Schnader’s Energy Practice Group is a diverse, cross-departmental team of attorneys designed to serve the needs of clients in the ever-expanding, continually developing global energy industry. Combining a wide range of expertise from Schnader’s Business Services and Litigation departments, Schnader’s attorneys can offer guidance, insight and counsel in corporate, finance, transactional and regulatory matters, as well as dispute resolution and litigation, for domestic and international energy clients.
Schnader has a long history of representing clients with energy interests. As early as 1938, one of the Firm’s founders, William A. Schnader, was representing clients in litigation regarding the regulation of oil by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Throughout the Firm’s early years, our attorneys were involved in substantial litigation regarding a variety of matters, including the regulation of rates set by utilities, mining disputes, the sale of energy from suppliers to distributors or between generating entities, and environmental remediation resulting from energy production. Schnader has long assisted energy companies with transactional matters as well, including issues related to labor and employment, taxation, intellectual property, corporate law, contractual matters, and securities law.
As the business of energy has changed and evolved, Schnader’s Energy Practice has evolved as well. Our attorneys are capable of addressing the needs of clients engaged in all phases of the energy business. We have handled matters for independent power producers and generators, processors, transporters, and distributors of various forms of energy, including oil, gas, coal and electricity. Our clients have also included the array of different service companies that support these companies, from manufacturers of equipment to financial institutions.
Our attorneys have worked on matters related to the operations-side of the business – including the representation of lessees and lessors with regard to negotiation and litigation of leases for Marcellus Shale, advising a client on the development of a new coal-fired plant in West Virginia, successfully guiding an alternative energy company through a critical financing deal, assisting clients with the negotiation and litigation of oil and gas lease matters, and counseling clients on drilling opportunities.
Schnader represents businesses with regard to the development, siting and financing of a wide variety of projects, including waste-to-energy facilities, landfills, transfer stations, material recycling facilities, methane gas-to-energy projects, biofuel, composting and other projects in highly regulated fields. Our attorneys also have experience with regulatory and permitting issues, and currently represent operators of oil refineries and battery manufacturers. Schnader is skilled in compliance review and reporting for regulated businesses, including environmental services, mining and industrial gas production and distribution, and battery manufacturing among others.
We have also worked on transactional matters for energy clients, including selling and acquiring working interests in oil and gas wells and selling royalty streams. We regularly represent businesses in a wide variety of transactions and other legal matters including private placements and other securities matters, stock and asset transfers, corporate matters including the creation of entities and partnerships, taxation questions, intellectual property matters including patent infringement claims and claims of misappropriation of trade secrets, labor and employment concerns including executive compensation matters, and product liability claims. Matters have included the representation of a party in connection with a $270 million acquisition of a global petroleum company involving approximately 800 sites, representation of a Spanish public company in structuring tax aspects of its corporate entrance into the U.S. wind energy market as a turbine manufacturer and developer, advising a publicly-held partnership regarding the tax consequences of the cancellation of approximately $9 million in indebtedness income, and representation of a client in antitrust litigation alleging price discrimination against a distributor of gasoline. Schnader has also advised a privately-held water treatment company regarding nonpayment of service fees for its treatment of frac water used in drilling Marcellus Shale gas wells.
In addition to our experience with traditional operational and transactional matters, our attorneys have handled numerous matters related to environmental concerns and the energy industry, including representing energy producers in obtaining permits through the regulatory process and appeals via the administrative process or court actions, challenging the denial or revocation of permits and licenses, and advising clients on a wide variety of issues relating to environmental concerns, such as underground storage tanks and mine subsidence claims. Schnader also has substantial experience in CERCLA and RCRA actions, HSCA actions, and claims for natural resource damages, as well as toxic tort claims.
Schnader’s Energy Practice Group is here to serve the diverse and critical interests of the modern energy client seeking to be competitive in a global marketplace. With support from across the Firm and from all seven offices, Schnader’s attorneys can address your litigation, transactional, regulatory and environmental needs.