“I’m a real terrible cowboy,” claims Laura Bowen. “I can’t rope well and my horse is so slow, we call him Trudge. After years of getting in the way, I had to ask myself the hard question, ‘How can I be more valuable here?”
Laura Bowen, Attorney at Braun & Gresham, is also a fifth-generation Texas cattle rancher.
Homesteaded in 1886, the YT Ranch today is spread across three counties in West Texas. The working ranch includes many types of cattle, but the family is especially proud of their Herefords, which Laura’s great-grandfather began breeding about a century ago.
Fast-forward to the early 2000s, ranching became more than working cattle and Bowen could see that a different skill set was necessary to navigate the next century of ranching.
“It was early on in the wind and solar story, and we struck deals for both a wind farm and a solar facility,” Bowen recalls. “But we didn’t know what we could ask for, we didn’t know how to protect ourselves, and these are long, long-term leases – 50, 60, 70 years. Really, nobody in the state knew at that time, the knowledge just wasn’t available. There wasn’t an attorney in Texas capable of bridging the gap between these complex legal agreements and ranchers.”
About Laura’s Journey
Laura Bowen had earned her bachelor’s degree in art education at Lubbock Christian University, but was feeling isolated and unfulfilled as a working artist in Austin.
“I took some really long walks, and I thought, ‘I want to solve problems for my own family on my own property, and I want to solve the same problems for other families with a sympathetic ear,’” remembers Bowen. “I went and bought an LSAT book and said, ‘I’m gonna be an attorney. I need a passion, and I need to help people. I can bootstrap this’ – and I did.”
So Bowen went to Texas Tech University School of Law to earn her J.D. with the singular intent of representing landowners.
“I saw there were attorneys for everything – litigation, big transactions, corporate representation – but precious few whose sole focus is farmers and ranchers,” Bowen notes. “Ranchers have specific concerns, and companies have specific concerns, and most of the time, there is middle ground, but nobody knows how to speak with each other to find it. My practice is bridging that gap.”
Renewable Energy
So, you have land and you’ve been approached by a company,” posits Laura Bowen. “How do we make this easy for you? How do we protect your property? How do we make sure this company understands and considers how much this land means to you? I get it – my daughter is generation number six, it’s part of my family legacy. So that’s how I approach these deals.”
Bowen works to not only interpret contracts for landowners, but also negotiate the best compensation and safeguards for future generations – if the landowner decides renewables leasing is right for them.
“It’s not right for everybody or every property,” she attests. “I’m not an advocate for renewables companies, and I’m not an advocate for people to get renewables. I’m an advocate for knowledge – a conduit and factfinder.
I’m going to make sure you understand what a contract says in order for you to make an informed decision about whether or not it’s right for you. I’m asking questions you might not have thought of. My job is to say, ‘OK, but have you considered ABC or thought about XYZ?’ And then you, as a landowner, get to make the right choice for you. And if you want renewables or if it’s not right for you, fantastic – we led you to a decision that you made and you’re happy with.”
Bowen is well-known among her clients and her colleagues for her laser-focused expertise, her no-nonsense approach, and her ability to serve as both a counterbalance and a watchdog for farmers and ranchers being pursued by renewables companies.
“If you’re getting your only information from the company, they’re salesmen,” Bowen warns. “They want to build it, and they’re going to give you as rosy a picture as possible. I give you the rest.”
Laura Bowen’s professional niche is long-term surface leasing for Texas landowners – and she’s one of only a handful of attorneys who do that. Today, that means navigating wind and solar offers, but Bowen is ready for whatever might come next – geothermals, AI centers, hydrogen production, or maybe even something not yet developed.
As part of the team at Braun & Gresham, Bowen feels her history, experience, and expertise is a perfectly symbiotic fit for both the firm and her clientele.
“People own property that somebody wants to use – how do you dictate that legal relationship? That’s my job,” affirms Bowen. “Braun & Gresham needed that tool in their toolbelt, and it’s working out wonderfully because it’s great for my clients, too. Here I can introduce you to Carly – she can help with your condemnation, or let me introduce you to Corina – she can set up your LLC.”
“I just think it’s a really great model for landowners, so they’re not having to search for someone who cares,” she concludes. “We’ve got a whole team of people who care. We specialize – rather than being generalists where you’re a mile wide and eight inches deep, each of us are eight inches wide and a mile deep. Collectively, we just bring so much more to the table for Texas landowners.”
Contact Braun & Gresham today to schedule a consultation—and take the next step with confidence.