Ghislaine G. Torres Bruner

Ghislaine G. Torres Bruner is a strategically persistent litigator focused on assisting clients in developing and implementing effective business strategies including the anticipation of possible disputes, litigation and plans for early resolution. She is a shareholder in Polsinelli’s commercial litigation and Energy practice and supports the firms Denver and Miami offices. Ghislaine started her practice in Florida representing the healthcare sector including physicians, medical practices, hospitals, other businesses and clients from Latin America leveraging her native Spanish speaking and writing skills to represent a variety of clients in complex commercial litigation, regulatory and transactional matters. Ghislaine later expanded her practice to a national level as she is licensed and practices in Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. She has represented both national and international clients in light of her international litigation training in the European Courts, International Courts of Justice and studies in the United Kingdom. Ghislaine’s litigation practice now focuses on business disputes in all sectors including representing general business, health care, real estate and energy companies. Ghislaine has obtained jury verdicts, notable dismissals in high profile high stakes matters and reported opinions in appellate matters. She was recently selected as Colorado Law Weekly’s “Top litigator.” She has also handled multi-million dollar energy transactions. Ghislaine’s experience includes:

Commercial Litigation

• Handling litigation matters for business clients including claims arising from contracts, development agreements with municipalities, breach of representations and warranties, fraud, business divorce, shareholder disputes, business torts, negligence, and product liability.
• Litigating breach of non-compete and non-solicitation and investigations.
• Defending negligence actions against physicians including plastic surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, neonatologists, ophthalmologists, emergency medicine, oncologist, nurses, cruise lines and businesses.

Energy, Environmental and Real Estate Litigation

• Defending environmental enforcement actions from allegedly municipal ordinance violations, state regulations to federal Clean Air Act citizen suits.

• Handling real estate litigation actions including lease disputes, premise liability, construction, land use, easement and boundary disputes and trespass including in oil and gas and mineral disputes.
• Defending oil and gas spacing application protests
• Asserting claims of constitutional impairment of contracts and takings against governments.

Energy Regulatory and Transactional Practice

• Representation national and international exploration and production oil and gas operators and midstream companies from the startup phase as a trusted advisor.
• Assisting through the regulatory permitting phase of contentious projects and local and state agency rulemakings.
• Assisting clients in obtaining zoning, permitting and land use approvals, securing development agreements and developing regulatory compliance programs.
• Drafting a variety of energy exploration and production, farmout, joint development, oil and gas operator agreements master services agreements and midstream contracts.
• She has been recently selected as a Who’s Who in Energy and Top Women in Energy award recipient.

Beyond the Legal Practice

Ghislaine has served in various leadership positions for Colorado Ballet Auxiliary Board and is presently serving as President. Ghislaine serves as Vice Chair of the American Bar Association for Articles for the Section for Energy, Environmental and Resources for the Oil and Gas Committee. She is a member of the Women’s Energy Network, and serves on the Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s Local Regulatory Committee, EHSR Committee, and Legal, Legislative and Regulatory Committee. She enjoys playing tennis, traveling, cooking and the outdoors.

• Working with operator and municipality on planning, permitting an oil and gas development with 80+ oil and gas wells including drafting right-of-way agreements, surface use agreement with county municipality, and drafting and assisting with compliance with an oil and gas operator agreement.
• Representing oil and gas operator as an intervenor in a Colorado Administrative Procedure Act district court case brought by an association against a state agency involving the operators permit for a twenty-two well oil and gas development.
• Serving as lead litigation counsel in various lease dispute actions.
• Successfully representing Oil and Gas Operator in a matter of first impression before City Council on an appeal of a Planning Commissions denial of the Oil and Gas Operators Use by Special Review Permit.
• Representing oil and gas operators in COGCC and local enforcement other actions.
• Representing oil and gas land services company on an audit by the Colorado Dept. of Labor based on independent contractor agreements.
• Representing oil and gas land services company on appeal to the Colorado Dept. of Labor on the land professional statute.
• Representing permit applicant on protests before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
• Obtaining dismissal with prejudice of a Land professional in a litigation involving tort action.
• Negotiating, drafting, and analyzing, through start-up company formation, confidentiality agreements, joint venture agreements, operating agreements, surface use agreements, oil and gas leases, right-of-way agreements, easement agreements, letter agreements, JOA’s, settlement agreements, gathering and processing agreements and various other agreements.
• Advising clients and prepare legal opinions to prevent and manage legal risk including but not limited to political risk associated with opposition on projects from stakeholders related to oil and gas operations, drilling, completion and development, landowner and stakeholder issues.
• Negotiating and planning projects for Canadian oil and gas company extracting lithium from brines in the State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration and Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.
• Advised DJ Basin operator on the obtaining an approved amended Form 2A using the newly promulgated COGCC Rules and applying pertinent exceptions.
• Representing operator in the recent COGCC rulemaking regarding Large Urban Mitigation Areas (LUMA) including providing comment and preparing testimony; worked closely with the trade associations; assisted in drafting important exceptions to the new COGCC Rules recommended by the Governor’s Taskforce.
• Working with industry team and the trade associations in providing comment and guidance in the Boulder County, Weld, and City of Thornton Oil and Gas Regulations Rulemakings.
• Working on the industry air quality team on the storage tank workgroup on guidance for the Colorado Department of Health and the Environment (CDPHE).
• Assisting operator with Drafting Operator Guidance with state regulatory agencies.
• Drafting responses to CDPHE Reg. 7 Compliance Advisory for oil and gas operator.
• Assisting an operator in the development of a COGCC Regulatory Compliance Program for risk mitigation.
• Preparation of numerous oil and gas land agreements for operators and midstream companies including development agreements with municipalities, surface use agreements, easement agreements, right-of-way agreements; oversaw team reviewing and drafting gas gathering midstream contracts.
• Assisting midstream company in obtaining exemptions on oil and gas development despite moratorium.
• Assisting midstream company in the negotiation with a local government on the decommissioning of a pipeline.
• Drafting and negotiating energy transactions consisting of large acreage positions including negotiating and drafting Purchase Sale Agreements and leading due diligence teams.
• Advising clients on political risk both domestic and foreign jurisdiction moratoriums.
• Advising oil and gas and midstream clients in all COGCC rules and CDPHE regulation compliance.
• Preparation of Oil and Gas Operator’s Protests to the COGCC and COGCC 318A Objections to Spacing and Pooling Applications for a large multinational oil and gas operator with assets in the DJ Basin.
• Assisting oil and gas operator in notification of a security breach to FBI, IRS, police, State Attorney Generals and affected individuals in many states and foreign countries.