Project Development & Implementation
Our attorneys have advised renewable energy companies on all aspects of project development and implementation, including:
- Letters of intent, memoranda of understanding, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, feasibility studies and terms of reference, term sheets, and other preliminary negotiations and documentation among commercial parties;
- Structuring, negotiating, and documenting of joint ventures, limited liability companies, corporations, and partnerships;
- Due diligence regarding potential commercial parties and counterparties;
- Legal and regulatory analysis, including incentives and funding;
- Tax implications and planning;
- Negotiation and documentation of interconnect agreements, equipment purchases, engineering, procurement and construction contracts, power purchase agreements, land leases and easements, royalty agreements, financing and loan agreements;
- Federal and state permits and licenses – Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) transmission access, hydroelectric pre-licensing, and preliminary licensing, Bureau of Land
Management, Forest Service, and EPA permits, environmental impact reports and statements, and state and local licensing.
Corporate/Securities
Crowell & Moring’s Corporate/Securities lawyers offer a full range of corporate transactional and counseling services to companies in the renewable energy industry across the United States and internationally. Our lawyers handle complex corporate transactional, governance and compliance matters for large public companies, mid-sized and emerging businesses and privately held firms. We assist our clients with sophisticated business transactions and arrangements, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate finance matters, venture capital and private equity financing, initial public offerings and other securities offerings and compliance, complex corporate governance and compliance issues, power purchase agreements (PPAs), other commercial contracts, and intellectual property licensing.
For our renewable energy clients, our Corporate attorneys regularly team with attorneys in other practice areas to provide seamless and efficient access to the broad range of multi-practice expertise necessary to optimize value for our clients in any complex transaction. In renewable energy industry transactions, we typically coordinate closely with attorneys in our Energy, Environmental and Natural Resources, Tax, Antitrust, Labor and Employment, and Intellectual Property practice areas, calling upon lawyers with the appropriate expertise at various stages of the transaction to address any legal issues in those specific subject matters.
In the global economy in which the renewable energy industry operates, we find that clients internationally are looking to experienced U.S. transactional lawyers to structure and negotiate their complex corporate transactions regardless of jurisdiction or location. Our Corporate attorneys are answering this call, working with clients not only in the United States, but also across Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Asia and India.
Tax
In the renewable energy industry, taking advantage of federal and state tax incentives is often integral to success. Crowell & Moring’s Tax attorneys can assist renewable energy clients with all aspects of developing and implementing a successful tax strategy. Partnering with our Corporate attorneys, we have extensive experience in counseling clients in all aspects of corporate tax planning for transactions including equity ownership and debt financings, joint ventures, and acquisition and disposition transactions. We also have counseled clients on renewable energy production tax credits and investment tax credits, advised clients on state and local income, sales, and excise tax issues, provided advocacy on behalf of our clients to congressional tax-writers and administrative officials, and represented clients in tax audits, administrative appeals and in litigation before the U.S. Tax Court, the Court of Federal Claims, U.S. district courts, and in many state courts.
Intellectual Property
Crowell & Moring provides full service intellectual property legal services, including the protection and defense of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets in a wide variety of technological and commercial fields. Our intellectual property practice employs an integrated approach that by bringing our experience and judgment to bear on the matters we handle provides value. For example, our Intellectual Property litigators have substantial trial expertise in complex intellectual property litigation. Our patent prosecution attorneys draw on this experience to prepare and prosecute patent applications designed to withstand attacks that frequently occur during litigation. We also design and implement licensing techniques and technology transfer agreements for all types of intellectual property assets. Our attorneys regularly conduct training seminars on intellectual property protection and assist clients on design and implementation of internal intellectual property development and protection policies.
The renewed interest in utilizing alternative technologies to protect and preserve the environment is unmistakable. As the demand for renewable energy increases, so does the need to develop next generation clean technologies. Crafting a strong intellectual-property strategy for these technologies requires a deep understanding of both the technological innovations that provide a competitive advantage and also of the domestic and foreign legal framework in which rights in those innovations exist and are enforced. In this regard, Crowell & Moring attorneys work across practice groups and across offices to provide full service legal representation to our clients. Our attorneys come from a wide variety of industries, providing them with extensive knowledge of renewable energy creation, utilization and storage technologies. This is important as we assist our clients in developing and protecting technologies that are changing the way people regard the environment and their energy use.
We work closely with our clients who create and commercialize renewable energy and next-generation clean
technologies. Our attorneys have prosecuted and obtained patents for our clients across the full spectrum
of such technologies. We have also done extensive product clearance studies for electric vehicle designs, fuel cells, and power turbine systems, negotiated and implemented technology transfer agreements in solar energy systems, and enforced patents on control systems for solar arrays. We also have assisted clients in preparing and presenting patent applications concerning next generation hydrocarbons as well as handling the licensing of these patents to the leaders in the industry. Our attorneys have guided our clients in building assets, capturing value, avoiding risks, and executing transactions relating to renewable energy and next generation clean technologies.
Green Construction
Crowell & Moring attorneys advise clients on a variety of existing and emerging “green” building standards, practices, and guidelines, including the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, Green Globe, REGREEN standards, as well as local regulations and guidelines. We have prepared for clients detailed analyses of these green building certification programs. To better assist our clients, several firm attorneys have earned certification as a LEED Accredited Professional. We also have counseled clients on Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules for marketing “green” products.
Our construction practice services both owners and contractors in navigating the potentially troublesome future of striving to meet new consumer expectations for green building practices, including pertinent contract clauses, certification issues and insurance coverage for new or unproven green materials. Crowell & Moring has a long history of dealing with federal, state and local agencies in both the negotiation and performance phases of a construction project, a background that will serve clients well when attempting to comply with ever-evolving standards for green building construction and sustainability.