Practice Areas & Industries: Jones Walker LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

As the energy industry evolves and expands with changes in technology, legislation, and regulation, our clients rely on our depth and breadth of experience and resources to address their legal needs in today's dynamic global economy.

Jones Walker's geographic footprint includes Alabama, Arizona, the District of Columbia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, locations from which we serve sophisticated domestic and international energy clients. We represent clients involved in virtually every aspect of the energy industry—upstream, midstream, downstream, power generation, and mining. Our energy clients range from multinational public companies to small independents to individuals, and include major producers, independent producers, joint venturers, operators, pipeline companies, fabricators, service companies, refining and chemical companies, power generation and transmission companies, landowners, royalty interest owners, and financial institutions. We have handled complex energy transactions, both onshore and offshore; challenging regulatory matters; environmental matters; and all forms of industry-related disputes and litigation. Our competitive rate structure and service-based approach allow us to assist clients with a broad spectrum of energy matters in an effective, economical, and efficient manner.

Recently, the firm received the maximum four-ribbon rating in an EnergyPoint Research survey of clients in the oil and gas industry—E&P companies, oilfield service and equipment providers, midstream and downstream companies, and oil and gas industry consultants. Jones Walker was one of only six firms in the country receiving the maximum rating.

Oil, Gas & Natural Resources

Title Opinions

Our attorneys have years of experience in examining mineral titles and have issued hundreds of fee title leasehold and division order title opinions covering both onshore and offshore properties. Our opinions commonly set forth the landowners' respective interests in the surface, minerals, bonuses, rentals, and royalties by tract and/or unit, as well as the respective operating and revenue interests of the parties involved in developing the mineral properties. We are also experienced in issuing financing title opinions involving producing property interests. We help ensure that our clients have acquired all necessary property rights and have the information needed to make payments and otherwise comply with oil and gas leases and other agreements.

Mergers & Acquisitions

On behalf of clients, we manage mergers, acquisitions, and sales of assets or equities of oil and gas, power, and mining companies. We represent lenders and borrowers in secured production financing and limited recourse project financing of oil and gas, petrochemical, refining, power, pipeline, coal, and hard rock mining. We have handled U.S. equity offerings of oil and gas service companies as well as the formation of partnerships, limited partnerships, joint ventures, LLCs, and other entities in the oil and gas industry.

Operational Work

We advise operators, non-operators, investors, pipelines, power plant operators, service companies, and seismic companies in connection with the exploration, development, and operation of oil and gas and mining properties. We prepare and review documents and provide advice regarding leasing; assignments; pooling and unitization matters; title issues; division order and royalty owner issues; production; sales, transportation, and processing arrangements; and lease acquisition, exploration, drilling, and other development agreements. Our experience also includes representing clients with regard to regulatory matters before state regulatory agencies.

Our experience in this field includes:

• Agreements governing intellectual property
• Asset purchase and sale agreements
• Drilling contracts
• Exploration agreements
• Farm-in and farm-out agreements
• Gas processing agreements and purchase contracts
• Geophysical or seismic data license agreements
• International Swaps & Derivatives Association (ISDA) master agreements for hedging transactions
• Joint bidding agreements
• Joint operating agreements
• Joint venture agreements
• Marine survey agreements
• Master swap agreements
• Natural gas hedging agreements
• Oil and gas leases
• Operating agreements
• Operations and maintenance agreements
• Option agreements
• Participation agreements
• Property acquisition/divestiture agreements
• Right-of-way agreements
• Seismic exploration agreements
• Sublease agreements
• Surface and subsurface agreements
• Technical consulting, construction and other service agreements
• Unitization and pooling agreements

Midstream & Storage

Our attorneys handle oil and gas infrastructure issues and agreements for midstream and storage companies, including pipeline companies. Our experience includes the development, permitting, financing, sale and/or acquisition of natural gas pipelines and crude oil pipelines, crude oil, petroleum products and gas storage facilities, gas processing and fractionation plants, and gas gathering systems. We also represent clients in related real estate and property rights issues. Our work in handling midstream matters includes:

