Our Team
Alvin L. Thomas, II
Before starting GCCS, Alvin served as Sr. Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary for Global Geophysical Services, Inc. (Global). Global is a worldwide provider of seismic acquisition, processing and interpretation services to oil and gas exploration and production companies. In his work with Global, Mr. Thomas’s already broad background expanded to encompass international oil and gas matters in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. He also became well acquainted with various maritime energy matters related to Global’s international marine operations. Having successfully guided the company through an Initial Public Offering in April 2010, Alvin established the framework for Global to function with the added responsibilities of a publicly traded company (NYSE). Alvin also handled all of the legislative affairs for Global.
As an example of his background in wastewater treatment, Alvin served a 10-year tenure as Executive Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel of Synagro Technologies, Inc. Synagro is the largest domestic company focused on transporting, treating and disposal of waste water residuals (biosolids) from municipal and industrial waste water treatment plants. He managed all risk areas for the company and directed the legal, legislative affairs, human resources, mergers and acquisitions, as well as the insurance and compliance divisions. During most of his tenure, Synagro operated as a public company (NASDAQ). Mr. Thomas handled 16 acquisitions that increased the company’s total revenue to almost half a billion dollars annually. In 2007, Mr. Thomas oversaw the process of taking the company private along with their private equity sponsor, The Carlyle Group.
Alvin has experience assisting companies that operate landfill methane gas recovery facilities. For example, he represented Johnstown Renewable Energy, LLC (JRE) which operates three high BTU landfill gas facilities at Waste Management landfills in Pennsylvania. Alvin was instrumental in making sure that JRE received the highest value for its gas, in part, through the production of Renewable Energy Credits.
Mr. Thomas has an extensive network of contacts within the Texas in-house legal community. He served on the Statewide Board and the Houston Board of The General Counsel Forum (TGCF, www.tgcf.org) from 2004-2018 , sitting as the President of the Houston Chapter from 2004-2005.
Through his legal career spanning 30 years, Mr. Thomas has gained a strong background in a broad array of legal disciplines including Energy, Environmental law, Employment law, Corporate law, Public Company & SEC matters, Government Affairs, Insurance law, Risk Management and Litigation. Alvin is a 1991 graduate of the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law. After graduating, Mr. Thomas began his legal career at Day Ketterer, Raley Wright & Rybolt in Canton, Ohio. Following a passion for tax law, he then took a year to specialize in the Internal Revenue Code and obtained an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University Law School in 1993. Upon graduation, Alvin accepted a position with the international law firm of Fulbright and Jaworski, L.L.P., specializing in tax and corporate law planning and tax litigation. He later practiced law with Littler Mendelson, L.P. where his focus shifted to employment law and litigation.
Mr. Thomas passed the State bar exams and has been admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas and Florida. Alvin is also licensed as an English Law Solicitor in London, England.
Founder Alvin Thomas launched General Counsel Consulting Services, LLC in 2010 to satisfy a growing demand for high-quality legal services at reasonable rates.
Thomas Lankford
With more than 12 years of corporate legal department experience, Thomas joined Alvin at GCCS in 2018. While Thomas is well versed in many disciplines, his primary concentration has been counsel to energy, oil & gas, environmental, engineering, and construction companies.
Thomas spent the vast majority of his legal career as in-house counsel for companies within the energy sector, which included General Counsel roles at Great Lakes Geophysical and Amp Up Energy. Prior to becoming a licensed attorney, Thomas served in operational positions with upstream service providers where he managed complex projects both in the US and overseas. Given his unique background in both operations as well as legal, Thomas has the ability to maintain an insider’s perspective on client needs, harbors good business sense, and brings an entrepreneurial approach to his client’s development.
After completing his undergrad studies at Texas State University-San Marcos, Thomas graduated from South Texas College of Law-Houston in 2011 and is licensed to practice in the State of Texas.