The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.
Katherine (Katie) Gillespie has more than 20 years of experience representing sponsors and financing parties in connection with the development, acquisition, and financing of renewable energy projects. Nationally ranked in Chambers USA (2021–2025), she is a recognized innovator in the field. Katie is Co-leader of the energy, infrastructure and project finance team.
Under her leadership, Sheppard closes financing for more than 14 GW of renewable energy and M&A projects annually. Trusted by some of the largest players in the industry, Katie advises on the cutting-edge tax credit transactions expanding available investor tax capacity and spurring renewable energy development.
Katie plays a leading role in structuring and closing a wide range of complex transactions involving wind, solar, and other renewable energy assets. She has extensive experience guiding clients through various innovative financing structures. She also advises on M&A transactions at all stages of project development and operation.
Briana Hopes is an associate in the real estate, energy, land use, and environmental practice group in the firm’s Houston office. Briana represents financial institutions, municipal utilities, commodities, and energy companies in structured energy transactions and related energy trading agreements, project and infrastructure development and finance, and other corporate transactions.
Describe your practice area and what it entails.
Katie: As a transactional lawyer on the energy infrastructure and project finance team, I specialize in the financing of U.S. renewable energy projects. I advise my clients on all types of financing transactions, including project level and back-lever-age debt transactions as well as transactions that monetize the federal tax credits available for these projects (i.e., tax equity transactions and tax credit transfer transactions).
Briana: My practice focuses on energy transactional work, including structured energy transactions, energy trading agreements, and the financing of energy-related projects. A significant portion of my work involves advising on prepaid commodity transactions, which facilitate long-term power and natural gas supply arrangements through municipal bond financing.
What types of clients do you represent?
Katie: I represent sponsors who develop energy projects and sell tax credits, banks that finance energy projects, and buyers of tax credits. My sponsor clients vary from those involved in utility-scale projects to those developing community solar and distributed generation projects. My clients include Next-Era Energy Resources, EDF power solutions, Wells Fargo Bank, Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Investments, and RWE Clean Energy.
Briana: I represent financial institutions in their roles as commodity suppliers, receivables purchasers, and investment contract providers, depending on the structure of the transaction. I also work closely with municipal utilities and commodity and energy companies, which generally serve as counterparties in these transactions.
What types of cases/deals do you work on?
Katie: An example of a deal I worked on is a transaction that was named Proximo’s North American Onshore Wind Deal of the Year the year it was completed. In this transaction, I represented the sponsor in connection with the tax equity financing and construction to back a leveraged loan for the 845-MW repowered Shepherds Flat wind project.
Briana: I work on prepaid commodity transactions financed with municipal bonds, representing financial institutions that structure these transactions and facilitate long-term energy supply arrangements to municipal utilities. My role involves drafting and negotiating the principal transaction documents and working closely with all parties to ensure the successful execution of these complex, multiparty deals.
How did you choose this practice area?
Katie: I began my practice representing investors and sponsors in structured financing and leveraged leasing transactions. The market for these transactions changed significantly after 9/11, and as a young associate, I needed to retool. After trying my hand at many different corporate transactions (e.g., commercial lending, a public M&A deal, and ’34 Act securities law compliance matters) for about 18 months, the financing of renewable energy projects in the United States began in earnest. As an associate familiar with transactions where the corporate and tax lawyers worked hand in hand, I was staffed on my first renewable energy transaction representing a sponsor who was obtaining tax equity financing for a wind project. It was a great experience in a new and evolving area. This client and the others that followed were developing many projects simultaneously, which meant there were opportunities for me to learn more as a lawyer as well as increase my understanding of my clients’ business in general. This has resulted in my practice also involving strategic advice to clients with respect to new structures for financing; the role of trusted adviser is truly rewarding.
Briana: I did not have a background in energy before entering this practice area. What attracted me was the collaborative and supportive environment within the energy transactions group. The team was close-knit and enjoyed working together, which made a significant impression on me and created a positive work environment. Additionally, I found the work both challenging and interesting, offering me the opportunity to work on complex, multifaceted deals.
What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?
