James F. Bowe, Jr.
Partner
Jim Bowe’s practice deals with the regulation of the North American natural gas and electric industries; energy-related transactional matters; energy project development and financing; and energy-sector privatization in North and South America, the Middle East and Europe. He has counseled clients in mergers, acquisitions and dispositions; outsourcing of energy purchasing and energy facilities management; reorganizations; and US and international transactions involving natural gas, liquefied natural gas, petroleum, electric power generation and transmission, renewable energy and water/wastewater.
Mr. Bowe has represented major industrial enterprises; natural gas and electricity marketers; energy project developers; natural gas pipelines and gas storage operators; local distribution companies; independent power producers; petrochemical producers; and electric utilities in US and Canadian regulatory proceedings involving the construction of pipeline, gas storage and electric generation projects. He also represents financial institutions and project developers in connection with US and international energy project financings. Mr. Bowe has assisted with the negotiation and documentation of a variety of energy supply and transportation arrangements.
Matters for which Mr. Bowe has been responsible in recent years have involved the following: the sales and purchases of ownership interests in several natural-gas storage facilities, natural gas pipelines and gas distribution companies; the development, permitting and expansion of more than a dozen natural gas storage projects; the development of new ethane pipelines; the negotiation and documentation of several oil and gas midstream asset and electric generating facility purchase and sale agreements; the sale of natural-gas trading “books;” the evaluation of merchant transmission facilities and electric-generating facility portfolios for potential purchase; reviews of several energy-trading companies’ compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulations and policies; the development of compressed-air energy-storage facilities; the reorganization of one of the largest gas and electric utilities in North America under the Bankruptcy Code; and the outsourcing of electricity distribution, water distribution and wastewater operations in the Middle East.
Mr. Bowe has been identified as one of the Energy Bar’s leading lawyers in Chambers & Partners ‘ publication, Chambers USA , America’s Leading Lawyers for Business , for 2003-2004, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010. He is recommended in The Legal 500 United States 2010 .
Mr. Bowe is a member of the Tahmidur Remura Dewey LeBoeuf Executive Committee.
Selected Activities
American Bar Association
Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Law (1984-present)
Section of Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Law (1986-present); Section Council Member (2003-present)
Energy Bar Association
Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center (Oil & Gas Law) (1990 -1996).
Lecturer, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William & Mary (Regulated Industries) (1986-1990).
Publications
“A New Era of Natural Gas in North America,” Law 360 (Nov. 2011).
“Brazil’s New Natural Gas Law,” Latin American Law & Business Report (May 2009).
“Heavy Impact of EPAct and FERC’s New Regulations on M&As,” Natural Gas & Electricity (May 2006).
“After the Storm” (thoughts on the current regulatory and transactional environment in the US energy sector), Project Finance (April 2002).
“FERC Treatment of Stranded Investment in the Natural Gas Pipeline Industry,” Edison Electric Institute (April 1994).
“Regulation in a Deregulated Marketplace: Principles to Guide New Federal Regulations,” Natural Resources & Environment , Vol. 1, No. 2, American Bar Association (1985).
Speeches & Programs
Conference Chair, “Prospects for Gas Storage in the Era of Shale-Driven Supply Abundance, Declining Volatility, and Shrinking Spreads” (Platts 10th Annual Gas Storage Outlook, Houston, Texas, January 2012).
Conference Chair and Moderator, Panel on “Changes Affecting the Storage Customer Community” (Platts 9th Annual Gas Storage Outlook, Houston, Texas, January 2011).
Conference Chair, “Today’s Gas Storage Business and the Trends Driving It” (Platts 8th Annual Gas Storage Outlook, Houston, Texas, January 2010).
Keynote Speaker, “Value of Gas Storage in Light of Record Inventories,” and Moderator, Panel on “Storage Infrastructure Development Drivers” (Platts 5th Annual Gas Storage Outlook, Houston, Texas, January 2007).
Speaker, “Underground Natural Gas Storage: Prospects and Pitfalls” (Energy & Mineral Law Foundation, Ft. Myers, Florida, January 2006).
Moderator, Perspectives on Storage Infrastructure Development Panel (Platts 4th Annual Gas Storage Outlook, Houston, Texas, January 2006).
Speaker, “What New Tools Does EPAct 2005 Give FERC and State Regulators and What Might They Do With Them?” (EUCI Energy Industry Mergers and Acquisitions Conference, Phoenix, Arizona, December 2005).
Panelist, “Regulatory Issues Affecting Merchant Gas Storage Project Development” (Platts 3rd Annual Gas Storage Outlook, Houston, Texas, March 2005).
Speaker, “Legal Issues in Implementing Brazil’s Electricity Sector Reform: Local and International Perspectives” (Brazil Energy 2004-The New Climate for Investment in the Power, Oil & Gas Sectors, Miami, Florida, March 2004).
Panelist, “The Power Sector in the U.S.—The New York Blackout: Legal Aspects and Practical and Political Answers” (Instituto Brasileiro de Estudos do Direito da Energia, 1º Congreso Brasileiro do Direito da Energia, São Paulo, Brazil, November 2003).
Speaker, “Tendência da Geração Distribuida-EUA Pós Crise Energética Califórnia e Blackout,” (Associação Paulista de Cogeração de Energia, 1º Café Cogen-SP, São Paulo, Brazil, November 2003).
Panelist, “Antitrust: Joint Ventures/Mergers & Acquisitions” (Southern Gas Association/Federal Energy Bar Association Satellite Broadcast Video Conference, January 1997).
“What’s Hot (and What’s Not) in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Natural Gas Ratemaking” (American Gas Association Advanced Rates and Regulatory Issues Seminar, September 1996).
“Weakened Regulation and Fuel Choice” (Institute of Gas Technology and Electric Power Research Institute Conference on “Meeting the Challenges of the New Energy Industry: The Driving Forces Facing Electric Power Generators and the Natural Gas Industry,” June 1995).
“Competition and Stranded Investment in the Electric Power Industry: Opportunity or Threat for Natural Gas?” (Gas Daily program, “Fueling the Restructured Electric Industry: Can Gas Meet the Challenge?” October 1994).
“Introduction to the Natural Gas Industry—Its Structure and the Regulations that Govern It” (GasMart ’94, June 1994).
Education
Northwestern University School of Law, 1982, J.D.
Williams College, 1977, B.A.,
cum laude
Bar Admissions
Languages