America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2006: Energy: Electricity

Chambers & Partners has compiled their independent and objective list of America's Leading Lawyers for Business based on comments gathered from thousands of interviews with clients and lawyers from Maine to Hawaii. This guide -- which is designed to reflect market opinion -- contains a view of the firms and attorneys who are considered leaders in their field.

In Chambers' 2006 review of national legal talent in the area of "Energy: Electricity," our Firm and our lawyers are listed among the best in the country.

Chambers' comments:

District of Columbia Ranking: 4

The Firm: This firm has made a concerted push into the electricity sector, and its key role in advising on some of the most significant deals of the year underlines the success of its strategy. Viewed as the "go-to" firm for IPPs, the team advises on all corporate, commercial and regulatory matters, with the market noting its excellent work with transmission credits and reactive power tariffs matters. The firm also offers a mature energy trading practice, dealing with commodities, swaps and fuel agreements. Headline deals include serving Constellation Energy as corporate and regulatory counsel in its merger with FPL Group. The team also advised Calpine Energy, for which it filed the eighth largest bankruptcy case ever filed in the USA, and 295 affiliated entities seeking bankruptcy protection.

The Lawyers: Mitch Hertz received warm praise from clients who recommended him for his user-friendly service: "He has a good depth of knowledge of the area, is timely and responsive." Neil Levy was also praised by clients: "He tries to resolve rather than create problems and looks for the most workable solution for us."

Clients/Work Highlights: Madison Dearborn is a key client, and the team is advising it on its purchase of three New York City power plants from Reliant Energy. Dynegy and NRG Energy also instruct the team on a range of corporate and regulatory issues. Other clients include Tenaska; Integra; SUEZ Energy North America; Mustang Energy; InterGen Services; Bain Capital; The Dayton Power and Light Company and Reliant Resources.

Reprinted with permission from Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2006 - www.chambersandpartners.com.