REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCEPaul’s extensive representative experience includes:
- Leading energy trading and commodities counsel to energy companies in bankruptcy.
- Advising energy clients on contract documentation (including ISDA Master Agreements, EEI Power Purchase and Sale Agreement, Master Netting Agreements, NAESB Master Agreements, etc.) for transactions involving physical power and natural gas, as well as energy-related swaps and derivatives.
- Advising trading company on transactions with bankruptcy counterparty.
- Negotiating and documenting various commodity transactions.
- Serving as lead counsel in the sales of energy marketing company.
- Serving as lead counsel in sales of Texas Retail Electric Providers.
- Advising an energy marketing company in corporate restructuring.
- Representing energy marketing and trading companies in mediations and arbitrations involving disputes with counterparties.
- Analyzing energy trading portfolios and positions in commercial disputes.
- Negotiating settlements involving hundreds of millions of dollars related to contracts for physical power, natural gas, coal, swaps and derivatives.
PROFESSIONAL HONORS AND AWARDS
- Named to The Best Lawyers in America in the area of derivatives law (2007–2010)
- Selected for inclusion in the Houston Edition of Texas’ Best Lawyers (2008)
PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- Vice Chairman, Committee on Gas and Electric Marketing, American Bar Association
- Former Vice Chair, Committee on Power Generation and Marketing, Energy Bar Association
- Member, Board of Trustees, Houston Grand Opera
- Member, Board of Directors, Lupus Foundation of America, Inc., Texas Gulf Coast Chapter
RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- Co-author, ”Major Energy Users,” Ch. 57, Energy Law & Transactions (Muchow & Mogel eds.)
- Co-author, “Physical Supply Contracts Under Bankruptcy Code,” Law360, Bankruptcy Section (February 25, 2009)
- Author, “Court Determines Commodity Supply Contract is not Swap Agreement Under Bankruptcy Code,” Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law (October/November 2007)
- Author, “Energy Restructuring And Creditors’ Rights,” Law360, Bankruptcy Section (January 29, 2007)
- Co-author, “Energy Trading Bankruptcies and Their Lingering Effects,” American Bar Association Energy Committees Newsletter (May 2007)
- Co-author, “A Jurisdictional Clash Over Electricity Transmission: Northern States Power v. FERC,” 20 Energy L.J. 205 (1999)
- Co-author, “Takings and Beyond: Implications for Regulation,” 19 Energy L.J. 25 (1998)
- Author, “Natural Gas Bypass and the Antitrust Laws in a Brave New (Post Order No. 636) World,” 82 Va. L. Rev. 1021 (1996)
- Speaker, Webinar: “Counterparty Rights in the Lehman Bankruptcy” (October 23, 2008)
- Speaker, Gas and Power Institute (September 4–5, 2008)
- Speaker, Carbon Trade, Finance and Trends Conference (June 13, 2008)
- Speaker, Energy in the Southeast Conference (June 12–13, 2008)
- Speaker, Oil, Gas and Energy Law Conference (May 1–2, 8–9 and June 26–27, 2008)
- Speaker, ACI’s Derivatives Boot Camp (November 5–6, 2007)