OMAHA, Nebraska, May 2 (Reuters) - A longtime Berkshire

Hathaway ( BRK/A ) director said Greg Abel, who is expected to

succeed Warren Buffett as chief executive, may not get the same

leeway from the conglomerate's board of directors to make

acquisitions.

Ronald Olson, a Berkshire director since 1997, said at an

investing conference on Thursday that the board would not

"handcuff" Abel from making acquisitions, in his expected role

in allocating Berkshire's capital.

But he also said Abel's recent handling of difficult

litigation against the billionaire Haslam family over the

acquisition of truck stop chain Pilot Travel Centers cemented

confidence in his leadership. It was the first time Olson, a

lawyer, said he worked closely with Abel.

"There going to be changes in terms of the confidence

level that we had in Warren," Olson said when asked if Abel

would have the same latitude as Buffett to spend cash as he saw

fit. "I don't know how changes will evolve when somebody

replaces Warren. Let's not get too anxious about it. He's going

to be around for a while. But once that happens, there may well

be changes."

At Berkshire's annual meeting on Saturday, Buffett and

Abel are likely to get shareholder questions about the

conglomerate's future after Abel takes over.

Succession at Berkshire has long been on investors' minds as

Buffett aged, working at least two decades past when most top

executives retire.

Those concerns grew after his longtime second-in-command

Charlie Munger died in November at age 99.

Berkshire acknowledged that Abel was Buffett's

successor-in-waiting after Munger let slip at Berkshire's 2021

annual meeting when discussing Berkshire's decentralized,

hands-off business model that "Greg will keep the culture."

Abel, 61, has since 2018 been a vice chairman overseeing

Berkshire's non-insurance businesses including the BNSF railroad

and Berkshire Hathaway Energy, his former home.

After Buffett leaves, his son Howard Buffett is expected to

become nonexecutive chairman, while others would handle common

stock investments.

The dispute with the Haslams, including Cleveland Browns

owner Jimmy Haslam, centered on how much Berkshire should pay

for the 20% of Pilot it didn't already own.

In competing lawsuits, each side accused the other of

manipulating Pilot's accounting in bad faith, with the Haslams

saying Berkshire was undervaluing its stake, and Berkshire

concerned it might overpay.

Tensions had been rising earlier, after Berkshire took an

80% stake and replaced top Pilot management.

Buffett tasked Abel to sort out the issue, and Olson said

"it was not pleasant going through the litigation."

But both sides settled in January, and Berkshire paid $2.6

billion for the final 20% of Pilot.

"That was a problem that Warren put in Greg's lap," Olson

said. "His preparation and thinking was impressive. He is

strategic in his thinking, and he is decisive in his judgment."

Berkshire also owns several insurers including Geico, the

BNSF railroad, a slew of industrial and retail businesses, and

hundreds of billions of dollars of stocks including Apple ( AAPL )

and Bank of America ( BAC ).