Describe your career trajectory.
After college and armed with a wide curiosity about the world, I worked on human rights and development issues within various international institutions in Geneva, Switzerland. Far from home and wrestling with complex politics and the time it takes to move the needle, I soon steered homeward to focus on an underlying, native-to-Minnesota component of those broad themes: where our food and energy come from.
In the late 90s, the band of visionaries working on renewable energy and climate change was small, but these mentors welcomed me into the fold with open arms and continue to inspire and guide me today. For seven years, I helped to build Great Plains Institute (GPI), a nonprofit that aims to bring diverse stakeholders together to find common ground between disparate interests and new opportunities for the region, and then to build long-term energy and climate plans from there. After several years, I grew increasingly interested in the technological solutions and what it takes to get real projects in the ground. I took a sabbatical to pursue a policy degree and learn from the team at Princeton working on carbon mitigation, and then eventually left GPI to pursue a law degree at the University of Minnesota—all with an aim to get more involved in the development and implementation of renewable energy projects.
What keeps you practicing in the energy space?
As a lawyer for renewable energy clients, I see how hard people work to continuously address new concerns facing the industry. They develop more diverse and creative energy storage solutions to improve dispatchability; implement advanced radar detection technology on wind turbines reducing light pollution without compromising aircraft safety; demonstrate multi-use strategies on solar farms that also yield important agricultural products and an array of environmental benefits; and create new policy innovations that update the regulatory compact with electric utilities and modernize the electric grid. I find developments such as these both fascinating and encouraging.
I’m not sure whether my curiosity led me to this industry or if being here has enhanced my curiosity—perhaps both—but it is a place where there is forevermore something new to learn.
Why did you choose to move your practice to Husch Blackwell?
Change is invigorating and can improve your understanding of your purpose and place. I had long heard about the positive and innovative culture at Husch Blackwell, but it wasn’t until the firm announced it was opening a Minneapolis office that I saw a real opportunity for my practice. The firm’s nationwide footprint and breadth of knowledge—including an unusually pragmatic and commercial sensibility thanks the number of Energy attorneys with in-house experience—ensure clients have access to highly efficient and capable resources for their particular projects.
I also was intrigued that business professionals serve alongside lawyers in the firm’s leadership positions. Such a structure enables the firm to take risks, pursue opportunities, get out in front of technology, and course correct quickly when necessary, all of which support a rapidly growing and changing practice.
How does Husch Blackwell support your practice?
It is exciting to be at a firm with so much momentum, but it also feels necessary. The volume and pace with which work in the industry is growing demands that firms also keep up, adding and deepening the bench to better support client needs. In order to attract top talent, Husch Blackwell has made some strategic decisions, including creating a virtual office, The Link, which allows lawyers to work remotely from anywhere. The firm also leverages attorneys outside the core energy team to help navigate new opportunities and requirements created by the Inflation Reduction Act that are becoming central to energy transactions.
What is one thing that makes Husch Blackwell uncommon?
The collegiality and level of trust is surprising—maybe even shocking—for a firm this large. It can be a gamechanger in the practice of law. I’m still new here but am grateful that we can put our heads together openly and candidly to address challenges, which clears the path for us to produce our best work.