• Commodity purchase and sale transactions
• Contracts for gathering, transportation, processing, and gas storage
• Expropriation matters
• Facilities construction, use, and installation agreements
• Natural gas hedging agreements
• Operations and maintenance agreements
• Processing plant, pipeline, and gathering system agreements
• Product sales agreements
• Production handling agreements
• Real estate and title work
• Regulatory and permitting issues
• Right-of-way agreements
• Service and purchase agreements
• Statement of Operation Conditions and General Terms and Conditions for pipeline and storage assets
• Storage agreements
• Structuring and negotiating pipeline, facility, and processing plant joint venture agreements
• Surface and subsurface agreements
• Transportation and processing agreements

Litigation

The firm's Business & Commercial Litigation Practice Group has handled a wide range of litigation, disputes, mediations, and arbitrations in the areas of natural resources, energy, and oil and gas.

We have represented clients in oilfield property damage disputes, including:

• Claims for delay in construction
• Claims for destruction of wetlands
• Environmental claims
• Legacy suits
• Oil well liens
• Oilfield anti-indemnity statutes
• Oilfield property restoration claims
• Plant shutdowns and lost production
• Property damage claims
• Seismic trespass
• Well blowout claims

We have represented clients in property disputes of all types in the energy industry, including:

• Blowout and personal injury claims
• Boundary disputes
• Development and exploration demands
• Expropriation suits
• Joint interest disputes
• Leasing disputes
• Pipeline right-of-way/servitude disputes
• Royalty and lease maintenance disputes
• Title and survey disputes
• Trespass claims

We have represented clients in other commercial disputes that arise in the energy industry, including:

• Ad valorem/severance tax litigation
• Construction claims
• Gas marketing and trading litigation
• Gas plant operational claims
• Insurance claims
• Oil and gas lien disputes
• Pricing disputes under the Natural Gas Policy Act
• Regulatory compliance orders and disputes
• Shareholder valuation matters

Regulatory Matters

• Administrative proceedings
• Compliance audits
• Defense of enforcement actions
• Legislative and regulatory changes
• Matters before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state Departments of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
• Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and Minerals Management Service (MMS) issues
• Regulatory and permitting issues
• Representation before state and federal agencies
• State incentive programs
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issues
• Unitization matters before the Office of Conservation and Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Electricity, Hydropower & Mining

Electric Power: Generation & Transmission

With our significant experience in the electric power industry, we regularly represent project contractors, owners and operators of power and transmission projects, and other industry clients in the development and financing of domestic and international power and transmission projects.

Project Development & Power Plant Operations

From simple and combined-cycle thermal generation projects, cogeneration projects, and hydroelectric projects to facilities for high-voltage transmission systems, our experience includes the negotiation and documentation of the following power project agreements, for owning and operating power plants and transmission systems:

• Environmental site assessment issues and permitting
• EPC contracts
• Fuel supply and transportation agreements
• Land use and zoning, as well as the analysis of available tax abatements and/or the creation of free enterprise zones
• Long-term parts and service agreements
• NIMBY (not in my backyard) disputes
• Operation and maintenance agreements
• Power purchase and tolling agreements
• Real estate and title work
• Site selection and related issues, including interconnection issues, such as access to the transmission grid and the availability of fuel and water supplies
• Turbine purchase agreements

Project Finance Experience

Our electrical power generation and transmission project financing experience includes counseling and supporting the drafting and negotiating of project documents, providing analysis of contractual and commercial risks, and assisting in the development of measures to effectively mitigate or hedge risks. We have handled:

• Credit facilities
• Direct agreements with lenders, including consents, estoppels, and subordinations
• Equity support agreements and security agreements
• Financing term sheets
• Guaranties
• Hedging agreements
• Letter of credit arrangements
• Loan commitment letters
• Louisiana Public Service Commission matters
• Multi-tranche loan and credit agreements
• Subordinated debt agreements

Mining

We also manage the legal aspects of many types of mining agreements and transactions, such as:

• Commodity price protection agreements
• Contracts of affreightment and other transportation agreements
• Joint ventures, both contractual and corporate
• Mineral leases and concessions involving private and government lands
• Mine financing, permitting, and expansions
• Property acquisitions and sales
• Purchases and sales of mineral products
• Reclamation bonding
• Service agreements
• Waste treatment and disposal

Our mining experience spans agricultural and industrial minerals, precious and base metals, and other minerals within the United States and abroad.

