Experienced Leadership

Randel R. Young is Executive Director of the Tulane Energy Law & Policy Center at Tulane Law School. Young co-chairs the Center’s Global Research Counsel. He is primarily based in Houston and is co-based at Tulane’s uptown campus in New Orleans. 

Young brings to the Center 45 years of experience in the energy industry, where he has held senior energy industry leadership positions, including as energy law practice leader at global law firms, regional general counsel with deep experience in emerging energy markets, and, most recently, as a senior commercial energy consultant at Charles River Associates (CRA), a global economic consulting firm based in Boston and Houston.  

As a senior executive, regional general counsel, cross-border project lawyer, and strategic business advisor, Young has advised on hundreds of energy infrastructure, and natural resource projects and disputes throughout North, Central and South America and the Caribbean Basin, Europe, the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East. His oil and gas and other energy project experience spans the upstream, midstream, downstream, and related infrastructure and service sectors, and he has experience on conventional and renewable power projects and project financing, in the U.S. and globally.  

Prior to retiring from law practice in 2021, Young was a partner at the global law firm, K&L Gates, where, in addition to his energy projects practice focused on U.S. and global privatization and M&A, energy project development and finance and joint venture transactions, he served in senior management, including as global oil and gas practice group coordinator, global practice area leader for all energy, infrastructure, and resources practices (covering oil, gas & resources, electric utilities & renewable power, energy infrastructure finance and construction, and maritime), and as managing partner of the firm’s Houston office. In these senior management roles, he coordinated the practices of lawyers having a focus on transactions or disputes in the energy, infrastructure, and natural resource industries. He also served on the firm’s global management committee and global advisory council.  

In the 1990s, Young held senior management and legal positions for a multinational natural gas pipeline and power project development and operating company, including as senior vice president and general counsel for South America and as a member of the regional executive management and risk committees. His executive oversight included the legal and risk elements of development, operation and expansion of an integrated gas midstream (transmission, distribution, processing, and trading) and electric power (generation, transmission, and distribution) business with assets, activities, and projects in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Chile.  

In addition to Latin America, Young has extensive experience in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, having lived and worked in those regions from 2005-2011 as an energy transaction partner at Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and later as a global practice leader at K&L Gates.  

Since 2021, Young has been a senior energy consultant in the global economic advisory practice of CRA, providing strategic advice and transaction support for global energy companies involved in cross-border projects, investments, and development programs, and on strategic energy transitions.  He also acts as a law firm consultant and expert witness in disputes involving large-scale energy projects and M&A programs in North America and emerging markets.  

Tulane Law School has named Young a Distinguished Research Fellow.  He is a Lecturer at Tulane Law School in classes on structuring, development, and execution of cross-border and other large-scale energy and natural resource projects and strategies.  He has served on the advisory board of the Tulane Center for Energy Law since 2018, until it was renamed as the Tulane Energy Law & Policy Center and he was named Executive Director. Young also serves on the advisory board of a global energy investment bank based in London.  

Among other recognitions, The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers has recognized Young in three categories: M&A, Oil & Gas and Project Finance, and for his work in two jurisdictions: Texas and the UAE. In 2007, Texas Lawyer magazine named Young one of five “Go-To Lawyers” in International Law in Texas. He is a frequent speaker and moderator on industry panels relating to energy projects, energy strategies and international joint ventures.  

Young holds a J.D., cum laude, and a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Houston.