Stevens & Lee represents companies doing business in the energy industry as producers, distributors and consumers. In addition to our in-depth understanding of the legal issues presented by producing, gathering, processing, transporting, storing and distributing natural gas and other petroleum products, our lawyers have significant experience assisting clients with public policy issues that directly affect the oil and gas industry.

Nowhere is this experience more evident than in matters relating to the development of unconventional shale gas formations, such as the Marcellus and Utica Shales. Given our deep Pennsylvania heritage, Stevens & Lee is well-positioned to assist a wide range of parties regarding opportunities in the Marcellus and Utica Shales, which are among the largest unconventional natural gas reserves in the world. With locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic, including three offices in the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania, we are geographically positioned to provide effective and responsive legal and professional services to upstream, midstream, downstream and related service companies operating within this area.

Our professionals have energy industry, environmental regulatory and scientific expertise, along with strong working relationships with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Many have studied the Marcellus Shale geology and economics and are deeply familiar with lease and royalty trends. We remain abreast of changes within the rapidly evolving energy industry, including the regulatory developments concerning hydraulic fracturing in unconventional shale gas plays.

Industry-Focused Services
Stevens & Lee’s multidisciplinary team of professionals provides a complete range of industry-focused services in the following key areas:

• Regulatory and Government Affairs
• Environmental/Regulatory and Litigation
• Real Estate, Land Use and Zoning
• Labor and Employment/OSHA
• Construction
• Corporate, Finance and Capital Markets
• Bankruptcy

Regulatory and Government Affairs
Stevens & Lee has extensive experience in dealing with and representing clients before the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as well as the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Our lawyers have extensive experience in a broad range of regulatory matters including mergers and acquisitions, service territory applications, securities certificates and rate and service matters. Our Energy, Communications and Public Utility Group is led by a former senior regulatory counsel of one of the largest electric utility holding companies in the nation.

We also have one of the most effective Government Affairs teams in the Commonwealth. Stevens & Lee has initiated over 30 pieces of legislation introduced in the state capitol and monitored thousands on behalf of our clients. Our government affairs specialists have significant experience advocating on behalf of publicly traded gas companies in the Commonwealth. Our team includes a former Chair of the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and a former Chair of the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

Environmental/Regulatory and Litigation
Stevens & Lee is experienced in all areas of environmental counseling and litigation. We assist our oil and gas industry clients with regard to permitting (air, E&S, NPDES, stream crossings and encroachments), waste management, air quality issues, storage tank issues, spill/emergency response and wetlands. We represent clients in matters before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Environmental Hearing Board, County Conservation Districts and the Delaware and Susquehanna River Basin commissions and have working relationships with policy makers at federal and state agencies and organizations.

Among our attorneys is a licensed professional geologist and former environmental consultant who was appointed to Pennsylvania’s Cleanup Standards Scientific Advisory Board and who sits on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Council of Professional Geologists, Chairs its Governmental Affairs Committee and is a member of its Shale Gas Committee. With this considerable experience, technical background and industry involvement, our team remains current on rapidly evolving legal issues affecting the oil and gas industry. Our environmental team also includes a former EPA Section Chief.

We have extensive experience practicing before local and state courts litigating environmental claims.

Real Estate, Land Use and Zoning
Stevens & Lee has significant depth and breadth of experience in the areas of real estate, land use, zoning and commercial transactions involving real property. Our team routinely represents parties to obtain zoning, subdivision, land use and site plan approvals for a wide variety of commercial, industrial, public and private projects. Our broad-based real estate experience includes assisting clients in the acquisition, development, financing, construction and leasing aspects of drilling for natural gas and its subsequent gathering, processing, transportation, storage and distribution. Additionally, we have assisted many clients acquire rights-of-way crucial to the construction of linear projects.

We represent clients with interests in the Marcellus Shale region in a variety of real-estate related litigation matters, including mineral rights cases, requests to quiet title, quitclaim deeds and claims of adverse possession.

Labor and Employment/OSHA
With one of the broadest, deepest and most successful management-side practices in the region, our labor and employment lawyers actively manage hundreds of cases for large corporations and smaller, closely-held businesses in the private sector. We assist our clients in a complete range of matters involving both traditional, union-oriented labor law and in the employment law arena. The scope of our employment law counseling and litigation includes employment discrimination and individual employee rights, wage and hour, employee relations and other representations involving statutory law. Our trial lawyers represent clients in administrative proceedings, including those before the National Labor Relations Board, state and federal agencies and investigations brought by the U.S. Department of Labor.

With respect to OSHA, Stevens & Lee has successfully negotiated or tried dozens of high-profile, six figure OSHA citations throughout the United States, including cases involving fatalities, multiple-employer worksites and criminal prosecutions. We have conducted safety and health audits for companies of all sizes both as lead investigator and in conjunction with company environmental, safety and health officers and have provided emergency response in the event of fatalities and other catastrophic events.

Led by a past Chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, our team has appeared before OSHA administrative law judges across the U.S. and has good working relationships with senior OSHA officials in the U.S. Department of Labor Office.

Construction
Stevens & Lee assists clients in the negotiation and preparation of various types of agreements throughout the construction, engineering and operational stages of a project. Our team of litigators has extensive experience preparing, analyzing, defending and prosecuting construction agreements and claims in all dispute resolution forums, including state and federal court, mediations, arbitrations and jury trials. Our lawyers are strategically based in offices throughout the region where they know the local community, customs and courts.

Corporate, Finance and Capital Markets
Widely considered one of the most accomplished corporate groups in the region, our more than 40-lawyer corporate team has the experience and depth of knowledge to advise oil and gas industry clients doing business in the Mid-Atlantic region. Our vast experience covers a wide range of issues, including mergers and acquisitions, sales and divestitures, financings, debt restructurings, equity recapitalizations and infrastructure project finance, as well as contract, service agreements and tax issues.

Bankruptcy
Stevens & Lee routinely represents both regulated and unregulated gas companies in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. Our experience with bankruptcy matters involving gas companies includes:

• Objections to Debtors’ motions seeking procedures or otherwise altering the requirements of section 366 of the Bankruptcy Code
• Litigation over the application of pre- and post-petition security deposits
• Resolution of claim objection matters
• Litigation and settlement of avoidance actions

For more information, please contact Linda R. Evers at 610.478.2265, Donald R. Wagner, P.G. at 610.478.2216 or Susan P. LeGros at 610.205.6006.