Maritime

We help clients navigate through maritime transactional and litigation matters relating to the offshore and deepwater oil and gas industry, as well as onshore and offshore pipeline litigation and disputes. Our maritime attorneys routinely represent both domestic and foreign interests. Specifically, Jones Walker represents and defends companies for oil spills under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), including before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and courts for indemnities, contribution, insurance claims, natural resource actions, and removal actions. The firm is currently representing a company involved in the largest Mississippi River oil spill to date.

Renewable Energy

Jones Walker's Green Law & Sustainability team helps clients anticipate, track, and respond to rapidly changing and increasingly complex environmental regulations, with a focus on emerging issues including climate change, green building and sustainable development, green living and corporate operations, and renewable fuels and alternative energy. Our experience in environmental, business, construction, renewable energy, land use, natural resources, employment, tax, government relations, and intellectual property law enables our attorneys to quickly identify and resolve issues that organizations commonly face, seeking to comply with and succeed in the regulatory framework prompted by calls for increased sustainability.

Our work includes carbon capture, algae and other biofuels, wind farms, solar power, and other emerging sustainable energy sources.

Environment

Our clients—whether Fortune 500® companies or small business owners—rely on us for avoidance of environmental problems and addressing those that have occurred.

Jones Walker offers a full range of environmental counseling and litigation services, as well as sophisticated and experienced toxic tort defense. Our approach is simple—to find a solution so our clients can get back to work. When faced with a difficult lawsuit, a troubling compliance issue, an enforcement order or subpoena, or seeking help with a facility expansion, acquisition, or sale, our focus is to find a resolution in an efficient, effective, and economical manner. To serve clients' needs, Jones Walker has assembled a highly experienced team of attorneys from multiple practice areas who can handle any issue involving the environment that clients' businesses may face. Members of the group have backgrounds in engineering, environmental management systems, architecture, urban and regional planning, and industrial management, and have served as federal prosecutors, agency regulators, military officers, in-house counsel, and law professors. Our diverse depth of talent and experience allows us to offer cost-effective solutions to clients facing complex and potentially costly environmental and toxic exposure matters.

For many years, Jones Walker has successfully represented property owners, developers, employers, refineries, waste disposal facilities, railroads, and other businesses and their employees with their projects in defense against a wide variety of claims. We utilize the latest technology and highly qualified people and are ready to help you, whatever your need.

We regularly address environmental issues and concerns, such as:

• Agency inspections
• Brownfields development
• Defense of agency enforcement
• Environmental due diligence
• Environmental permitting
• Managing environmental liability in business transactions
• Private party litigation, including cleanup actions
• Regulatory compliance advice
• Remediation
• Siting of facilities
• Wetlands permitting and mitigation

Regulatory

Dating back to the formation of current environmental law in the 1980s, our extensive experience in working with federal, state, and local regulations includes:

• Defending against citizen suits
• Defending against compliance orders and penalty assessments
• Defending permits in administrative or judicial forums
• Evaluating and auditing compliance with environmental and safety requirements
• Interpreting regulations
• Negotiating with agency officials
• Organizing voluntary remediation of Brownfields
• Proposing beneficial or supplemental environmental projects
• Providing due diligence reviews in transactions
• Providing guidance on reporting issues
• Providing oversight on technical reports, e.g., wetland delineations, compliance audits, RECAP, and AAI
• Taking administrative appeals of agency permit or enforcement decisions

Transactional

Jones Walker's attorneys have the experience to help clients effectively manage environmental risks to facilitate closing deals. We work closely with environmental consultants; engineers; lenders; and federal, state, and local regulatory agencies and governmental bodies in addressing virtually all environmental aspects of transactions, including:

• Addressing concerns of citizens' groups
• Addressing wetlands and coastal use issues
• Cleanup projects, including those involving state voluntary remediation, risk assessment programs, and reasonable steps after acquisition
• Developing Brownfields and Voluntary Cleanup Program agreements
• Environmental due diligence, including environmental assessments (and updates thereof), and environmental compliance audits
• Financing documents
• Handling public meetings
• Negotiating and drafting contracts with environmental consultants and engineers
• Negotiating and drafting transaction documents, including letters of intent, option agreements, purchase agreements, sales, leases, servitudes/easements, and related representations and warranties and indemnity provisions
• Obtaining “bona fide prospective purchaser” letters, “comfort” letters, lien waivers, and other approvals and agreements from regulatory agencies
• Transferring environmental permits
• Using environmental insurance products
• Zoning and land use issues

