Operationalize the legal work
of the energy industry.

I have spent 40 years in the US energy industry, most of them as a general counsel. The work covers the value chain: multi-billion-dollar M&A at SUEZ (now ENGIE), including the FirstLight acquisition; wholesale hedging, energy management agreements, and PPAs at EDF Energy Services; wind turbine manufacturing at Gamesa (now Siemens Gamesa), where I defended a $1.5 billion warranty arbitration; retail electricity from a Texas REP, where I sat on a five-person management team, to Shell's MP2 Energy; a private-equity gas and renewables fleet at LS Power; and now community solar and behind-the-meter C&I projects as General Counsel of Trail Ridge Power. There are few problems in energy law I have not seen in some form.

Every legal department I have run came back to the same discipline: turning judgment into process. At LifeEnergy I rebuilt the legal function around regtech, with corporate governance and delegations of authority as the backbone. At Spark Energy I stood up four retail electricity startups end to end — licensing, EDI testing, ISO memberships, LDC agreements. At MP2 Energy we acquired a distressed retail provider in 30 days after Winter Storm Uri; that speed comes from process, not heroics. Settingstone Legal publishes that material — delegation-of-authority frameworks, closing protocols, crisis playbooks — as tools attorneys can use directly, rather than as experience sold back one hour at a time.

The model is simple. The tools are free, and I maintain and expand them as the industry changes — new market rules, new tax credit guidance, new failure modes. Nothing here is anonymous: my name is on every tool, and you can judge each one against the career that produced it. If you want to talk through a specific situation, consultations are available. But the point of Settingstone is the tool chest itself — a working set of DoA matrices, RACI frameworks, closing protocols, and playbooks that an energy legal department can put to work the same day it finds them.

• Trail Ridge Power2024–Present · General CounselDistributed solar platform — MIPA acquisitions, tri-party simultaneous closings with IDA PILOTs and construction financing, ITC sale-leasebacks with tax equity.
• LS Power2021–2024 · AGC, Private EquityGas and renewables fleet — ISDA, EEI, NAESB, EMAs; proxy GC for a distributed energy company spanning CHP, BESS, solar, and geothermal; RNG landfill JV; hydrogen and wind development.
• MP2 Energy (Shell)2020–2021 · EVP & GCC&I and mass-market retail power; acquired a distressed retail electricity provider in 30 days after Winter Storm Uri.
• LifeEnergy2017–2019 · VP & GCRebuilt the legal department around regtech and corporate governance — delegations of authority as the backbone; led the sale of the customer book.
• EDF Energy Services2014–2017 · AGCLead attorney for energy management agreements, QSE services, hedging, PPAs, and demand response; trained the team on ISDA and NAESB negotiation.
• Spark Energy2013–2014 · VP & GCStood up 4 retail electricity startups end to end: licensing, EDI testing, ISO memberships, LDC agreements.
• Gamesa (now Siemens Gamesa)2010–2013 · General CounselDefended a $1.5B warranty arbitration; sold a $1B four-wind-farm portfolio with derivatives and synthetic PPAs; BOP agreements covering 450 MW.
• SUEZ (now ENGIE)2007–2010 · Senior CounselLead counsel on the multi-billion-dollar FirstLight acquisition (HSR, CFIUS, FERC); 40+ project due diligences in 2008.