Participants in today’s energy industries are complex businesses that regularly need to make strategic decisions to move forward in markets characterized by uncertainty and legal intricacy. Suedeen Kelly brings diverse experience as an energy litigator, regulator, academic, legislative staffer, and trusted business advisor to create solutions that are right for her clients while also appealing to decisionmakers and other interests, clearing the way for clients to achieve their goals.
Suedeen represents a variety of clients in the electric and natural gas industries on business, regulatory, litigation, enforcement, and policy matters, such as electricity and gas markets, renewable energy, electricity transmission, hydrogen, off-shore wind, distributed generation, energy projects on Native American lands, natural gas and oil infrastructure, electricity reliability standards, hydro licensing, smart grid, and energy efficiency. She helps clients make the challenging decisions they face through understanding, navigating, complying with, and as needed, changing federal, state, and local energy law and policy.
Private companies, public utilities, Native American tribes, cooperatives, startups, trade associations, and even regulators across the United States rely on Suedeen’s guidance. She helps them understand when to request approvals or file complaints, manage risk, comply with regulations, defend themselves in regulatory, legal, and enforcement actions, and appeal decisions as needed.
Recently, Suedeen led an innovative and landmark transmission project over Indian lands that earned the Native American Finance Officers Association’s Government Impact Deal of the Year Award. The award recognizes “tribal financial ventures that have a long-lasting positive economic impact on their community and tribal members.”
Suedeen is a highly recognized energy practitioner and former commissioner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). She also served as chairwoman and commissioner for the New Mexico Public Service Commission and was a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council and US Environmental Protection Agency.
I look at the law creatively so that it is a vehicle, not a hindrance, to achieving the client’s objectives.
Areas of Focus
- Transitions in Energy and Climate Solutions
- Data Centers
Credentials
Service / Recognition
Overview
Participants in today’s energy industries are complex businesses that regularly need to make strategic decisions to move forward in markets characterized by uncertainty and legal intricacy. Suedeen Kelly brings diverse experience as an energy litigator, regulator, academic, legislative staffer, and trusted business advisor to create solutions that are right for her clients while also appealing to decisionmakers and other interests, clearing the way for clients to achieve their goals.
Suedeen represents a variety of clients in the electric and natural gas industries on business, regulatory, litigation, enforcement, and policy matters, such as electricity and gas markets, renewable energy, electricity transmission, hydrogen, off-shore wind, distributed generation, energy projects on Native American lands, natural gas and oil infrastructure, electricity reliability standards, hydro licensing, smart grid, and energy efficiency. She helps clients make the challenging decisions they face through understanding, navigating, complying with, and as needed, changing federal, state, and local energy law and policy.
Private companies, public utilities, Native American tribes, cooperatives, startups, trade associations, and even regulators across the United States rely on Suedeen’s guidance. She helps them understand when to request approvals or file complaints, manage risk, comply with regulations, defend themselves in regulatory, legal, and enforcement actions, and appeal decisions as needed.
Recently, Suedeen led an innovative and landmark transmission project over Indian lands that earned the Native American Finance Officers Association’s Government Impact Deal of the Year Award. The award recognizes “tribal financial ventures that have a long-lasting positive economic impact on their community and tribal members.”
Suedeen is a highly recognized energy practitioner and former commissioner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). She also served as chairwoman and commissioner for the New Mexico Public Service Commission and was a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council and US Environmental Protection Agency.
I look at the law creatively so that it is a vehicle, not a hindrance, to achieving the client’s objectives.
Areas of Focus
- Transitions in Energy and Climate Solutions
- Data Centers
Credentials
Admissions
- District of Columbia
Education
- Cornell Law School, JD, cum laude
- University of Rochester, BA, with distinction
Court Admissions
- US Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
- US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
- US District Court, District of Columbia
- US District Court, District of New Mexico
Service / Recognition
Awards
- Chambers USA, Energy: Electricity, Regulatory and Litigation (Nationwide), 2012-2026
- Chambers Global, Energy: Electricity, Regulatory and Litigation, 2012-2024
- Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll, 2022, 2024-2025
- The Best Lawyers in America, Energy Law, 2005-2022, 2024, 2026
- Legal 500 US in Energy, Transactions Oil and Gas, 2016; Industry Focus, Energy Litigation, Conventional Power, 2020-2021
- Chosen by Metropolitan Corporate Counsel as its cover story for January 2016
- The National Law Journal, Top 50 Regulatory & Compliance Trailblazers, for moving the needle in the legal industry by devising new strategies, pioneering technological advancements, litigating landmark cases and impacting the regulatory regime in environment, energy and law, 2015
- Women’s Council on Energy and Environment, Champion, 2010
- CNBC Executive Vision, Top US Energy Leader, 2009
- Gridwise Alliance Award for Leadership, 2008
Community
- Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 2003-2009
- Legislative Aide, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), 1999
- Chair and Commissioner, New Mexico Public Service Commission, 1983-1986
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Smart Grid Advisory Committee, 2010-2013
- US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Advisory Council Chair, 1979-1981
- Board of Directors, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) Institute, 2020-present
- Advisor, Advisory Board of Directors, American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), 2019-present
- Member, Environmental Law Institute Leadership Council, 2015-present
- Trustee, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, 2015-2017
- Member, Board of Directors, UIL Holdings, 2011-2015
- Member, Board of Directors, Access Midstream Partners, 2010-2015
- Member, Board of Directors, Tendril, 2010-2012
- Advisory Board, The Perfect Power Institute, Chicago, IL, 2011-2015
- Advisory Board, Gridquant, Columbus, OH, 2013
- Dean’s Advisory Council, Hajim School of Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 2012-present
- Advisory Council, Women’s Council on Energy and Environment, 2008-2012
- Board Member, Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association, 2010-2013
- Member, Task Force on Policy and Coordination, American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, 2011
- Council Member, American Bar Association Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, 2010-2012
Speaking Engagements
- Panelist, "Washington and Ottawa Insider Roundtable – US-Canada Post US Mid-Term Election Energy Politics and Policy Drivers," US-Canada Executive Energy Conference, November 09, 2022
- “Has Carbon-Perfect Become the Enemy of “Very Good” Forward Progress?” American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Energy Transition Conference, November 04, 2022
- “25 Years with Open Accesses and Order 888 -Where Are We Now, Who's Watching, and What is Needed Next?” Energy Bar Association 2022 Annual Meeting and Conference, May 10, 2022
- Panelist, “Cyber Resilience and Issues of the Grid,” Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University, December 09, 2021
- Keynote Speaker, “Federal Government Policies on Decarbonization,” Future of Gas Utilities Symposium, December 08, 2021
- To view Suedeen's extensive speaking engagement credentials, please click here.