This article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, Co-Founder and CEO of iPleaders, mbl.nujs.edu, startup.nujs.edu.
Energy law is a little new to all of us. Most of us do not have much idea as to what one can do if one specializes in energy law. At iPleaders, we created one of the most sought after specialized degree course in energy law offered by NUJS, Kolkata, and quite a few high ranking professionals and lawyers are pursuing the same. However, we have been getting increasing number of questions around career opportunities that are available to lawyers and policy experts in energy sector. What are the best jobs? What are the growth predictions? Is it a good idea to choose a career in energy laws at this point? Well, let us give you all the information you need to make your decision.
General outlook on Energy Laws as a career avenue
It goes without saying that energy sector now holds the key to human civilization. Growth is only possible beyond current levels if we learn to harness greater amount of energy. Along with the damage that fossil fuel is doing to the world, which makes it costly for every living being but especially hazardous for certain countries, people and organizations, the tremendous hunger for more energy across the world means that the energy sector is set to experience trailblazing growth in years to come.
It is often said that India’s growth story is linked to the fortunes of the energy sector. Energy consumption in India has grown at a compound annual growth rate of about 6% during the last decade. BP Energy Outlook 2035 expects India to achieve the fastest energy consumption growth among all major economies in the coming decades. The total energy consumption is expected to grow by 128% by 2035. Demand for gas is expected to expand by 155%, followed by coal (121%) and oil (118%), while demand for renewables, nuclear and hydro are estimated to rise by 656%, 334%, and 99%, respectively.
As the number of power projects for generation, efficient distribution, pricing etc. are growing, so are the complications related to their finance, compliances, viability, contractual disputes, litigation. One key driver of legal work in this is regulatory litigation as we see government relinquishing more powers to tribunals headed by technocrats who hear both sides before making major decisions that can make or break fortunes, increasing importance of lawyers and legal researchers in the sector.
Also, this is an unique sector that requires special skills and abilities, and not lawyers of all hues and colours can simply pick up an electricity or oil and gas matter. Energy laws is strictly the domain of specialized professionals.
I would go out on a limb here, and say that on basis of these above factors, energy law is one of the top 3 career choices for lawyers at the moment as far as legal profession in India is concerned, and especially for those who want a desk job. The number of jobs opening up in this sector will be difficult to match in years to come, by any other sector, by a long shot.
Where do these career opportunities exist in energy sector?
I went ahead and did some research. I spoke to a bunch of energy lawyers and figured out the brightest opportunities which have sufficient size to provide employment to enough lawyers and managers.
So what are the best possible jobs lawyers specializing in energy laws could bag? Here you go.
Regulatory Litigation – Electricity laws
This has emerged as one of the best paying jobs possible for any lawyer. While regulatory litigation in the general is very lucrative, it is especially so in case of electricity lawyers. It is however notoriously difficult if you do not have a knack for technical things that may require some number crunching. At least 3 good lawyers I know attempted electricity law litigation and advisory and quit in under 6 months. It is tough. It is an expertise which is very hard to come by at the moment, so it is very well paid. Initially it was mainstay of a few boutique law firms, but now all of the big law firms have woken up the the possibility in regulatory litigation generally and have been hiring partners who can run their electricity litigation practice. There are also senior advocates of the Supreme Court and High Courts who focus on this sort of litigation. There is still a lot of opportunity for young lawyers to make a mark here – either by working with a law firm or straightaway starting a law practice.
Power Projects – finance and compliances (Projects practice)
Lawyers who work on finance and compliances related to power projects are popularly called project lawyers and every big law firm worth its salt has a huge projects tea. Back in 2011-12, when I was working at Trilegal, by a coarse estimate I can say one third of all lawyers employed by Trilegal at that time were project lawyers. There are huge project teams in SAM, CAM, Luthra (one of the early success in this domain), JSA and all the others. Most of them have specialized practice groups inside the project practice which exclusively handled electricity practice.
Until now, junior lawyers rarely come with any experience, skill or knowledge of electricity law or anything about power industry for that matter. However, if you could show you do indeed have specialized knowledge or skill, a world of opportunities await you as you will be considered a prize junior.