Katie: I spend a lot of my day negotiating transactions on behalf of my clients. This may involve reviewing transaction documents for the latest changes, discussing open issues with my clients, or having meetings to negotiate with the counterparties and their counsel. A typical day also includes many meetings and calls with associates to supervise their work and discuss important issues and strategy for our clients.
Briana: A typical day involves drafting and reviewing transaction documents, such as purchase agreements, financing agreements, bond documents, and various supporting agreements needed for the deal structure. I also spend significant time coordinating deal logistics and collaborating with others in the working group, such as counterparties and their counsel, as well as communicating regularly with our clients to keep trans-actions on track, resolve open issues, and ensure their business objectives are met as we move the deal toward closing.
What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?
Katie: Classes on business organizations, secured lending (including that under Uniform Commercial Code Article 9), and energy law. Practical training in negotiations would also be beneficial.
Briana: I recommend taking courses such as Business Enterprises, Secured Transactions, Corporate Finance, and Energy Law. Additionally, experiential or skills-based courses in contract drafting, negotiation, and project finance offer practical insight into how transactional practices work. Developing strong attention to detail and organizational skills is also important in this area.
What do you like best about your practice area?
Katie: I enjoy that every day is different. Because their roles as individual organizations vary, my clients often assume different roles in different transactions. This allows me to get a deeper understanding of the energy finance market from the perspective of those providing funding as well as those seeking the funding. I also like that it is, at its heart, a practice about building things that you can see from the road as you drive along the highway.
Briana: What I like best about my practice area is the highly collaborative environment. Our transactions involve a truly team effort with everyone focused on achieving a common goal. I often work with the same group of professionals across different deals, which fosters familiarity and strong working relationships. I also enjoy the fast-paced nature of transactional work and the variety it brings; every day presents new challenges. These transactions are quite unique, combining elements of finance and energy with sophisticated deal structuring, which keeps the work interesting and rewarding.
What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?
Katie: Junior lawyers often organize our checklists of conditions for closing a transaction; coordinate the relevant deliverables; draft, revise, and negotiate the ancillary documents; and prepare the initial drafts of major transaction documents.
Briana: Typical tasks for junior lawyers include writing the first draft (“first cut”) of deal documents, reviewing and proofreading (“scrubbing”) documents for accuracy and consistency, and drafting ancillary documents and other closing deliverables. Junior lawyers also play a key role in managing the closing process by maintaining the closing checklist, tracking closing deliverables, and coordinating with the working group to ensure that all requirements are met for a successful closing.
What kinds of experiences can summer associates gain in this practice area at your firm?
Katie: In our firm, the summer associates are asked to take on the exact type of work that would be given to first-year associates. Along with additional training programs and opportunities to observe more-senior lawyers as they practice, the summer program at Sheppard provides a clear view of what it means to practice here. There are also many opportunities to meet and socialize with others at the firm to understand our culture, work ethic, and various practice areas.
Briana: Our summer associates have the opportunity to work on active deals and take on the same types of assignments as junior associates, such as joining client calls, drafting ancillary documents, and managing closing documents and the closing process. Ideally, we would like for our summer associates to experience a deal from start to finish, giving them exposure to the full life cycle of a transaction during their summer with us.
What are some typical career paths for lawyers in this practice area?
Katie: While my practice centers on financing, there are many different career paths for a lawyer in the energy transactional space. Some of my colleagues concentrate on negotiating the contracts necessary for a project to have a predictable stream of revenue. Others practice in the regulatory space of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) or simi-lar state regulatory agencies. There are also attorneys who negotiate the various contracts necessary to build, obtain equipment, and operate the projects. Others specialize in M&A transactions at any stage of a project’s development. Even attorneys who specialize in financing can pursue the corporate/transactional side of the transaction or the very necessary tax practice. Many of the lawyers I work with have specialized experience in one or more of these areas.
Briana: There are many career paths for lawyers in the energy space. Attorneys may work at law firms serving as outside counsel to energy clients or move in-house to serve as counsel for energy companies, utilities, or financial institutions in this space. Additionally, there are opportunities for regulatory work, including positions at agencies such as the FERC or a state public utility commission. Some lawyers pursue careers in policy, compliance, or project development roles within the broader energy and infrastructure industry.