With a background at the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), Dakota advises clients on complex energy regulatory matters.
Dakota’s primary focus is general energy regulatory work for power generation companies, retail electric providers, and qualified scheduling entities. He represents clients before the PUCT and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and provides guidance on a number of regulatory matters he worked with frequently as a PUCT attorney. Dakota also serves as local regulatory counsel for various transactions in the energy industry, often serving as the only regulatory attorney involved in a deal.
In addition to his electricity work, Dakota represents real estate clients on water utility matters before the PUCT. These are primarily proceedings related to a change in service territories, which requires an application with the PUCT.
Although Dakota has been with the firm since 2022, he began his career at the PUCT, where he served as a managing attorney, representing the Commission as lead counsel and overseeing a team of staff attorneys. It’s a background that means he knows the system and the regulations backwards and forwards, and the experience gave him a broad perspective on the energy industry and energy’s role as a public utility. Dakota understands both the public interest side of energy as well as the private value of power generation, and he aims to help clients achieve both of these goals.
Dakota is known for his responsiveness, his sound advice, and his knowledge of both the law and the Texas energy community. Not only does he know the regulations, he knows the people, including the rule makers and the attorneys on the other side of the table: Dakota’s time at the PUCT introduced him to most of the main players in Texas energy, a network he draws on today to help get clients’ matters quickly across the finish line.