Sunny Forecast for GC Jobs in Clean-Tech Industry
http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleIHC.jsp?id=1202424539325Zusha Elinson
As the hot, young clean-tech industry matures, companies are hiring and searching for general counsel that have the hard-to-come-by blend of energy business and startup lawyer skills.
"Many are doing searches right now," said Mitchell Zuklie, a corporate lawyer with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in Menlo Park, Calif., who represents clean-tech companies. "There's a very high demand because it's hard to find someone with the right mix of experience."
In recent weeks, two solar companies landed their first general counsel. Ausra Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., hired energy-industry veteran Debra Olson. Foster City, Calif.'s SolarCity hired Seth Weissman, a former software company general counsel. Ausra makes plants that use solar thermal technology, using sunlight to turn water into steam that drives turbine generators. SolarCity installs rooftop solar cells.
"We are all migrating toward this -- it's a phenomenal opportunity; it's a tremendous career," said Olson, who previously worked at Calpine and a wind-energy company.
Alternative-energy companies are getting to the point where they are looking to go public or where legal costs can be cut by hiring a general counsel.
"At a certain stage of a startup company's existence, it makes sense to bring in house some activities that were outsourced before," explained Charles Ferer, SolarCity's CFO.
This is especially true for clean-tech companies, where tons of contracts are generated by big energy projects, said Robert O'Connor, a Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati lawyer.
"Frankly, it is not surprising that when you consider the business models of these companies -- many of which are developing power projects," O'Connor said. "One has to take into account that 'project' is really a simple way to say 'a bundle of contracts.'"
SOLAR ATTRACTION
It's not just the money that's attracting lawyers to work for clean-tech companies -- it's also a chance to actually do something good.
That was a big draw for Weissman, a former Wilson Sonsini associate who left his most recent post at Coremetrics to join SolarCity earlier this month.
"To be in a capitalist organization and also get a chance to make a difference -- that never happens!" Weissman said.
Martha Africa, a recruiter with Major, Lindsey & Africa, is handling a general counsel search for Better Place, the Shai Agassi brainchild that's building electric car power grids. Africa said she's gotten stacks of resumes.
"It's not even the money play as much as the idea that they can make a living and use their skills to be part of the solution," Africa said. "It's really a heartfelt conviction to help."
Salaries for clean-tech GCs aren't higher than the market in general, but like with any burgeoning young industry, it's all about the stock options. A New Hampshire solar company, GT Solar Inc., that went public this summer is paying its GC, Edwin Lewis, $230,000 in salary. But it also gave him hundreds of thousands of stock options that would net $1.2 million if he cashed them in today, even though the stock hasn't gone through the roof.
Neither SolarCity nor Ausra, which are both private, would give exact compensation figures for their new GCs.
"We paid below market on salary, but it's really in the equity," said SolarCity CFO Ferer.
ENERGY OR CORPORATE?
With the lure of lucrative stock options and doing something good, renewable-energy companies haven't had a hard time getting people to apply for the job; it's just hard to find someone who actually has experience in the field.
"Clearly there's a shortage in the marketplace of senior management with renewable-energy experience, so you go one of two ways," Wilson's O'Connor said: hire an energy attorney or a startup-company lawyer.
Ausra took the energy route with Olson, who worked as assistant general counsel at energy company Calpine and then Danish wind-energy company Vestas. Earlier in her career, she was an environmental lawyer with Bogle & Gates.
Olson said that her experience with energy contracts, permits for new projects, and dealing with government regulators will help her at Ausra, since it builds solar thermal power plants.
Olson expects that the legal issues will be complex because of the new technology. But she also anticipates that legal challenges to getting permits for new plants will be much easier than for a traditional power company.
"Communities like to be seen as supporting renewable-energy solutions," she explained.
At SolarCity, CFO Ferer said that because his company doesn't have to deal with regulatory agencies, it was more desirable to find someone with a general corporate background like Weissman.
OUTSIDE HELP
Just as lawyers are looking to get into the clean-tech field, so are the outside law firms. And with all the pitching going on, new general counsel have to make sure they don't swing and miss.
"They all have very nice brochures," Olson said. "I've seen them."
Ausra uses Wilson Sonsini for its corporate work, Morrison & Foerster for intellectual property and Winston & Strawn for commercial work.
SolarCity was using a number of law firms before Weissman came on. Now, he's pared it down to just a few: his old firm, Wilson Sonsini, for corporate work, and Thelen for leasing and energy.
Neither Weissman nor Olson have solar panels on their house, but that's no surprise: Olson is moving from rainy Portland and has yet to buy a house here, and Weissman lives in foggy Pacifica, Calif.
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