With more than 35 years of experience, Hal advises and counsels clients in the areas of mining, oil & gas, natural resources product safety regulation, products liability litigation, state and federal government relations and multistate and class action litigation with an emphasis on product safety and liability as well as areas affected by the state attorneys general. Hal also counsels clients in the areas of international trade, regulation, and product health and safety.

Hal also counsels clients and handles litigation on a variety of natural resource issues. He earned a bachelor of science degree in geology from the University of Oklahoma while attending on a Union Oil of California scholarship and worked for Exxon USA in their summer graduate program in Midland, Texas. While in the New Mexico legislature he was a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee where he served as vice chairman. He handled and oversaw numerous natural resource issues while serving as New Mexico Attorney General, including successfully arguing the case of Cotton Petroleum v. State of New Mexico at the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988 and negotiating settlements on interstate water law compacts with neighboring states.

While in the private practice of law, Hal has handled and litigated numerous matters involving oil and gas, federal and state grazing lease and condemnation rights, oil and gas tax and royalty valuation, asbestos landfill siting and matters with the Office of Aircraft Safety (now the National Business Center Aviation Management), among others. Hal has also handled a number of matters involving American Indian tribes including representation of the New Mexico Indian tribes before the Department of Interior regarding their IGRA gaming compacts and tribal recognition issues as well as others.

Prior to joining the firm, Hal was a member of Dykema Gossett PLLC in Washington, DC. He is currently adjunct professor of law at George Mason University School of Law where he created and teaches a course on state attorneys general and multistate litigation and regulation. Hal previously served as Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency responsible for regulation and implementation of safety standards for over 15,000 consumer products. In his role as CPSC Chairman, Hal founded the Office of International Programs and entered into cooperative agreements with counterpart safety agencies in China, Mexico, Canada, India, Israel and the European Union, among others. Also during his tenure at the CPSC, Hal delivered over 100 keynote speeches, lectures and seminars throughout the U.S. and abroad and implemented numerous consumer safety initiatives including the promulgation of the first major regulation by the CPSC, implementation of the nation’s largest ever consumer recall, creation of the web site www.recalls.gov and development of the retailer reporting model for more efficient reporting of substantial product hazards to the CPSC by its stakeholders. In 1991, he co-founded the law firm of Stratton & Cavin, P.A. in Albuquerque. In 1986, Mr. Stratton was elected as New Mexico Attorney General and is the only Republican to serve in that position since 1930.

In 1978, Hal was elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives at the age of 27 by defeating the House Majority Whip. During his four terms in the New Mexico House he served on a number of committees, including the Judiciary Committee, where he served as chairman, the Energy & Natural Resources Committee, where he served as vice chairman, and the Transportation and Rules Committees. 

Hal is a Distinguished Military Graduate and served on active duty in the U.S. Army. He is a registered member of the Cherokee Nation. Hal is the recipient of a number of awards including the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Legislator of the Year award and recognition as the National Right to Work Committee’s Statesman of the Year.