The energy, environmental, and public utilities practice operates at the intersection of science, economics and government regulation. Every day, we learn more about energy, the environment and how they impact upon people and society. Public policies and laws governing energy and how we produce it, sell it, and manage it, are constantly evolving to reflect our expanding knowledge. Companies in the energy and utilities sectors, and in other sectors having significant environmental impact, must be ready to adapt to constant regulatory, political, and economic change. To do this, they need legal counsel who are dedicated to helping them to manage their liabilities and to capture new opportunities.
Cozen O’Connor’s team of energy, environmental, and utilities attorneys advise a sophisticated client base that includes public and municipal utilities; renewable energy producers, suppliers, and distributors; manufacturing, technology, and managed-services companies; real estate developers and lenders; energy consumers; and energy investors. Our attorneys capably handle the full range of regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters. We support environmental and regulatory compliance, negotiate acquisitions and new project development, and represent clients in all types of administrative hearings and environmental and energy litigation.
Unlike in many firms, our energy, environmental, and utilities practices are integrated into a single multidisciplinary team. We recognized early on that critical decisions about energy generation, management, and conservation would increasingly be driven by environmental law and regulatory considerations. While other firms have been slow to respond to that reality, we restructured nearly a decade ago to accommodate that convergence. Because these practices are now seamlessly combined, Cozen O’Connor is well-positioned to provide comprehensive energy and environmental counsel.
We not only have a deep understanding of the external regulatory environment, we also take care to understand each client’s business model, financial position, and long-term aspirations. We collaborate with our clients to formulate practical, cost-effective solutions that meet their business imperatives. After all, a legal strategy unmoored from the business reality is really no strategy at all.
In addition to our legal skill, clients benefit enormously from our strong relationships with state and federal regulators, judges, policymakers, and experts in economics, environmental science, engineering and energy efficiency. Our attorneys have earned the respect of these professionals over decades of practice, which facilitates communication, ensures fair consideration, and often enables us to reach out directly to resolve potential issues quickly.
SERVICES
Regulatory
-
We are among the foremost firms in the country in the prosecution and successful conclusion of utility rate cases.
-
Counsel utilities, non-utility power producers and suppliers, unregulated affiliates of public utilities, and thermal and renewable energy providers
-
Assess and manage clients’ environmental liabilities
-
Advise clients on regulatory compliance issues related to hazardous waste, air pollution, water pollution, toxic substances, occupational safety, and public health
-
Advise clients regarding site remediation, brownfields redevelopment, clean-up and re-use of contaminated sites, under CERCLA and state clean-up programs
-
Advocate on behalf of clients at the local, state, and federal levels
Transactional
-
Advise clients on corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, project finance, and securities issuances
-
Assist clients with land development approvals, and permitting project finance, construction, permitting, energy generation, and purchase agreements for new energy facilities, including solar, wind, renewable energy, and co-generation plants
-
Advise clients on energy marketing and sales agreements
-
Manage due diligence, negotiate liability protections, and environmental risk allocate in transaction documents and insurance policies
Litigation
-
Represent utilities in complex rate cases and other matters before administrative and regulatory agencies and in trial and appellate courts
-
Represent water companies in drinking-water, sanitary-sewer, and water-rights cases
-
Represent clients in a wide range of environmental litigation, including Superfund cases, governmental enforcement, private clean-up cost recoveries, toxic torts, white collar environmental criminal defense, and National Environmental Policy Act litigation
-
Appear before federal, state and local regulatory agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, state environmental agencies, and state utility commissions
-
Represent energy and public utility clients in a broad array of litigation in the State and Federal Courts
CLIENTS
-
Utilities
-
Energy producers
-
Energy suppliers and distributors
-
Manufacturing, technology, and managed services companies
-
Real estate developers and lenders
-
Third-party suppliers
-
Midstream operators and transporters
-
Energy consumers
-
Investors
TEAM
Cozen O’Connor’s energy, environmental, and utilities team is made up of highly qualified attorneys. It includes a former regulator in the EPA’s Air Enforcement Division and special assistant to the EPA’s director of civil enforcement; the former head of litigation for a major energy company; and a former general counsel to one of the nation’s largest water suppliers and current outside counsel to the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association of Water Companies. Members have been appointed to high-profile state and federal advisory panels on clean energy and energy efficient policy, serve as chairpersons of state bar association public utility sections, and hold leadership roles in the U.S. Green Building Council. Many of our lawyers speak and write frequently on environmental issues with frequency, and one member authors a nationally acclaimed blog on green building and renewable energy policy.
Our energy, environmental, and public utilities attorneys work in close collaboration with one another and with lawyers from other practices in the firm, including real estate, public and project finance, and tax. It is not unusual for lawyers from multiple disciplines to interact with one another to provide comprehensives services to our clients. At Cozen O’Connor, cross-practice communication and teamwork is embedded in our firm culture.