Law Times

PAGE 10 FOCUS APRIL 7, 2008 / LAW TIMES able energy projects, firms across the country are drawing on the experience of multidisciplinary teams. That means lawyers spe- cializing in areas as diverse as tax, intellectual property, and environmental law are helping to move projects forward more efficiently. Ron Stuber, a partner with Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Vancouver, says while his firm has had a large energy law group for quite some time, with the advent of more deal-flow in renewable energy projects in recent years, "we're just seeing the benefits of working on projects with a team that's not necessarily all in one office and comprised of members with the right specialties to help clients," he says. In the last couple of years, the energy group identified the need to look at how they were dealing Use of multidisciplinary teams move projects along W BY HELEN BURNETT Law Times ith the range of com- plex issues involved in energy and renew- with the development and financ- ing of projects, he says, which involve many aspects and require different skill sets. On an independent power project, for example, the firm can typically assist clients on both the development and financing sides. The development side would involve real estate, environmental, and aboriginal law. If public companies get involved, there are also poten- tially securities law issues, and on the financing side, banking, regulatory, and tax lawyers will join the project. On the development side, law- Zacher_Energy Regulation in Ontario 4/2/08 2:18 PM Page 1 yers with commercial skills need to be familiar with the contracts that have to be entered into in order to construct and operate a power project, as well as the inves- tor side, which boils down to risk allocation, says Stuber. "All these different skill sets . . . these are things that clients need advice on, but they don't need it in isolation. They need it in a way that relates to the par- ticular nature of a project that is in Ontario. On that one, lawyers from Vancouver worked on the financing, credit, and security documentation; Calgary lawyers dealt with the lending group; and Ontario lawyers dealt with the real estate, regulatory, and environmental issues. Don Greenfield, co-leader The stage at which different specialities are brought in de- pends on the client's needs, says Ron Stuber. a special-purpose entity," he says. Examples of multidisciplinary projects that Stuber's firm is working on include the first offshore wind farm to be pro- posed in Canada, near British Columbia, and recently complet- ed financing on a power project of the energy group at Bennett Jones LLP, says that his firm has used multidisciplinary teams for energy projects for some time. With renewable energy projects, he says that things are not drastically different. In the area of project devel- there is an added opment, emphasis on regulatory approv- als. "There are some new issues that obviously come up: the reg- ulatory approval process might be slightly different; there might be other considerations having to do with the reliability of the technology. If it's a technology that hasn't been commercially tested, that adds risk that can be partly mitigated," he says. Greenfield notes that this area is just a variation on a theme. Something that is energy becoming increasingly important in the cur- rent legislative context, in terms of generating emissions credits and how those get dealt with, which is a new sub-area of practice that is developing, he says. With respect to renewable- projects, lawyers are often dealing with relatively new technologies, and this is an area where energy lawyers may have to look to their colleagues in intellectual property in particu- lar for advice, he says. "If, in fact, you are relying on a relatively new technology, one of the things, for example, will be to make sure that the project developer actually has the right to use the technology and that it's got the appropriate legal pro- tections," Greenfield says. This could involve licensing agreements, or ensuring the prop- er steps have been taken to get a patent, he says, which is also true in conventional energy projects. "Renewable energy projects aren't much different from other sophisticated energy projects in that regard," he says. The advantage of having a multidisciplinary team is a larger number of knowledgeable and specialized people on a team, rather than one or two general- ists, he says. "You're getting deeper and narrower knowledge from more lawyers," he says. The stage at which the dif- Glenn Zacher and Patrick Duffy Original author: The Honourable Mr. Justice David M. Brown Shedding light on the complex legislative and regulatory framework governing the Ontario natural gas and electricity industries Taken over by energy law practitioners, Glenn Zacher and Patrick Duffy of Stikeman Elliott, with original material by The Honourable Mr. Justice David M. Brown, Energy Regulation in Ontario is your most authoritative source for gaining an understanding of the laws, regulations and policy directives governing the Ontario energy market and industry. 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Prices subject to change without notice, and to applicable taxes. LT040708 www.lawtimesnews.com ferent specialities are brought into the process ultimately depends on the needs of the client, says Stuber. "We try and identify or have people on our team who are used to dealing with these issues, rather than just finding any par- ticular tax lawyer or real estate lawyer, who often . . . do a whole host of other things other than working on energy proj- ects," he says. "It's often a matter of man- aging the process and keeping it in context of what the client is looking for . . . project devel- opment and financing, and I think we always keep both in mind because you have to have an appreciation of what lenders are willing to accept in terms of the risk that is left with the project," he says. As renewable energy is a grow- ing area, says Stuber, one issue is getting lawyers in other sectors to focus and learn about the energy sector as opposed to more general work that they might otherwise engage in. Issues for the senior lawyer in charge of a multidisciplinary team, says Greenfield, include identifying who you need and trying to synthesize and co-ordi- nate information and steps in the transaction and making sure you're getting the right contribu- tions from the right people. The feedback from clients on this approach has been very positive, says Stuber, in terms of having the right people available on a timely basis, as opposed to bringing in the expertise more generally or not based on how it fits into an energy project. Clients also find it more efficient, as there is a small core team to call on more quickly. LT

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