The Hill Law Firm

In 1996, Drake returned to Wyoming and joined the Wyoming Attorney General's Office as the attorney responsible for seeking cost recovery of the nearly $1.5 billion expected to be spent on state funded clean-up of leaking underground storage tank sites. He also acted as counsel to the Department of Environmental Quality in other capacities. In addition to his representation of the Department of Environmental Quality, Drake later served as chief tax counsel and was the supervising attorney for the Departments of Revenue and Audit and the Banking Commission. He acted as co-counsel for the state of New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming in the amicus effort before the United States Supreme Court in Amoco Production Co. et al. v. Southern Ute Indian Tribe in the successful effort to overturn the decision of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals relating to the ownership of coalbed methane gas. Mr. Hill has a rich legal background. After graduating from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1988, Drake served as in-house counsel for the Coastal Corporation and ANR Pipeline Company in Detroit, Michigan defending "take-or-pay" claims by natural gas producers. His experience at Coastal helped him to develop an expertise in a wide range of oil and gas issues. After five years with Coastal, he joined a tax and business firm in Southfield, Michigan and worked as a trial lawyer in commercial litigation. Drake acted as lead trial counsel on the case declaring unconstitutional the City of Detroit's minority set aside (affirmative action) program in public contracting.