King & Spalding’s lawyers have advised multinational lenders, commercial banks, developers, sponsors, investors, insurers and others in connection with power projects on six continents. The firm has helped clients develop and finance power plants ranging in size from 2 MW to 2,700 MW and utilizing such diverse technologies as nuclear, natural gas, oil, coal, cogeneration, biomass and industrial waste, hydroelectric, biodiesel and geothermal, as well as alternative technologies such as solar, wind and compressed-air energy storage.
The firm’s Power Practice integrates the know-how of King & Spalding’s lawyers skilled in energy business and law with lawyers providing comprehensive counseling and representation on the full range of energy regulatory, reliability, markets, and compliance matters, as well as other lawyers specifically focused on the fields of antitrust, bankruptcy, corporate law, environmental law, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, project development and finance, public finance, real estate, tax, telecommunications and technology.
The firm’s lawyers also regularly counsel and represent clients on energy regulatory, reliability, markets, and compliance issues, including in complex energy regulatory litigation before FERC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and other federal and state regulatory bodies, and in related appellate and alternative dispute resolution proceedings.
Much of King & Spalding's power industry work has been on the cutting edge of industry developments. For example, the firm has handled:
- Representation of independent power producers (IPPs) and power marketers on electric transmission tariff and market rules issues
- Compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) electric reliability standards and requirements
- Investigations and audits by FERC and the CFTC
- Greenfield development of merchant electric-generating plants
- Development of merchant electric transmission projects
- The acquisition and restructuring of existing generating plant portfolios
- The development of legislative and business strategies for electric suppliers seeking to succeed in a restructured industry
- The representation of a consortium of major energy companies working to commercialize renewable energy technologies
- The representation of energy consumers with respect to electric and thermal energy purchases in this rapidly evolving market
For the firm’s domestic and international power industry clients, this combination of extensive industry and practice area expertise with innovative approaches ensures that they have a legal team tailored to their particular business needs, and one able to assist them as their needs change and the industry changes.
Areas of Expertise
- Construction and construction finance
- Industry restructuring advice
- Energy management services
- Environmental permitting and compliance
- Finance and project finance
- Energy regulatory, reliability, markets, and compliance
- Mergers and acquisitions and restructuring
- Power litigation and arbitration
- Power project development and restructuring
- Privatizations and capitalizations
Recognitions
- Neil Levy and David Tewksbury are named by Chambers Global 2010 as “form[ing] a premier IPP FERC regulatory team.”
- King & Spalding lawyers are ranked nationally by Chambers USA for their energy regulatory work; the firm’s practice is hailed as “fast becoming the premier choice for IPPs and independent power industry bodies in all FERC matters” (Chambers USA 2010).
- King & Spalding lawyers are ranked nationally by Chambers USA for their energy regulatory and litigation work (Chambers USA 2010).
- King & Spalding was ranked in the 2009 United Arab Emirates section of Legal 500 for projects and energy.
- King & Spalding lawyers are ranked in Euromoney’s “World’s Leading Energy and Natural Resource Lawyers.”
- King & Spalding was ranked second among law firms appearing as arbitration counsel (Focus Europe, 2009 Arbitration Scorecard).
- King & Spalding was recommended as one of the leading Latin American practices focusing on mergers and acquisitions, project finance, trade and arbitration (Latin Lawyer 2008).
