Overview
The energy industry is being impacted by rapid and disruptive changes faced in today’s environment. We are witnessing a wholesale shift away from fossil fuel generation to renewables, very low natural gas prices, changing environmental regulations, the growth of microgrids and distributed generation, and heightened interest in regional transmission and reliability. Combined, these changes are influencing state and federal energy policy and prompting regulatory action. This activity can create opportunities for entities that proactively plan.
At Calfee we provide our clients with strategic support based on decades of experience, a track record of success at the state and federal levels, public policy advocacy and deep transactional experience. Our lawyers include a former utility regulator and general counsel, former Director of the Ohio EPA, and several other attorneys with decades of experience – both in house and as outside counsel – handling the full range of issues confronting energy companies, utilities and large consumers of energy.
Our clients have included a broad range of investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, regional transmission organizations, telecommunications entities, pipeline companies, coal companies, investors, lenders, renewable resource developers, and utility customers.
Professionals
Professionals
Services
Services
Calfee provides a broad range of legal services to the energy industry that includes regulatory, government relations, construction, transactional, environmental, intellectual property, real estate finance, and litigation counseling and representation.
Public Utilities, Energy, and Telecommunications Litigation
Calfee represents public utilities, municipalities, cooperatives, and other interested parties before regulatory agencies and in state and federal courts. We have represented electric utilities, municipal utilities, natural gas distribution companies, intrastate natural gas pipelines, local telephone and cellular telecommunications carriers, brokers, and industrial customers.
Environmental
Calfee has experience with all aspects of the environmental compliance requirements associated with the energy industry. From the permitting requirements associated with obtaining the raw materials for energy production to the compliance requirements associated with distribution, Calfee can provide a full range of environmental compliance counseling for the energy industry.
Transactional
Calfee’s Corporate and Finance attorneys have a broad spectrum of transactional experience with energy companies, including electric power, oil and gas producers, coal companies (both surface mining and deep hole), and ash reclamation. Members of the group have assisted energy industry clients with legal matters that include acquisitions, financings, leases, purchase agreements, tax planning, due diligence, and compliance.
Government Relations and Legislation
Calfee’s Government Relations and Legislation practice group provides a unique perspective into the highly regulated energy arena. Whether our clients require legislative lobbying, regulatory and technical experience, or execution of administrative matters, our experienced attorneys offer years of experience and knowledge-based relationships in the energy industry developed from years of legal representation and lobbying on energy issues.
Calfee clients benefit from our strengths when analyzing governmental issues, developing and executing successful strategies, and adding unique insight ranging from the General Assembly to the PUCO. We work together to resolve our clients’ issues involving the executive and legislative branches of government, as well as commissions, authorities, and other special-purpose entities.
Litigation
Calfee has successfully represented energy industry clients in a myriad of litigation matters involving complex contract and commercial disputes, government investigations, employment and labor matters, real estate and environmental disputes, class action litigation, and ERISA claims. Calfee also has extensive experience representing energy industry clients in tort, accident, and product liability claims including asbestos and toxic tort defense. Calfee works closely with clients to aggressively prevent, resolve and defend litigation matters at all phases of a dispute to reach the best business resolution for our clients.
Intellectual Property
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will, on a petition, accord "special" status to all patent applications for inventions that materially contribute to:
- The discovery or development of energy resources (i.e., developments in fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, and petroleum; hydrogen fuel technologies; nuclear energy; solar energy, etc.); or
- The more efficient utilization and conservation of energy resources (i.e., inventions relating to the reduction of energy consumption in combustion systems, industrial equipment, household appliances, etc.).
Calfee’s patent attorneys are skilled in the preparation and prosecution of patent applications for energy and energy-related inventions. The Group includes patent attorneys with degrees in physics, electrical engineering, chemistry and chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering. In addition to their technical education backgrounds, many of our patent attorneys have spent time working in their technical fields as engineers and scientists prior to becoming patent attorneys.
Real Estate
Calfee’s real estate attorneys represent developers, investors and syndicators, institutional lenders, individuals, and corporate clients in connection with matters related to the acquisition, disposition, construction, development, leasing, and financing of property assets, including the acquisition of mineral interests by fee or lease.
In addition to conventional transactions, our practice encompasses the formation of investment syndications, joint ventures, and tax-advantaged investment arrangements, the structuring of synthetic leases and tax-deferred exchanges, and the representation of clients in complex multisite and multistate transactions.
Construction
Calfee takes a multidisciplinary approach to energy construction projects tailoring its advice to the specific needs of the client. Calfee has been involved with advising and drafting contract documents, assisting in contract administration, and representing clients in contract disputes in all phases of energy-related construction.
Calfee has assisted clients with new construction, scheduled outages, transmission issues, alternate energy projects, including wind and gasification, and power generation systems and storage. Calfee attorneys are sensitive to assessing risk in all phases of a project and are additionally sensitive to cost issues. This broad range of experience on varied types of energy projects informs our decisions and protects our clients’ interests throughout the life of a project.
News & Events
News
Events
Blog Posts
Industry/Sector Contacts
- Partner-in-Charge, Indianapolis; Co-Chair, Energy and Utilities
