Assistant General Counsel

RWE Clean Energy, LLC

Functional area: Legal / Compliance
Remuneration: Exempt

 

The Assistant General Counsel provides legal support for the North American renewable energy business team (wind, battery, & solar) in connection with the development, construction of renewable energy projects in the U.S. and Canada.  

 

Work will be dedicated to the provision of legal advice associated with real estate topics in connection with the preparation and negotiation of a wide variety of real estate documents required for the development, and construction of renewable energy projects, e.g., leases agreements, co-tenancy agreements, shared facilities agreements, crossing agreements. 

 

Work includes review of title documents, resolution of title issues, negotiation of title insurance policies, and related topics, together with the ability to work with support staff and developers, collaboratively, utilizing a land management database software, including interface and providing support to the Company’s real estate developers in the acquisition of land rights in the development of renewable energy projects.

 

The position requires (a) close alignment and cooperation with the Company’s Legal Department’s teams in Austin, Texas, Valhalla, NY, Chicago, Illinois and San Francisco, California, (b) close alignment with the business partners that the Legal Department supports, and (c) demonstrated ability to apply a practical rather than theoretical focus to legal issues with a view to finding viable business solutions to those legal issues.

 

Responsibilities:

• Ability to see the big picture of project development timelines and open risk to provide leadership team feedback as to project readiness.  This requires an understanding of a renewable project’s lifecycle related to all project inputs and not just real estate and permitting.
• Ability to provide solutions to real estate and permitting issues that arise rather than merely identifying the issues.  This requires problem-solving and ability to identify practical solutions.
• Work with paralegals, real estate specialists, and administrative assistants to delegate and provide efficient distribution of work.
• Expertise working with title companies and surveyors to ensure projects moving through the development lifecycle have proforma and survey deliverables on a timely basis.
• Draft all kinds of real estate documents and be able to analyze areas of disagreement with counterparty and provide practical solutions that manage risk for RWECE.
• Purchase property for renewable project assets like substations, BESS sites, and O&M buildings.
• Identify curative items needed for projects and work with third-party utilities, banks, and other parties when projects need crossing agreements, SNDAs, or other curative items. 
• Create alignment with other business units such as engineering, development, procurement, and transmission to ensure project development is on time.  This involves attending weekly meetings for projects, providing updates and input on open risks with regard to real estate and permitting issues.
• Ensure projects have the permits needed to successfully be developed, constructed, and operated within multiple states.  Ability to work with external counsel in local jurisdictions to identify permits needed and assist development team with procuring all permits on a timely basis.
• As project moves to construction, this position will work closely with legal leadership to identify and resolve risks and opine on whether a project should be approved for construction
• Ensure projects are ready for tax equity investor involvement, and work with the Structured Finance team to answer diligence questions, create datarooms, and provide inputs to transaction documents and disclosure schedules.

 

Qualifications:

• J.D. (Juris Doctor) degree from a U.S. university
• Admission to a state bar in the United States, with preference for membership in either the Illinois bar or Texas bar (either currently or by way of reciprocity)
• Minimum 5 years experience as a real estate lawyer in the renewable space. Successful candidates are (i) required to have specific legal knowledge and experience in so