 Many lawyers are practicing landmen and landmen/oil and gas attorneys.Due to the collapse in energy prices in the late 1980s which lasted for nearly two decades, into the early 2000s, most landmen who survived were retiring and most universities and colleges that offered petroleum land management degrees no longer did so.The resulting attrition combined with the spike in energy prices in the mid-2000s reversed the trends of earlier years and created a significant shortage of available landmen.