What would you be doing in this role? You are likely to find yourself advising clients in building and operating major power projects and securing production and distribution business. You will have to understand and be aware of the risks and opportunities arising at every stage from conception to drawdown and from production to consumption. You will have to negotiate and draft the project documents, including Concession Agreements, EPC Contracts, O&M Contracts and financing and security documentation, Power Purchase Agreements, Fuel Supply Agreements, Land Agreements, Construction Agreements, Production Contracts, Implementation Agreement, and BOOT projects. You will be drafting Shareholders Agreement and other Risk Management Documentation and might be advising clients like National Thermal Power Corporation, Power Grid Corporation Of India Ltd., Tata Power, Reliance Projects etc. on the financial and energy regulatory and litigation aspects of their business.
In the electricity sector, project lawyers may act for state owned, public and privatized power generation, transmission and distribution companies. Increasingly, a specialized band of lawyers are advising clients on issues relating to renewable energy including solar energy and wind energy. You will have to advise your clients on tax, loan, insurance and guarantee, counter-guarantee documents, joint venture, joint operation and maintenance agreements, opportunity exploration memorandum of understanding and related agreements.
A smaller but very critical part of this is to take care of regulatory and environmental compliance related to power and energy projects, for which companies usually hire in-house teams. Big power corporations are increasingly setting up larger and larger legal teams.
Energy Policy Advisory
Public interest in the energy sector is really heavy, and that attracts a lot of government interest. Power sector, from power generation, transmission, distribution, to retailing – is highly regulated and there is a lot of policy interference from the state of central governments. As investors and lenders pour in large sums into these companies, they need their top executives as well as decision makers at every level to be aware of government policies, develop an understanding of where future policy making might be headed and ensure effective representations to the authorities that make these policies as well as those who implement them, failing which running a power business may prove very costly.
Naturally, the need of the hour are clued-in, experienced policy professional with the right links in the industry as well as the bureaucracy who may also have the ears of politicians. These professionals play a major role in bringing efficiency to India’s energy sector, and have helped the government in the past to come up with the right policies that help the consumers as well as fosters entrepreneurship and innovation in the power sector. Sometimes, it is not just the private parties that hire policy specialists, in the past the government has engaged their services many a times.
Hence, you can definitely say that these policy professionals play a very important role in the energy sector. In the process, policy experts tend to earn really good money.
While several law firms have senior partners who can play this role, increasingly clients are turning to specialized policy practices or policy advisory firms.
Oil and Gas Contracts
Oil may be on its way out, but there is gas and then there is fracking and definitely the era of fossil fuels is not getting over in our generation or probably not even the next. And the point is that lawyers who deal with oil and gas contracts make a fortune. This is again a area for specialized professionals. Please don’t indulge into the idea that while you are having your nice civil law or real estate law practice, on the side you can do an oil and gas matter on the side. It is something that takes dedication and a specialized knowledge of the oil and gas industry.
Oil and gas account for 41 percent of India’s energy consumption. The government has permitted 100 percent FDI in almost all areas of oil and gas sector that includes exploration and production (E&P), oil marketing, refining, and oil product pipelines.
Oil and gas contracts practices of major law firms will usually be devoted to providing clients with advice, representation, negotiation, and drafting concerning a wide variety of agreements for oil and gas exploration, acquisition, and production.
A key part of oil and gas contracts is identifying the matters that are of the most significance to your clients so that you can seek to achieve those goals. In addition to price issues, often there are many critical matters that must be understood, such as on-time performance and allocation of risk for unknown matters, which are usually bitterly negotiated. Typically, other important terms concern risk allocation, defining the rights and obligations of parties to ongoing contractual matters (such as joint ventures), identifying special rights that may arise in certain circumstances (such as a failure to make capital contributions or achieving earn-in), and matters that require precise definition (such as the acceptable deductions in a net profits interest calculation). This is where good negotiation skills, experience in past deal, knowledge of the industry and regulations come real handy, and good lawyers are highly rewarded simply because the stakes involved are usually massive.
