the Energy Law Journal.

Prior to starting GAILLE PLLC, Mr. Gaille served as the Chief Compliance Officer, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary for a NASDAQ-listed exploration and production company focused on developing shale formations in Texas and Europe. As its chief legal officer, he was responsible for the corporation’s transactional, litigation, securities, and regulatory matters. Scott also acted as the lead negotiator of the corporation’s many transactions, including its joint ventures with EOG Resources, Hess Corporation, and Michael Dell’s family office, MSD Capital.

Mr. Gaille’s international experience includes: (i) running a private equity-backed exploration company in Africa that acquired concessions in Cameroon, South Africa, and Madagascar and (ii) six years at Occidental Oil & Gas Corporation’s international business development unit, where (as Director – Business Development) he originated transactions in Africa, the Middle East, and South America.

Prior to joining Oxy’s legal department in 2001, Scott practiced law with the Energy Section of Vinson & Elkins and was a judicial clerk to the Honorable Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, III of the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.

Mr. Gaille was an Olin Fellow in Law and Economics at The University of Chicago Law School, where he received his Doctor of Law Degree with High Honors in 1995. He was elected to Order of the Coif and to The University of Chicago Law Review and served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy (Vol. 18, No. 2). Through various economic workshops at the University of Chicago, Scott participated in the analysis of certain issues with Nobel Laureates Ronald Coase and Gary Becker, and worked as a research assistant to The Honorable Judge Richard Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Mr. Gaille attended undergraduate college at The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government with High Honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Scott serves on the Board of Trustees and the Finance Committee for the Houston Grand Opera and is a Life Member of the National Eagle Scout Association. Having traveled to 143 countries (Traveler’s Century Club) and lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for three years, Mr. Gaille has built business relationships with a culturally diverse range of partners from around the globe.