Infrastructure

The pending infrastructure initiative of the United States is expected to result in substantial public investment in telecommunications, renewable energy and transportation infrastructure. These investments, coupled with the nation's well documented need for substantially more infrastructure development, will create opportunities and challenges for infrastructure-related businesses, including energy utilities, telecommunications carriers, local governments and wind developers.

To help businesses and others take full advantage of these infrastructure-related opportunities and meet any resulting challenges, Moss & Barnett has created an infrastructure practice group. This practice group brings together a variety of disciplines at Moss & Barnett to create a cohesive multi disciplinary team that will provide businesses with the efficient state-of-the-art representation required to deal with the broad spectrum of often complex infrastructure related issues.

Our infrastructure team brings together a wealth of experience and expertise from across the firm, including the well-recognized experience of our telecommunications and energy practice group. The team includes some of Minnesota's leading attorneys in areas such as telecommunications, energy, environmental law, real estate, intellectual property, commercial transactions and construction litigation.

Our team includes attorneys who have extensive experience representing (i) telecommunications carriers and public utilities in an array of state certification and permitting processes; (ii) wireless carriers in the acquisition of cell tower sites; (iii) businesses in pollution control agency and environmental protection agency investigations; and (iv) a broad spectrum of lenders, investors, municipalities, contractors and others involved in the construction, development or use of public or quasi-public infrastructure.

Our attorneys include former assistant attorneys general, city attorneys, planning commissioners, and even a current city mayor. With this experience, we have developed a thorough understanding of the inner workings of the government agencies with which our clients must deal, in addition to our unparalleled understanding of the law.

As a result, our team provides strategic advice and representation that benefits from an in-depth understanding of the public advocates and decision-makers who often play critical roles deploying or resolving issues related to infrastructure.

We advise clients on virtually every aspect of their business from project development to financing, implementation and operation. We also provide regulatory advice, handle environmental permitting and represent clients in both administrative and judicial litigation.

Whether a client's business objective is the construction of new power generation facilities that rely upon wind, natural gas, coal or nuclear, wireless infrastructure projects, power transmission and distribution lines and related facilities, or the ongoing governmental regulation of gas, electric or telephone utilities, we will use our depth and breadth of knowledge and experience to help make your project successful.

Moss & Barnett's Infrastructure Practice Group brings together an interdisciplinary team to provide comprehensive service to our clients on all phases of projects. Our clients benefit from our extensive and varied experience in the industrial, commercial, financial and political issues that are inherent in the development, financing, construction and operation of infrastructure projects. We have experience in the following areas:

Development of municipal WiFi systems
Development and regulation of cable television systems
Condemnation and otherwise acquiring real estate interests, including rights of way and other easements, for public utilities
Acquisition, development and expansion of wireless facilities, including cell sites and switching stations
Permitting for wireless and wireline facilities, including right of way permits and zoning approval
Regulation of public utility rates and facilities, which includes obtaining certificates of need as well as site permits and route permits for generation and transmission facilities
Negotiating and structuring joint ventures, limited partnerships, limited liability corporations and other types of entities
Negotiating and preparing project-related agreements, including engineering and architectural design, EPC, construction, equipment purchase and lease, supply and vendor agreements
Advising both public and private sector clients with respect to all aspects of public-private partnerships
Providing advice on regulatory, permitting and environmental issues, including issues arising under the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act and Minnesota Environmental Protection Act
Undertaking loan workouts, debt restructurings and debtor-in-possession financings involving creditors committees, secured and unsecured noteholders, agents and bank groups in syndicated credit facilities and examiners and other fiduciaries
Conducting litigation and alternative forms of dispute resolution

Moss & Barnett is a full-service firm that can draw upon the vast pool of legal experience in related practice areas. Our related practices include:

Banking and Commercial Transactions
Business Law
Business Restructuring
Environmental Compliance and Counseling
Mediation, Arbitration and Litigation
Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Finance
Real Estate Acquisition and Development
Government Regulated Entities
Communications

We work with our clients to develop effective and creative solutions to funding, compliance, and implementation issues arising throughout all phases of infrastructure projects. Working directly with our clients' consultants, as well as their non-lawyer employees, Moss & Barnett has refined a system that uses a secure, web-based extranet to document the status of each project, while limiting access to privileged information to ensure that the attorney-client privilege remains intact. In this way, our clients receive online status reporting and secure access to documents needed to complete projects on time and on budget. We are no stranger to alternative billing systems, and we recognize that working closely with our clients to provide the service they need is far more important than any billable hour that might result.