Many oil and gas contracts include ongoing relationships between parties, such as joint ventures, earn-in agreements, and master service agreements. Your role as oil and gas contract attorney in these situations will be to identify potential legal risks and neutralize them. You might also have a role to play in full blown disputes over such contracts.
Oil and gas contracts lawyers will have to draft and assist their clients in negotiating exploration and Production Sharing Agreements, Gas Transmission Agreements, Farm-in/ farm-out Agreements, LNG Supply Agreement, Pipeline Transportation Contracts, Power Purchase Contracts, Fuel Supply Agreements, Shipping and Bulk Carriage Contracts, Contracts for the Purchase and Leasing of Rigs and other drilling equipments, Natural Gas Gathering and Processing Agreements, Leasing agreements for mines etc. They advise their clients routinely on development, transfer and termination of agreements, taxation, and private participation in government contracts.
Oil and Gas Projects – finance and compliances
Apart from drafting oil and gas contracts, another major area of work for lawyers are oil and gas projects which require some special knowledge and skills. These lawyers have to handle oil and gas transactions from upstream to downstream, including pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG), distribution networks, trading and petrochemicals. They may work on development, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, privatizations, finance, tax, environmental or litigation work related to oil and gas transactions.
In light of a lot of FDI coming into this sector, they also advice foreign oil and gas companies on establishing wholly owned subsidiary in India or investing in Indian oil and gas companies. Usual clients include public and private sector companies as well as foreign companies.
Renewable Energy
There is no doubt that the maximum growth is definitely happening in this sector. Although the famous cleantech bubble has popped, taking down a host of renewable energy companies with it, it has survived and gained momentum since then. In any case, the work of lawyers have drastically increased over the years and there are really few who can claim any expertise in this field. As usual, most of the work in this sector involve either finance and compliances related to projects, ranging from solar to offshore wind energy units, or contracts. Currently, electricity lawyers handle a big chunk of renewable energy matters, especially due to lack of trained lawyers in this area, but clearly in times to come specialized lawyers will be preferred if they are available.
Nuclear Energy
Just like renewable energy, atomic energy or nuclear energy is also a growing sector. Interestingly, the lawyers who practice in this area are a distinct bunch from other energy sector lawyers. Again, a highly specialized practice area that is expected to grow rapidly. Apart from the usual finance, compliance and contracts work, another major angle here is waste disposal since nuclear plant waste is deadly and very hazardous. Appointing lawyers or those with sufficient knowledge of laws and regulations to ensure safety and compliances, apart from drawing up appropriate safeguards and internal policy is industry standard.
Consumer disputes over electricity supply
This is a great opportunity in big cities as consumer disputes involving electricity is very common. Consumers, both individuals and large organizations with substantial legal budget, complain of inflated bills, faulty power supply or equipment, illegal disconnection, harassment by employees or agents who collect bills etc. and often have to move to court to get justice. As numbers of these cases grow, indeed litigators could develop a strategy to attract these consumer matters if it suits their practice.
Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Project Displaced people
Well, indeed this has opportunity for fewer lawyers and big law firms do not get into this. However, increasingly, this is being handed over to professional organizations who take care of the project displaced people and rehabilitate them according to government policies. This space is very good for lawyers or those with adequate understand of law. As these projects involves both big sums and good karma, those with a bend of mind to contribute to the society should definitely consider it.
How can you learn energy law?
If you are excited about the career prospects after reading about the kind of work that energy lawyers do and why a massive growth in opportunity and salaries is expected in this sector, you might want to go ahead and study it. Well, here is the deal. There are no places in India where you could learn the work described above as a student. Currently, people graduate from law schools, secure entry level jobs or internships (very hard to come by for most) and then learn the work on the job.
We wanted to change that, and hence introduced an amazing online master degree course from one of India’s top law schools, M.A. in Business Laws with specialization in Energy Laws. In this course, you will get the practical knowledge you may need to take your first step in the energy sector as a lawyer very confidently. With the knowledge you will acquire from this online course taught entirely by professionals, you will not only impress your interviewers, peers and superiors at work, you will truly be able to make a contribution to your clients.
If you are interested, please visit the energy law course page here and go through the syllabus.
