Neal Thatcher provides experienced counsel to clients with a particular focus on stakeholders in the energy industry. With years of experience as lead corporate counsel for several energy companies, Neal is uniquely placed and highly qualified to provide sophisticated, practical, and valuable advice on questions that businesses face daily, as well as complex transactions and litigation. Neal’s diverse practice encompasses commercial, contractual, and corporate matters; advisory and transactional real estate services; land use and entitlement services; acquisitions and divestitures; and complex commercial litigation.

Neal’s legal practice began and grew amidst the discovery of the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations, and the burgeoning energy industry in the Appalachian Basin region. He has immersed himself in the energy industry and has advised both emerging and established companies in his roles as sole in-house counsel to a start-up natural gas gathering and transportation business, and, for over a decade, as senior counsel to The Williams Companies, Inc., a Fortune 500 energy infrastructure company that is one of the largest pipeline transportation and midstream businesses in the United States.  As in-house counsel to start-up Laser Northeast Gathering Company, LLC, Neal oversaw and spearheaded all aspects of the company’s legal and real estate departments. He guided the company from initial construction to the successful commercial operation of a multi-state natural gas gathering system and, ultimately, to the sale of the company with an aggregate valuation exceeding $750 million.  At The Williams Companies, Inc., Neal served as the primary and lead counsel for various midstream business segments, including those in Northeast Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Eastern Ohio.  Neal has negotiated, structured, and drafted commercial agreements and energy transactions with values in excess of $100 million and has been a key team member on major acquisition and divestiture transactions, including transactions valued at more than $1 billion.   Neal also managed and provided strategic oversight on complex and diverse litigation and dispute resolution matters, including matters with exposures or contingent gains in the 6 to 8 figure range.

Since joining MBK in March of 2022, Neal’s practice has continued to grow, in terms of both subject matter expertise and geography. Neal now represents clients across multiple different business sectors and across the country.  Neal is now a go-to resource for energy companies, real estate developers, healthcare institutions, and construction companies in high-value contract matters and for large-scale development projects. Simply stated, through hard work and commitment to his client’s causes, Neal has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the foremost business, transactional, and land use lawyers in northeast and central Pennsylvania.

Neal is a team player and a natural leader who works collaboratively with his clients, and their advisors, to identify and fulfill their business objectives. Both in his career and his community, he proactively shares his skills and experience, whether mentoring attorneys on his team, serving on the boards and committees of local nonprofits, or coaching his three sons’ sports teams. Neal has won numerous awards recognizing his individual and team achievements as in-house counsel, and his leadership qualities. Ultimately, Neal strives to not only be his clients’ legal counsel, but their trusted and indispensable partner for any issue that may arise.