The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.
Lana Le Hir represents the world’s leading corporate purchasers and developers in the negotiation of decarbonization agreements to help corporate clients meet their net zero goals. She creates first-of-their-kind utility-scale renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) and carbon removal purchase agreements. Her work has included advising on the first 24/7 power delivery agreements, the first nuclear fusion PPA, the largest PPA in the world, stand-alone storage agreements, and innovative long-term carbon removal agreements via reforestation and direct air capture.
Lana combines deep sell-side experience as senior counsel to one of the largest renewable energy developers in the world with her corporate buy-side knowledge and background in electrical engineering to advise effectively and close deals swiftly. She and her team are at the forefront of corporate decarbonization and setting the industry standards for energy justice and ESG.
Prior to Orrick, Lana was a senior associate at an international law firm where she managed portfolio growth for corporate purchasers and developers. She also served for eight years as senior counsel to Avangrid Renewables, where she was responsible for its portfolio of U.S. PPAs. Prior to law, Lana managed a product engineering team in the development of cutting-edge wireless technology.
Describe your practice area and what it entails.
I help major corporations and developers sell and purchase renewable energy credits and carbon removal credits in support of corporate buyers’ net zero goals. To do this, I help architect complex agreements and lead negotiations and draft long-term (10-30 year) and high-volume (utility-scale) offtake agreements. Each of these agreements enables the long-term revenue stream that a developer needs to secure financing from lenders, which in turn enables the utility-scale renewable energy, carbon free, or carbon removal or reduction project to be built and operated for the duration of the agreement. Because of the long-term nature of these agreements and the high dollar amounts involved ($100 million to
$1 billion), the terms are often highly negotiated and complex. I help my clients assess risk, understand the counterparty’s concerns, and craft solutions that meet both sides’ positions in a way that protects my client’s interests and gets the deal done.
What types of clients do you represent?
On the buy side, I represent leading corporations with worldwide carbon footprints seeking to meet their net-zero goals. This work includes the management of Microsoft’s U.S. and global portfolio of renewable purchase agreements and carbon removal agreements. Additionally, I represent other Big Tech, web-based companies and consumer goods companies, such as food, beverage, and sporting apparel companies. On the sell side, I represent major developers or high-potential startups that build, own, and operate utility-scale wind, solar, battery storage, or other carbon-free technologies and carbon removal or reduction projects.
What types of deals and/or cases do you work on?
I’ve drafted and negotiated thousands of offtake agreements in all regions of the United States and around the world. I work at the frontier of decarbonization and have had the privilege to craft and negotiate the first nuclear fusion PPA in the world, new and innovative agreements to serve Microsoft’s data center load on a 24/7 basis, the largest PPA in the world (the size of Australia’s load at 10.5 GW), the largest carbon removal purchase agreements to date from direct air capture facilities, and innovative reforestation agreements to plant trees and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over a period of decades in Brazil, Panama, and other countries.
How did you choose this practice area?
After receiving my electrical engineering degree from UC San Diego, I worked at a government defense contractor where I led a team of engineers in the development of a new type of wireless technology that served both consumer
electronics and the drone known as the Predator. However, after five years, I realized that for my work to be fulfilling, it needed to mean something more to me personally. After backpacking around the world and deep soul searching, I decided to meld my passion for the natural environment with my electrical engineering background and pursue renewable energy law. I spent eight years honing my sell-side expertise as in-house counsel to a major renewable energy developer where I had the privilege of learning the complexity of the U.S. energy markets directly from the people actually delivering power into the electrical grid. After eight years, I seized an opportunity to join a titan in BigLaw renewables where I could expand my expertise to the buy side and represent major corporations purchasing renewable energy and other decarbonization efforts. It’s been five years since I joined BigLaw, and I’ve found it to be my “true” home, a place where I can work on the biggest and most exciting and impactful climate change deals in the world and manage my own “business” at the same time.
What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?
A typical day might start with a client call to advise on an agreement from the counter party with redline changes and help the client understand the implications of the risks involved. I help to find creative solutions that fulfil the client’s concerns while also appeasing the counterparty. After the call, I either draft the revisions that we discussed myself or work with an associate to draft new language. Next, I might have a few other negotiations with anywhere from 5 to 20 people via Teams, where I lead the negotiations of an agreement along with my commercial counterparts and associates. Between calls, I collaborate with associates to review their revisions and get the agreements ready to send to the counterparty. I usually have one or two internal calls each day to discuss internal team support or business development opportunities or to pitch to potential new clients.
What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?
The best way to gain expertise in drafting and negotiating complex legal agreements is to actually write them and go through negotiations. You need to go through every iteration of every risk (of which there are hundreds in each document) to be able to truly understand each risk and how each side views each risk. Only when you understand each side can you then craft solutions to compromise (or fight) and help your client negotiate the best deal possible for them. My advice is to get an internship, externship, or job in transactional law and do it from the ground up.
What do you like best about your practice area?
I feel a real sense of purpose and that my work is actually furthering a greater purpose in the world: tackling climate change on a large scale. The agreements I craft and negotiate are literally enabling renewable energy to be generated and carbon dioxide to be removed from the atmosphere at meaningful volumes. While the world still has a long way to go, at least I know that I am doing the most I can by helping my clients achieve their goals.
What misconceptions exist about your practice area?
People think transactional decarbonization or renewable energy law is the same as environmental law. Environmental law is more about advising on how to get a permit to build a project or navigating other types of actual environmental laws regulating land and projects. Whereas transactional decarbonization law is actually negotiating agreements between two parties to build and operate large-scale decarbonization projects, which will then allow corporates to purchase renewable energy credits or carbon removal credits from the projects.
What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?
A junior lawyer might be asked to listen to negotiations, take notes, and draft the revisions based on a partner’s direction. Or an associate might be asked to review an agreement’s redline changes, draft an issues list, and provide a recommendation on next steps or positions to recommend to the client. Then they would get on a call with the client and partner to hear the client’s input before revising the agreement accordingly.
How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?
I see this practice area expanding to include more types of decarbonization project agreements as the race to fight climate change becomes even more imperative. It began with wind and solar offtake agreements, then hybrid storage plus wind or solar, then standalone storage. And now, with the rise of AI, behind-the-meter carbon-free solutions are being developed to power data centers. Also, the carbon removal industry is nascent and has a lot of potential and growth. Carbon removal is very different from wind and solar because there are so many different emerging technologies to remove carbon dioxide, from different types of direct air capture and engineered solutions to nature-based solutions like reforestation, enhanced rock weathering, and ocean capture. Each solution brings its own unique risks and technical challenges, which need to be thought through in order to craft agreements that will satisfy both the sellers and the buyers and provide long-term financing to allow them to come to fruition.