Enforcement

Agency enforcement of environmental laws and regulations can catch even the most environmentally-conscientious businesses off-guard. Jones Walker has vast experience in working with federal and state agencies to respond to enforcement concerns. We speak their language and can decipher what is important to them so that you can develop a proper and effective response to agency inquiries and enforcement actions. We have experience in negotiating agreements and resolutions to all types of environmental agency enforcement actions, including complex and technical multimedia approaches. And, if the matter must be contested, we have represented clients in administrative, civil, and criminal proceedings to successful and proper conclusions. Our enforcement experience includes:

• Citizen-suit defense
• Clean Air Act (CAA), including New Source Review (NSR) claims and title issues
• Clean Water Act (CWA)
• Compliance auditing, evaluation, and planning
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)
• Emission credits
• Environmental justice
• Multimedia initiatives
• Offshore enforcement initiatives
• Oil and gas exploration and production operations
• Oil Pollution Act (OPA)
• Potentially responsible party (PRP) committee organization and management
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
• State programs
• Superfund reimbursement
• Supplement or beneficial environmental projects
• Voluntary remediation program agreements
• Wetland mitigation and banking
• Wetlands and coastal use

Litigation

Ordinary operations still carry the risk of lawsuits regardless of strong efforts to control environmental hazards and the existence of well-documented compliance programs. Our environmental and toxic torts trial attorneys have experience that includes:

• Citizen suits alleging violations and damages as a result of violations
• Defense of asbestos litigation on behalf of manufacturers, suppliers, and premises owners
• Enforcement actions—administrative, civil, or criminal—by governmental agencies claiming violations of regulations or permits
• Individual or small group suits claiming personal injury and property damage due to exposures to chemicals released to air, land, or water
• Mass tort and class action suits claiming personal injuries and property damage resulting from releases of chemicals or other toxic substances
• Private party cost recovery claims involving hazardous substance releases
• Products liability suits claiming injury to people or property
• Suits by property owners claiming that past operations resulted in contamination of the site
• Suits claiming injury in the workplace from exposure to chemicals or other toxic materials

Damage Claims

We routinely address oilfield property damage disputes, including:

• Claims for delay in construction
• Claims for destruction of wetlands
• Environmental claims
• Oil well liens and claims
• Oilfield anti-indemnity statutes
• Oilfield property restoration claims
• Plant shutdowns and lost production claims
• Property damage claims
• Seismic trespass claims
• Well blowout claims

Property Disputes

We have handled property disputes of all types in the energy industry, including:

• Boundary disputes
• Expropriation suits
• Pipeline right-of-way/servitude disputes
• Title and survey disputes
• Trespass claims

Other Commercial Disputes

We have experience in other commercial disputes that arise in the energy industry, including:

• Ad valorem/severance tax litigation
• Construction claims
• Gas marketing and trading litigation
• Gas plant operational claims
• Insurance claims
• Oil and gas lien disputes
• Pricing disputes under the Natural Gas Policy Act (NGPA)
• Regulatory compliance disputes
• Shareholder valuation matters

Water

Our attorneys have significant experience in environmental water law issues. The following is a description of our experience in certain specific water law programs, and some of our more recent noteworthy matters illustrating the experience of our environmental and toxic tort attorneys in specific areas.

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program

Whether assisting clients in matters related to general or specific permits, our attorneys have significant experience in working with federal and state agencies, from the initial permitting process to enforcement and litigation. NPDES permits are industry-specific, and our attorneys have the experience to handle any type of permit—barge cleaning operations, boat petroleum storage, production and development operations, oilfield service companies, and natural gas distribution, storage, fractionation, and sweetening facilities.

Some of the most important point-source categories in the Gulf of Mexico region include exploration for and production of oil and natural gas. Some standards call for the best-available technology, such as stormwater separators, which are based upon studies of relevant industries, and others are best professional judgment, which are derived from the judgment of regulators in individual cases. Special testing procedures, including whole effluent testing, are being phased into permits for toxic substances in Louisiana. Our attorneys are knowledgeable about the variance and delayed compliance schedules that may be available to our clients.

