For many years, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP has maintained a diversified telecommunications practice with experience in domestic and international matters. Attorneys in the group concentrate their practices in telecommunications and information services law.
CONTRACT NEGOTIATION AND REGULATORY LITIGATION ON BEHALF OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS
Sutherland has an active national telecommunications regulatory practice. We negotiated Interconnection Agreements under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“1996 Act”) as well as numerous private commercial agreements. Our attorneys appear before state regulators in telecommunications matters on a regular basis, participating in virtually every type of administrative proceeding. We have represented telecommunications companies in all 50 states and the various U.S. territories and obtained necessary approvals for a variety of transactions. Our experience ranges from the early equal access proceedings, traditional rate cases and initial open network architecture investigations to the more recent regulatory litigation involving implementation and interpretation of the FCC’s orders.
We were involved in the passage of Georgia’s Telecommunications Competition and Development Act of 1995 and represented telecommunications providers of all types in obtaining authority to construct facilities in the nine-state Southeast region. We arbitrated Interconnection Agreements before the state commissions of Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, North and South Carolina, Alabama and Louisiana and participated in various “generic” investigations in those and other states. We were also involved in contentious litigation in the region relating to Section 271 of the 1996 Act.
Our attorneys assist clients in matters relating to franchise agreements and right-of-way disputes. We represent telecommunications providers in negotiations with and litigation against customers or other telecommunications providers in contract, tariff and business disputes. We also represented a wireless service provider in its contractual negotiations with retailers acting as agents for the sale of telecommunications services.
Our representation of major business users has included a number of clients who were subject to substantial claims of liability for fraudulent calling over their communications systems. In these cases, we advised clients concerning approaches to minimize asserted claims of toll fraud liability and to protect against future claims of liability.
APPELLATE LITIGATION ON BEHALF OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS
In addition to our extensive appellate litigation experience, we have represented Interexchange Carriers and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (“CLECs”) in state and federal courts throughout the Southeast. Our attorneys participated in appeals from regulatory decisions of the Georgia Public Service Commission from as early as the landmark MemoryCall decision to the appeals of arbitration decisions under Section 252 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and including the successful defense of the Neutral Tandem direct interconnection decision.
We participated in virtually every significant appeal to the federal district court in the region under Section 252. We brought appeals to the district courts and joined various state regulators defending orders on appeal. As part of these efforts, we have worked closely with counsel for many states as well as providers of telecommunications services. Our attorneys appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on behalf of several CLECs in appeals brought from orders of the district courts of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on intercarrier compensation and Section 252 related appeals.
SERVICES RELATING TO TELEVISION AND RADIO BROADCAST PROPERTIES
The telecommunications group represents owners and applicants for television and radio broadcast properties before the FCC, including applicants seeking authority to establish new stations and applicants seeking to reorganize, assign or transfer existing stations. We participated in many complex acquisitions and other transactions involving broadcast properties, including bank financing, refinancing, and bankruptcy reorganizations.
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS
Our lawyers represent telecommunications providers in a variety of tax, business and litigation matters unrelated to telecommunications regulation. For example, our state and local tax practice represents a variety of telecommunications providers in connection with their tax issues in various jurisdictions around the country. Similarly, we have advised telecommunications providers in connection with their contractual relationships with nationwide agents and distributors for their services and have litigated disputes under such contracts in Georgia and elsewhere.
OBJECTIVE: EFFECTIVENESS, QUALITY, AND EFFICIENCY
The objective of our telecommunications practice group is to represent our clients as effectively and as efficiently as possible, regardless of the type or size of the matter undertaken. To do this, we utilize the appropriate level of knowledge and experience to ensure both quality work and efficiency. Where appropriate, members of the telecommunications group work with experienced attorneys in other areas of the firm’s practice, and, cooperatively with outside economic and technical experts, to ensure that interdisciplinary legal and technical skills are brought to bear in the most efficient way to meet our client’s objectives.