Spotlight: Mick Law and Its Third-Party Due Diligence Opinions on Alternative Investments
The Omaha law firm delivers its reviews of DSTs, oil and gas programs and other private offerings as legal opinions, issued only to broker-dealers and registered investment advisers.
October 12, 2026
Mick Law P.C. LLO is an Omaha, Nebraska, law firm whose central business is third-party due diligence on alternative investment offerings, delivered to broker-dealers and registered investment advisers as legal opinions. In its October 2026 newsletter, the firm says it has provided third-party due diligence since 2005 and serves more than 500 broker-dealers, RIAs, family offices and institutional investors.
Who Receives a Mick Law Opinion
Mick Law issues its due diligence opinions only to FINRA-registered broker-dealers and to state- or SEC-registered RIAs, and it directs registered representatives to their own broker-dealer for copies. Only a party named as an opinion's addressee, or one the firm confirms in writing, may rely on it, and clients are barred from passing opinions to third parties.
The list of what the firm has reviewed is public. Mick Law's website keeps a log of finalized opinions showing the sponsor, the offering, the offering type and the date finalized, with dated entries going back to 2015. The log separates sponsor-level reviews, such as a 2026 review of Passco Companies finalized Sept. 25, 2026, from reviews of individual offerings. The most recent entries, dated Oct. 7, 2026, are a sponsor review of Urban Catalyst and an opinion on Resource Royalty Drilling Fund 2026. Other sponsors on the log that SQX Alts has profiled in this series include Capital Square, Peachtree Group, Madison Capital Group and U.S. Energy Development Corporation.
How a Due Diligence Review Is Built
The firm says its opinions concentrate on project and fund structure, financing, valuation and exit analysis, with the aim of showing how a direct participation program compares with its peer group and how likely it is to perform. Mick Law also describes negotiating offering structure and investor rights on clients' behalf, researching litigation and entity history on issuer principals and affiliates, and independently underwriting the underlying assets.
The range of offerings it reviews is wide: non-traded, Reg D and Reg A+ REITs, DSTs and tenant-in-common interests, qualified opportunity zone funds, interval funds, BDCs, lending and mezzanine programs, conservation-oriented real estate, oil and gas drilling and royalty programs, life settlements, managed futures and cryptocurrency.
Attorneys handle the legal and structural review, and the firm works with independent specialists on the assets: Q10 | Daisley Ruff Financial Corporation and Alan Lincoln for real estate underwriting, and Billman Geologic Consultants and BCS Energy Services for oil and gas. According to his firm biography, founder and chairman Bryan S. Mick reviews and finalizes the work of the firm's other lawyers and of its underwriting and petroleum consultants.
A Broker-Dealer Background
Mick was formerly a partner at Husch Blackwell and, earlier, general counsel and senior vice president of investment banking at an Omaha broker-dealer that syndicated real estate equity offerings in hospitality, senior living, office and retail. The firm says its attorneys have worked inside broker-dealers that syndicated such offerings. David M. Sengstock is president. Alongside due diligence, Mick Law runs a real estate finance practice advising developers, owners and commercial lenders.
The firm also hosts an invitation-only real estate symposium that brings due diligence professionals together with a selected group of sponsors. The 15th annual event is scheduled for Oct. 18 to 20, 2026, in Tempe, Arizona.
Tracking Retail Oil and Gas Programs
Mick Law publishes its own analysis of the retail energy market. In the firm's October 2026 newsletter, director Brad Updike wrote that Mick Law sorts the retail oil and gas programs it reviews into four categories: operated drilling, qualified opportunity funds, mineral and royalty programs, and non-operated drilling. According to the firm, 18 upstream sponsors it covers raised about $2.02 billion across 38 private oil and gas programs in 2025, more than 40% above the prior year and the highest annual total in the firm's tracking. About $500 million of that went to non-operated drilling programs, a segment where, the firm notes, capital raising has in some cases moved faster than long-term performance histories. Updike's conclusion is that tax benefits, targeted distribution rates and commodity trends do not replace underwriting of the sponsor, the assets, the capital structure and the assumptions behind a program.