We have experience in helping clients navigate the entire NPDES program, including:

• Counseling clients on new and modified NPDES permit applications, including oversight on technical reports
• Defending against citizen suits
• Defending enforcement actions—administrative, civil, or criminal—by state and federal agencies claiming permit or regulatory violations
• Defending permits in administrative and judicial forums
• Evaluating and auditing compliance by advising on periodic self-reporting of sampling and test results on discharge monitoring reports for new and existing pollutants
• Negotiating with state and federal agencies
• Taking administrative appeals of agency permit and enforcement decisions

Stormwater Permits

Most states with NPDES primacy have established general permit programs for stormwater discharges. These general permits cover industrial discharges, construction discharges, and discharges from various-sized municipal separate stormwater sewer systems. Normally, a discharger need only send a Notice of Intent to be covered under the general permit. Individual applications may also be needed, and we are experienced in obtaining multi-sector permits issued by the EPA for various industries. We can assist clients with stormwater pollution prevention plans, record-keeping, self-reporting, and legal supervision of technical plans for the structural refinements used to minimize the discharges.

Oil Pollution Act (OPA) 311

The Oil Pollution Act imposes liability on the owner, operator, or demised charterer of a vessel that spills oil in navigable waters, the exclusive economic zone, or shoreline of the United States. Jones Walker represents clients deemed responsible parties in OPA actions where hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake for clean-up costs, as well as natural resource damages and private damages. Our attorneys are familiar with all aspects of maritime pollution incidents, including response and investigation, and have advised clients regarding federal and state administrative and regulatory proceedings, and other actions involving the defense of companies charged as responsible parties under the OPA.

Wetlands—Section 404 Permits

The CWA's Section 404 wetlands permitting process administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has had its fair amount of controversy. Jones Walker's attorneys have represented a wide cross-section of clients who find themselves embroiled in the Section 404 process. We have substantial experience with the federal wetlands program under Section 404 of the CWA and comparable state programs. Projects requiring Section 404 wetlands permits typically must also address the requirements of other federal and state environmental statutes, such as the CWA, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and may encounter endangered species or historic preservation issues. Coordination with state and federal resource agencies is the primary approach. Where such coordination does not successfully resolve our clients' issues, we also have successfully filed court challenges to certain regulatory requirements or policies, helping to shape the programs themselves to our clients' interests.

Obtaining wetlands permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a wide range of development projects has been a mainstay of the firm's wetlands practice. Projects we have worked on include planned communities, shopping malls, golf courses, industrial developments, mining operations and even a family farm. We have represented developers and builders, major industrial corporations, governmental entities and individuals, seeking to produce consistency of results in a system administered by largely autonomous Corps districts.

Safe Drinking Water Act

We represent a variety of clients regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and its state counterparts, including industrial and commercial entities that qualify as non-community public water suppliers, and companies engaged in underground injection. Our representation encompasses defense of compliance and enforcement actions in the administrative and judicial contexts, negotiating administrative consent orders, and assurances of compliance from regulatory authorities. Our attorneys have relied on their experience under the SDWA in successfully defending compliance and class action/mass tort litigation arising out of the alleged contamination of water supplies and fashioning frameworks for future enforcement activities arising from the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs). In this vein, we draw upon experience in matters related to human health risk and exposure to advocate reasonable and protective measures for inclusion in NPDWRs and in the adoption of Maximum Contaminate Levels (MCLs) associated with drinking water standards.

Because MCLs for drinking water contaminants play a significant role in the corrective action requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and remedial requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), several of our attorneys have notable experience in the drinking water area in representing clients served by our solid and hazardous waste practices.

Surface & Subsurface Water Rights 

There can be little doubt that groundwater is, and will continue to be, a resource of major importance to many user groups, including oil and gas producers. Consequently, it is helpful to understand the existing and possible future legal regime with respect to groundwater rights and obligations, and to give some thought to the issues and challenges that exist with respect to groundwater rights in the specific context of oil and gas operations.

