J. Lanier Yeates (born 1945) is an American
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
and novelist.
Yeates was born in
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, completed high school in
El Dorado, Arkansas
El Dorado, founded by Matthew Rainey, is a city in, and the county seat of, Union County, on the southern border of Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 18,884.
El Dorado is headquarters of the Ark ...
and resides in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
. He is a graduate of
Louisiana State University and the
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University.
Because Louisiana is a c ...
and served in the
U.S. Navy from 1968 to 1975.
Yeates is currently a partner practicing oil and gas law with th
Gordon Arata McCollam Duplantis & Eagan LLP
Yeates has published several legal books, including ''Louisiana Oil and Gas Legislation'' (1994: 2nd ed. 1998), and ''Selected Commentary on Oil and Gas Law'' (2000 and 1999). His many articles include ''Louisiana and Texas Oil & Gas Law: An Overview of the Differences'' (1992), ''Strategies Outlined for Doing Business in Russia'' (1992), ''The Accounting Provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act'' (1994), and ''Indemnification and Anti-Indemnity Statutes as They Relate to Mineral Rights and Contracts'' (1986).
Yeates's first novel, ''Bay of One Hundred Fires'' (), published in 2004, is an
alternate history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
based geo-political thriller that speculates what
Saddam Hussein might have done with the deadly weapons many people believed he had. In the novel, the nuclear-powered
USS ''California'' is overhauled and upgraded, and plays a key role in fighting Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein who has, at least in the book, created a stockpile of
weapons of mass destruction. Some of Yeates's inspiration for ''Bay'' came from his service in the U.S. Navy, where he served and developed expertise in 3-D radar aboard the ''California'' in 1974. When the ''California'' was delivered to the U.S. Navy, Yeates was at the helm when the ship departed the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company for its maiden voyage at sea. Yeates also helmed the ''California'' in 1998 when it sailed to the
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to be scrapped.
References
External links
Yeates's law firm bioYeates's Martindale listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeates, J. Lanier
1945 births
Living people
American legal scholars
Texas lawyers
Novelists from Texas
Writers from Arkansas
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
People from Pine Bluff, Arkansas
21st-century American male writers