Many of the attorneys in our Energy Group have spent more than a decade serving public utilities and/or oil and gas clients and therefore offer a unique perspective in understanding the legal issues currently presented in the energy industry. Our clients include public utilities, renewable energy companies, energy developers, the oil and gas industry, industrial companies and suppliers. Our Energy Practice has a multi-disciplinary approach to counseling our clients and covers litigation, governmental affairs, real estate law, environmental law, capital markets and other practice areas.

Utilities

Our litigation attorneys have decades of experience providing legal services to multi-state public utilities. Our lawyers have served as lead counsel in scores of matters for these public utilities, including class actions, wrongful death and other alleged personal injury, damages to real and personal property, real estate, contract and other litigation. Our lawyers regularly participate in the creation and implementation of policies and procedures and have worked closely with federal and state regulatory agencies in responding to incidents. Our attorneys are also called upon by clients and other organizations to provide training and industry information.

Representative public utility cases include:

• Class action litigation and subrogation claims arising out of alleged equipment failures

• Wrongful death lawsuits resulting from home or apartment explosions

• Thirty-two consolidated lawsuits (involving more than 100 apartment units) for personal property claims caused by a damaged regulator

• Litigation involving severe burn cases caused by explosions and related incidents

• Litigation alleging punitive damages, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress arising out of purported meter, regulator or third-party damages to house, service or main gas lines

• Cases involving the purported release of fuel, oil and other contaminants

• Cases claiming wrongful death or personal injury for carbon monoxide poisoning

Our litigation attorneys have handled a number of matters involving shale exploration, drilling and extraction, including:

• Cases by municipalities to prevent hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)

• Litigation claiming the abandonment or forfeiture of mineral rights

• Consulting with energy companies and/or land owners regarding both state and local tax issues in Ohio, including real estate tax, real estate transfer tax, gross receipts tax, sales and use tax and income tax

Oil and Gas

We have over three decades of experience counseling our clients on oil and gas development issues and representing investors in partnerships and limited liability companies formed to drill and operate oil and gas wells. Representative oil and gas projects include:

• Managing the myriad of commercial, regulatory and property rights issues with the shale gas industry

• Assisting clients in negotiating and documenting leases, farmout agreements, joint ventures, surface rights agreements, easements and other exploration and development agreements

• Assisting developers in acquiring and selling oil and gas assets

• Providing counsel on all related real estate and tax issues

• Addressing governmental and regulatory issues

We are fully up to speed on the Utica shale play sweeping the eastern and central portions of the state of Ohio and have spoken to numerous groups about the growing impact on landowners, oil and gas companies, communities, local governments, manufacturing and other industry.

Energy Development

In recent years, affordable and reliable energy has become increasingly important to businesses and the economy. Energy development is a unique space requiring a specialized, interdisciplinary team to successfully structure and efficiently manage projects.
At McDonald Hopkins, we have a team of attorneys who understand energy development and the unique legal issues involved in the energy industry. We utilize the skills and expertise of attorneys from our various offices and from numerous disciplines to insure the best opportunity to complete our client’s energy development project. Our team includes experts in litigation, mergers and acquisitions, construction, land use, restructuring, environmental law, real estate law, finance, business, regulatory compliance/PUC, tax and government affairs. Our collective experience gives us a competitive advantage in the energy development area.

Representative projects include:

• Assisting owners and developers with the development of water resources

• Multiple renewable energy projects (see below)

• Pre Development counseling for combined heat and power and COGEN projects

• Assisting owners with the structuring of financing arrangements for energy projects, including public finance

• Counseling development owners concerning EPC development agreements, contracts, easements, eminent domain, land use, and lease issues

• Represented a consortium of coal companies in securing a federal appropriation

• Represented a start up company in regards to its FERC and Army Corp permits for river installations

• Serve as general counsel for an energy development company

The McDonald Hopkins team also counsels major industrial users of energy in areas of energy procurement. Click here to learn more about the current price. We do this for both natural gas and electric and have had great success reducing the energy costs for our commercials clients.

Sustainability and Renewable Energy

Our firm is one of the founders of an early effort to monetize carbon credits for advanced energy projects – Advanced Energy Carbon Reduction Alliance (AECRA). We continue to monitor the carbon issue and provide an instructive carbon calculator on this website. Representative projects include:

• Permitting and exemptions for hydroelectric power

• Serving as general counsel for an offshore wind project

• Representing the owners of onshore wind and solar projects

• Assisting in the structuring of financing arrangements for energy projects, including public finance

Government Relations

Our government affairs team brings extensive experience in assisting our clients with legislative and policy matters. We have advocated for industrials, renewables and ESCOs. We also are specialists in obtaining economic incentives for advanced energy projects - we guide clients through the government maze to ensure that opportunities are maximized and enhanced. Representative government relations matters have included:

• Representation of trade group of Ohio industrials regarding energy issues

• Representation of multiple steel companies on carbon reduction initiative

• State lobbying for an ESCO

• State Lobbying for various steel companies