Given the growing importance and use of groundwater, it is likely that there will be litigation in the foreseeable future that addresses issues, such as:

• The means by which a mineral right holder can obtain the right to utilize groundwater
• Whether a groundwater user can obtain a general water servitude via acquisitive prescription
• Whether an ordinary mineral servitude or mineral lease includes the right to draw groundwater

Legislative action is also being proposed as a result of the ongoing activities of the newly formed Ground Water Resources Commission. Consequently, it seems fair to say that we are still in the infancy or perhaps adolescence of groundwater rights development. The true identity of groundwater law will fully emerge in the future, and Jones Walker will continue to be at the forefront of these developments.

General Enforcement Issues

Agency enforcement of environmental laws and regulations can catch even the more environmentally-conscientious businesses off-guard. Jones Walker has vast experience in working with federal and state agencies to respond to enforcement concerns. The EPA currently has four national water-enforcement priorities, including stormwater, combined sewer overflows, sanitary sewers, and concentrated animal feed operations. Our experience with these agencies allows us to help clients develop a proper and effective response to agency inquiries and enforcement actions. We have experience in negotiating agreements and resolutions to all types of environmental agency enforcement actions, including complex and technical multimedia approaches. And, if the matter must be contested, we have represented clients in administrative, civil, and criminal proceedings to successful and proper conclusions.

Our Environmental & Toxic Torts and Green Law & Sustainability teams keep a close eye on new and emerging trends that are important to both our existing clients, as well as to potential new clients. From new legislation, to important case decisions, we continuously monitor developments in all aspects of water law. Additionally, special counsel Stanley A. Millan is LEED® AP-certified and is learned in green aspects of siting facilities.

Oil and gas industry exemptions under the CWA are another hot topic. The 1987 Water Quality Act added section 402(l)(2) to the CWA specifying that the EPA and states shall not require NPDES permits for uncontaminated stormwater discharges from oil and gas exploration, production, processing, treatment operations, or transmission facilities. A 2005 amendment clarified covered facilities to include activities necessary to prepare a site for drilling and the movement of drilling equipment even if these activities were not considered a construction activity. In 2006, the EPA published a final rule that effectively exempted stormwater discharges of sediment associated with these facilities unless resulting in the discharge of a reportable quantity of oil or another hazardous substance. In July 2008, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the EPA's 2006 oil and gas construction stormwater regulation, and denied the EPA's request for rehearing in November. Now that the 2006 rule has been vacated, companies are subject to the regulations in place before the 2005 and 2006 revisions.

Other Supporting Practices

General Transactional

We serve as principal outside corporate and securities counsel to many publicly traded companies as well as many privately held entities, including companies engaged in oil and gas exploration, development and production; onshore and offshore oilfield services; and mining.

Corporate

Drawing on our experience in commercial lending and finance, real estate, land use, project development, environmental and other practice areas, our attorneys represent clients in all facets of energy transactions, including:

• Asset acquisitions
• General corporate matters
• Joint ventures
• Licensing arrangements and international business transactions
• Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures
• Public and private offerings of equity and debt securities and other securities matters
• Recapitalizations
• Rule 144A offerings
• Securities law counseling
• Shelf registration statements
• Start-up and initial capitalization

Finance & Tax

We have been active in financing transactions from both the lender and borrower sides, including:

• All types of credit facilities
• Bankruptcy reorganizations
• Bond offerings
• Commercial leasing and financing
• Credit hedges
• Credit insurance and commercial paper arrangements
• Lien workouts
• Maritime financing
• Production and sales tax issues
• Project development
• Secured and unsecured lending
• Takeover defense planning
• Trade letters of credit
• Unitization and tax issues

Many of our clients have international operations, and our attorneys have substantial international business law experience, including forming joint ventures, handling licensing arrangements, and project development and finance.

Bankruptcy & Business Reorganization

We represent energy companies as both debtors and creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, as well as in pre-bankruptcy counseling. Our bankruptcy attorneys also represent clients in the energy industry when objections are made to their claims and when preference actions are asserted. We have represented clients in individual and class action disputes, administrative matters, mediation, and arbitration, and our experience has involved almost every aspect of the energy industry. We represented Entergy in its bankruptcy following Hurricane Katrina, and have represented other energy-related companies.