Karen Daniel Ancelet earned her B.A. in history and classical civilization studies from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge in 1991 and her J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law School at Louisiana State University in 1994 where she was a member of the Order of the Coif, Phi Kappa Phi, and the LSU Law Center Hall of Fame.
Karen has spent her career as both a litigator and transactional attorney representing energy companies in a variety of upstream, midstream, and downstream matters. Her litigation practice focuses on complex litigation involving mineral royalty disputes, joint operating agreements, conflicts over ownership of mineral interests, unleased owners, servitudes, and oilfield legacy matters. Karen has filed and managed multiple concursus and interpleader actions involving royalty and lien disputes. Karen provides general advice to clients on pre-litigation matters including responses to demands from royalty owners, working interest owners, and unleased mineral owners. Karen also represents clients before the Louisiana State Mineral Board and Louisiana Office of Conservation in regulatory oil and gas matters. On the transactional side, she has extensive experience preparing various types of royalty agreements, title opinions, leases, assignments, operating agreements, and gas contracts, along with liens and right-of-way agreements. Recently she has assisted in advising clients on carbon sequestration and underground storage projects.
Karen has served on the Advisory Council of the Mineral Law Institute at the LSU Law Center since 2021 and is a member of the Louisiana State, Lafayette Parish, and Jefferson Davis Parish Bar Associations. Karen is a native of Roanoke, Louisiana, but graduated high school from the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches, Louisiana. She and her husband, Stuart, raised two children, a daughter, Jackie and a son, Clay and are avid LSU Tiger football fans. Karen also enjoys tending to her many plants and is an active member of the Jennings Garden Club.
