Hedging for New Use Cases: Battery Storage, Proxy Generation & Affiliate Swaps

A. Cory Lankford Partner

Washington, D.C.

Recognized by Chambers USA, Legal 500, and Best Lawyers, clients praise his sophisticated regulatory expertise and ability to navigate complex challenges.

Cory's practice focuses on advising developers of renewable energy and battery storage projects, electric utilities, financial institutions, and corporations pursuing renewable energy goals.  He advises clients on their rights and responsibilities under the Federal Power Act, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, and the Public Utility Holding Company Act.  In addition, he frequently represents clients in proceedings before FERC to obtain and maintain authorization to sell energy, capacity and ancillary services at negotiated or market-based rates and to purchase and sell direct or indirect ownership interests in energy projects.  Drawing from his broad energy regulatory experience, Cory also helps clients develop and implement compliance programs for FERC and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) requirements .

Before joining Orrick, Cory served in FERC's Office of the General Counsel, where he led numerous multidisciplinary teams in developing Commission orders addressing Regional Transmission Organizations, open access requirements, transmission, generator interconnection and qualifying facility certification.  His notable achievements include providing legal counsel on rulemakings to revise FERC's pro forma Open Access Transmission Tariff and in evaluating mandatory reliability standards proposed by NERC and its regional entities.  Cory also collaborated with staff at the U.S. Department of Energy to create the National Action Plan on Demand Response and its Implementation Proposal to Congress. 

Nikiforos Mathews Partner

New York

His practice focuses on representing financial institutions, governmental and regulated entities, hedge funds and corporate end-users in developing, structuring and negotiating a broad range of fixed income, foreign exchange, commodity, energy and credit derivative products. Among other things, he has successfully negotiated numerous domestic and cross-border lien-secured hedging transactions relating to leveraged loans and infrastructure transactions, as well as deal-contingent hedges. In addition, Nik has significant experience in foreign exchange and fixed income prime brokerage issues, as well as various structured products. He also regularly advises clients in connection with derivatives regulation, including the application of the Dodd-Frank legislation and related regulations. Also, Nik provides counsel on close-out netting matters and UCC issues relating account control arrangements for collateral. Nik regularly advises on the structuring and negotiation of energy and commodity hedging transactions, as well as swap regulatory matters relating to VPPAs. Moreover, on a regular basis, Nik represents market participants on the termination and close-out of derivatives and other products, including providing advice on related bankruptcy matters.

Nik is lead editor of Orrick’s publication, Derivatives in Review, which periodically highlights important legal, regulatory and other newsworthy developments in the area of derivatives. He has also published articles in several journals, including on rating agency hedge criteria in connection with structured finance transactions.

Before joining Orrick, Nik was vice president and assistant general counsel at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and director and counsel at UBS AG. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nicholas Tsoucalas of the United States Court of International Trade.

From 1999 to 2007, Nik held a commission as a Captain in the United States Army Reserve, where he was qualified to practice as a Judge Advocate. A veteran of both Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, he served as an Operational and Administrative Law attorney in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rohit Sachdev Partner

San Francisco

Rohit has extensive experience in the solar, wind, energy storage, and biofuel sectors, and has advised on numerous award-winning transactions. He is recognized by Chambers USA and Chambers Global in the Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy category. Rohit’s clients describe him as “excellent,” “knowledgeable,” “timely in his work,” “commercially-oriented,” “very plugged into the market” with a “great demeanor."

In recent years, Rohit's practice has focused particularly on project development and project M&A transactions. He has successfully negotiated many GWs of "physical" and "virtual" PPAs and tolling agreements, as well as a variety of construction, supply and other development arrangements. Rohit has also represented clients on the purchase and sale of renewables projects in various U.S. jurisdictions, as well as joint venture and other project asset arrangements. He has particularly focused on the development, financing and sale of domestic and international energy storage projects, including stand-alone, hybrid, front-of-meter and behind-the-meter projects.

Rohit co-leads Orrick’s South Asian Inclusion Network and served as a Fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.

He started his legal career at an international law firm in New York, where he focused on project development and project finance transactions across the globe. Prior to law and business schools, Rohit was an investment banking analyst at Credit Suisse in San Francisco where he provided M&A and financial advisory services to technology companies in Silicon Valley.

A. Paul Zarnowiecki Partner

Washington, D.C.

Transactions on which Paul has advised include the development, financing, acquisition and divestiture of renewable and conventional power projects and other infrastructure assets in a broad range of commercial and corporate transactions. He has served as lead counsel on some of the most innovative and complex U.S. renewable energy transactions in recent years in both the wind and solar energy sectors.

He is recognized by Chambers USA and Chambers Global, where clients describe him as "highly committed to ensuring clients get excellent service" and "very commercially minded," thinking "about his clients even when they don't have matters in front of him."