Overview
Ken Barbe has helped shape the legal landscape in Wyoming over the course of three decades while conducting a broad business practice serving clients in many industries.
He concentrates his practice primarily in the areas of commercial transactions, limited liability company, corporate, real estate, employment, estate planning, banking and finance and landlord/tenant law, including litigation in those areas. Ken has experience assisting clients with business sales and acquisitions. He also has experience advising insurance carriers concerning coverage issues.
Ken has presented seminars to state Bar members and various industry groups on issues including contractor and materialman’s liens, construction contracts, and business entities. Ken assisted in modernizing the Wyoming Limited Liability Company Act as a member of the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Limited Liability Company Brain Trust in 1992 and as a member of the committee that revised and adopted the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act for adoption in Wyoming in 2010. He also serves on the board of directors for various community organizations.
Ken is listed as a Mountain States Super Lawyer and as a Best Lawyer in America in the specialties of Corporate Law, Litigation-Mergers & Acquisitions and Mergers and Acquisitions Law. He is also recognized by Chambers USA in Corporate/Mergers and Acquisitions and Real Estate.
Prior to joining Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley, Ken practiced with Brown, Drew & Massey, LLP for twenty eight years.
Experience & Results
- Represented wind energy client in wind leasing transactions and related matters
- Has represented clients in acquisition of several hundred thousand acres of ranch land in Wyoming
- Represented multiple sellers and buyers in multi-million dollar business sales/acquisitions
- Represented land owner in option to sell contract with real estate developer
- Represents landowners and industry in surface use agreements for oil and gas development
- Represented investor in creation of operating company and line of credit commitments for development of nationally franchised restaurants
- Prepared estate planning documents including tax-planned wills, trusts and related estate planning documents for clients with moderate to high net worth
- Represented record company in development of Artist agreements for touring and recording artists
- Routinely drafts or reviews loan documents and provides mortgage and general enforceability opinions on secured transactions
- Has created hundreds of limited liability companies and corporations for clients with needs ranging from ownership of hobby properties to multi-million dollar business operations
Practice Areas
- Oil & Gas Transactions
- Oil & Gas Litigation
- Corporate Law
- Acquisitions & Divestitures
- Real Estate
- Estate Planning & Probate
- Banking & Finance
- Renewable & Alternative Energy
- Complex Commercial Litigation
- Eminent Domain
- Appeals
- Mediation & Arbitration
- Employment
- Trial
Honors & Insights
- Listed by Lawdragon as one of the “500 Leading U.S. Energy Lawyers” in 2023
- One of Business Today’s Top 10 Influential Corporate/M&A Lawyers Making Waves in Wyoming, 2023
- Ranked by Chambers USA in the practice areas of Corporate/M&A and Real Estate, 2020-2023
- Selected as a Mountain States Super Lawyer, 2009-2023
- Selected for Inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the fields of Corporate Law 2006-2019, 2021-2024, Mergers & Acquisitions Law 2007-2019, 2021-2024, and Litigation-Mergers & Acquisitions, 2011-2019, 2021-2024
- Named the Best Lawyers® 2015 Corporate Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Casper
- Appointed as Commissioner of the 7th Judicial District for Natrona County, Wyoming
- Wyoming Bar Association, President-Elect 2020
- Former member of the Wyoming Board of Law Examiners
- Admitted to practice before all district courts in Wyoming and the Wyoming Supreme Court.
- Admitted to practice in the Federal District Court in Wyoming
- Lecturer, various continuing legal education seminars.
Education
- J.D., University of Wyoming Law School, with honors, 1983
- B.S., Finance, University of Wyoming, with honors, 1980
Bar Admissions / Qualifications
- Wyoming, 1983
- U.S. District Court, District of Wyoming
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit