NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. – The University of Oklahoma College of Law has named Paul D. Trimble, an attorney with more than 35 years of experience in oil and gas law, as the 2025 recipient of the Eugene Kuntz Award.
The annual award recognizes professionals who have made significant contributions to oil, gas and natural resources law. Trimble will be honored at a reception the night before the 2025 Eugene Kuntz Conference on Natural Resources Law and Policy, a continuing legal education event for energy law professionals at the Oklahoma City Convention Center on Friday, Nov. 14.
The conference, presented by OU College of Law and the Oklahoma Bar Association's Energy and Natural Resources Law Section, attracts hundreds of attorneys, landmen and industry leaders from across the country. Named for Eugene Kuntz, former OU College of Law professor and dean, the event honors his legacy as author of a landmark treatise on oil, gas and natural resources law still cited in courts nationwide.
Trimble is the managing member of Trimble Law Group PLLC, where he represents clients ranging from mineral owners to large independent oil and gas companies in both transactional and litigation matters. Over the course of his career, he has also served as managing attorney at Chesapeake Energy Corporation and as a longtime partner at Crowe Dunlevy.
Colleagues describe Trimble as a lawyer whose experience and consistent approach distinguish him.
“Paul’s breadth of experience – from big law and corporate counsel to teaching and mediation – gives him unique insight,” said Gary Thompson, attorney at Trimble Law Group PLLC. “He represents clients effectively without unnecessary conflict.”
“Paul combines vast knowledge of the law with a remarkable ability to explain it clearly,” said Henry Hood of Henry J. Hood, PLLC. “He has long set the standard for professionalism in our field.”
An OU graduate, Trimble earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Juris Doctor. For more than two decades, he has taught oil and gas law as an adjunct professor at OU and other institutions and is a frequent lecturer at professional conferences and seminars.
“Paul was an outstanding young lawyer with a deep knowledge of oil and gas law and an unmatched work ethic. He has remained humble and deserving of this recognition,” said John Griffin, director at Crowe Dunlevy.
Conference Details
The Oklahoma Oil and Gas Reception honoring Trimble is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 13, before the conference, in the Devon Great Hall at the Oklahoma History Center.
Registration is now open for the 2025 Kuntz Conference, to be held at 100 Mick Cornett Dr., Oklahoma City, on Friday, Nov. 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It offers six hours of general CLE credit and one hour of ethics credit approved in Oklahoma. A virtual option will be offered for those unable to attend in person. For details on speakers, CLE credit and registration, visit the registration page. For more information, email universityevents@ou.edu or phone 405-325-1701.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
Three University of Oklahoma graduate students have been named winners of the 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition, which challenges participants to explain their research in three minutes to a non-specialist audience.
Sarah Sharif, a researcher with the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to create innovative light detectors that pick up mid-wave and long-wave infrared signals at higher temperatures than previously considered achievable.
A team from OU and WVU recently earned a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how concept cigarillos influence the potential for addiction. The results will be used to inform the FDA’s impending flavor ban on cigar products and could have wider-reaching implications for other tobacco products that come in flavors, such as e-cigarettes and tobacco-free nicotine pouches.
