Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP

Drawing upon our experience with a wide range of clients – from traditional manufacturers to electric utilities to technology companies and incubators – Shumaker has developed a solid practice assisting solar energy manufacturers with such operational issues as environmental compliance and intellectual property protection. We also advise venture investors looking for opportunities in renewable energy production, bringing them together with photovoltaic (PV) component suppliers in need of growth financing. Our knowledge of tax and economic development incentives is valuable to all parties involved in this industry.

What Makes Us Different

Shumaker has the experience to be a value-added partner for photovoltaic manufacturers. Our firm’s involvement and understanding of the glass industry has proven to be valuable to PV manufacturers. Equally important are our contacts with venture investors and with governmental entities offering renewable energy production incentives, both of which are solid financing sources for industry players. With mandates in many states for renewable power production to become a sizable portion of total electric power generation, our insight into the business of photovoltaic production can help companies take advantage of renewable energy portfolio standards.

Our Clients

• A leading producer of solar panels and other photovoltaic arrays and components.
• Production and research facilities.
• Other early and mid-stage foreign and domestic producers of key solar power components, from silicone to inverters.
• Venture funds that invest in solar manufacturing and installation capacity.

Why You Benefit

We have been involved as counselors to many participants in the solar energy field. We have a deep understanding of the industry, and our legal insight is enhanced by our proactive view of the industry’s opportunities and challenges. Photovoltaic energy component manufacturing has been a growth industry in the United States, but as market incentives have grown, production is increasingly moving offshore and becoming global in scope.

High levels of capacity and the current incentive structure for demand raise issues that we can help address with our wide range of contacts in the investment fund community, and by our longtime leadership in working with governmental entities that offer economic development incentives. Add our extensive involvement with the public utility industry and work with technology incubators, and we can help enhance competitive opportunities for any solar energy company.

Core Services

• Transactional counsel for venture financing of solar industry companies.
• Guidance on federal and state renewable energy incentives, including tax credits.
• Advice on environmental issues that arise in manufacturing, such as those involving conductive materials.
• Patent prosecution and litigation for solar component manufacturers.

What you can expect from Shumaker

In addition to guidance around tax incentives, Shumaker provides counsel on federal and state incentives for solar energy development. The landscape for these incentives is constantly changing, and our lawyers can find ways to maximize them for industry participants. Any company in the supply chain of panel and modular production and array installation can benefit, whether they are early stage or well established.

Our full-service capability in corporate, tax, environmental and related areas of law means that companies in the PV sector can rely on our firm as a single source for their legal needs.

Representative Experience

• Representation of First Solar, a spin-off of a Shumaker client.
• Representation of a German producer of silicone with a plant in Adrian, Michigan.
• Representation of a venture capital fund that invests in solar companies.
• Connected to the Regional Growth Partnership, the Ohio economic development group.

Our Commitment to Diversity

Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP is committed to attracting, retaining, and promoting individuals of diverse backgrounds to ensure that our firm reflects the clients we represent and our values of inclusion.  We believe that embracing differences in ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, religion, and other characteristics, helps us consider the full range of perspectives our clients face and the goals they seek to achieve, allowing us to provide more creative, insightful, and complete guidance and counsel.  By affirmatively embracing and appreciating those differences, we create a supportive working environment at Shumaker for all individuals of the firm.

Diversity in Action

Shumaker's commitment to diversity is reflected in the following measures:

1. Creation of a Diversity & Inclusion Committee to coordinate and direct our diversity initiatives. Our committee is made up of partners (including at least one member of the Firm’s management committee), associates and administrative personnel.
2. Recipient of the 2013 Gold Standard Certification by Women in Law Empowerment Forum, which is given only to firms that have demonstrated that women represent a meaningful percentage of their equity partners, are involved in the highest leadership positions and have meaningful representation in the ranks of the firm’s most highly compensated partners. Shumaker was one of only 42 firms in the country to have received this prestigious award in 2013.
3. Creation of Shumaker’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, a firm-sponsored group dedicated to promoting, developing and fostering the potential of our female attorneys, helping them to navigate a path to a successful and satisfying legal career at the Firm, and to serve as leaders within the legal and business communities.
4. Membership and active participation in organizations that support diversity initiatives in our communities. Such organizations include, without limitation, racial, ethnic, disability, gender/LGBT and age initiatives.
5. Diversity in our hiring, advancement and leadership practices, for attorneys as well as staff members, including our Summer Associate Program.
6. Annual participation in the Toledo Bar Association’s Minority Clerkship Program.
7. Annual participation in the Ohio State Bar Foundation Law and Leadership Program, a program to establish a pipeline into the legal profession for disadvantaged students from underserved schools.
8. Membership in Partners in Education, a program in which our employees serve as tutors and mentors and provide ongoing financial support to area schools and students in need.
9. Cultivation of leadership opportunities among all attorneys and staff, recognizing the importance and benefit of diversity in leadership.
10. Firm-wide participation in periodic diversity education seminars or training programs.
11. Informal programs implemented firm-wide to enhance our awareness and understanding of the importance and benefits of diversity among our workforce and promote inclusion.