Law Offices of

Jeremy D. Weinstein

a Professional Corporation

Rated AV in Martindale-Hubble

1512 Bonanza Street (The Old Fire Station), Walnut Creek, CA 94596 Telephone: (925) 943-2708; Telefacsimile: (925) 943-3105

Attorneys

Jeremy D. Weinstein

Jeremy Weinstein has broad and deep expertise in corporate and commercial finance, energy trading and project development, renewable resource development, secured lending, securities, equipment leasing, financial and commodity derivatives, workouts, bankruptcy and investment fund management. He has negotiated and documented over 450 significant debt, equity and derivative transactions representing billions of dollars, more than 175 energy derivative and commodity trading enabling agreements, numerous physical and financial transactions representing millions of megawatt-hours in energy and fuels, and over a hundred corporate restructurings and workouts. Several of these transactions have been featured in international periodicals, including two on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal. Most involve energy risk management or the financing of high technology startup companies. Before opening his own firm in 1991, he was the general counsel for a leading diversified utility's venture capital/leasing unit, and before that was with a major California law firm where he represented California's largest banks in asset-based transactions, including international corporate loans and leveraged buyouts.

Jeremy Weinstein was awarded the 2007 Distinguished Service in Environmental Markets Award by the Environmental Markets Association. He is prominent in the most exciting, developing areas of energy derivatives and environmental finance, advising major industrial companies on emissions trading and mitigation strategies relating to climate change and the Kyoto Protocol, and negotiating and documenting significant weather derivative transactions.

Several transactions on which he has worked have been the subject of media coverage. He has written extensively on important emerging issues in derivatives and environmental finance, as well as on the role of morality in law, including
"Practical Considerations When Trading Electricity on Standardized Industry Forms," chapter in Kramer and Fusaro, Energy and Environmental Trading: US Law and Taxation (2008);
"Contract Force Majeure under New York Law," chapter in Kramer and Fusaro, Energy and Environmental Trading: US Law and Taxation (2008);
"The New ABA/EMA/ACORE Master Renewable Energy Certificate Trading Agreement," chapter in Kramer and Fusaro, Energy and Environmental Trading: US Law and Taxation (2008);
"Energy Trading with Hedge Funds," Kramer and Fusaro, Energy and Environmental Trading: US Law and Taxation (2008);
"New Master Renewable Energy Certificate Trading Agreement," American Bar Association Energy Committees Newsletter, May 2007;
"On the Path to Renewable Energy Certificates Derivatives," Futures & Derivatives Law Report, Apr. 2007;
Introduction and Guidance Notes, ABA/EMA/ACORE Master Renewable Energy Certificate Purchase and Sale Agreement, Feb. 2007;
"Energy Trading Contracting with Hedge Funds," Proceedings of the Institute on Oil and Gas Law, Feb. 2007;
"Applied Game Theory in the United Airlines Bankruptcy Case," Wilmott's Quantitative Finance Journal, Nov. 2006;
"Contracting for a Unified Renewable Energy Certificates Market," Environmental Finance, Nov. 2006;
"Practical Considerations Regarding Electricity and its Regulation When Using the ISDA/EEI Power Annex," Futures & Derivatives Law Report, Jul./Aug. 2006;
"Standardizing Renewable Energy Certificates Contracting," Environmental Finance, May 2005 (with Dan Chartier);
"Escape from the Island of the One-Way Termination: Expectations and Enron v. TXU," Futures & Derivatives Law Report, Nov. 2004 (with Bruce MacIntyre & Fritz Henze);
"A Western Renewables Marketplace," Environmental Finance, Apr. 2004;
"Master Netting Agreement Developments in the Energy Industry," Futures & Derivatives Law Report, May 2003;
"Examining Enron's SO₂ Emission Trades," Environmental Finance, Mar. 2003;
"Using the Emissions Marketing Association Master Agreement," The Emissions Trader, Mar. 2003;
"What's Missing from Andrew Fastow's Indictment?," Energy & Power Risk Management, Jan. 2003;
"Rethinking the Silicon Valley Cargo Cult," Wilmott's Quantitative Finance Journal, Jan. 2002;
"Carbon-Denominated Weather Swaps," Environmental Finance, Nov. 2001;
"Weather Derivatives for Environmental Risk Management," Energy & Power Risk Management, Sep. 2001;
"Inside California's Power Crisis," Energy & Power Risk Management, Mar. 2001;
"Emissions Trading: The Market as Mystic," Energy & Power Risk Management, Nov. 2000;
"Innovative Financing and Forest Conservation," Environmental Finance, Jun. 2000; and
"Valuing Private Equity Warrants on Initial Issuance," Valuation Strategies, Sep./Oct. 1999 and Derivatives Report, Oct. 1999.

He earned his J.D. in 1987 at the University of California, where he was Executive Editor of The Hastings Law Journal, his Bachelor's degree in 1982 at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Phi Beta Kappa and graduated, in three years, summa cum laude; and both a B.A. and M.A., with honors, reading law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, England, in 1984, where he was Secretary of the Trinity Hall Law Society.

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Representative Clients

example engagement: Lakeside 535MW gas-fired 2x1 power plant (representing buyer PacifiCorp)
example engagement: PG&E Carbon offsets acquisition (representing buyer PG&E)
example engagement: Wolverine Creek 64.5MW wind farm (representing off-taker PacifiCorp)
example engagement: Southern New Hampshire Carbon-neutral hedge (representing hedge seller PPM Energy, Inc.)
example engagement: Renewable energy for the NY Freedom Tower (representing hedge seller PPM Energy, Inc.)
example engagement: Noel Kempff Climate Action Project (representing investor PacifiCorp)
Co-chair, ABA/EMA/ACORE Renewable Energy Certificates Trading Agreement Drafting Committee
Member, EEI Contracts Drafting Committee
Member, Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System Stakeholder Advisory Committee
Member, ABA Renewable Energy Bar Section
Member, ISDA/Emissions Trading Annex Drafting Committee
Member, WSPP Contracts Subcommittee
Member, Western Systems Power Pool Mediation Panel
media coverage: ABA/EMA/ACORE Renewable Energy Certificates Trading Agreement
media coverage: BBC interview on international climate change policy, from Bolivia (realmedia file)
media coverage: Natural gas price formation FERC docket
practice area: Energy Risk Management and Derivatives
practice area: Environmental Finance
practice area: Climate Change
practice area: Weather Derivatives

Representative Clients

Kirsten Howe

In my law practice I specialize in helping individuals make plans, both in business and in their personal lives, that enable them to anticipate and avoid the landmines of modern life. In business, I help our clients structure their partnerships and other entities so that disputes never arise in the first place or, if they do arise, they are resolved in the way they had expected, and before they result in devastating, zero-sum litigation. I ensure that new businesses are properly established and licensed under federal and state laws, and that ongoing compliance procedures are in place. I also have an estate planning practice, with an emphasis on ensuring the proper care and custody of surviving children.

I pride myself on seeing to it that our clients receive the legal services they need in order to accomplish their goals- and in helping our clients find those very goalposts.

I have extensive experience representing small companies, including startups and non-profits, and small institutional lenders and investment advisors, in their initial organizational as well as ongoing compliance needs such, as lender's and securities licensing.

I earned my J.D. cum laude at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, in 1987, where I was a member of the Thurston Society and Managing Editor of The Hastings Law Journal, and my Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Michigan.

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Representative Clients

Last Updated May 8, 2008

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