McGuireWoods partners Leonard Marsico and Bernadette Rappold, both members of the firm’s energy industry team, are featured on The National Law Journal’s 2016 list of Energy and Environmental Trailblazers, published today. NLJ recognizes top lawyers who influence change in the areas of energy and environmental law with innovative legal strategies.
Marsico, a partner in McGuireWoods’ Pittsburgh office, has 25 years of experience representing coal companies, natural gas producers and other energy clients. He chairs McGuireWoods’ Complex Commercial Litigation Department and heads the firm’s coal team.
Marsico serves as vice president of the 18-member board of directors for the American Coal Council (ACC), the premier trade association representing the mutual interests of coal producers, utilities, transporters and coal support industries. In this role, he counsels the ACC in testifying at congressional hearings, commenting on rules and regulations affecting the industry, and joining pending and future litigation expected to have an impact on the industry.
Rappold is a Washington-based partner in McGuireWoods’ Regulatory and Compliance Department. Among her many accomplishments at McGuireWoods, she played a critical role in persuading the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to extend financial incentives for converting animal waste into renewable biofuel — an important initiative to help reduce air and water pollution in the United States.
Before joining McGuireWoods, Rappold held various leadership positions at the EPA. During her 15 years there, she was responsible for managing civil enforcement litigation under multiple EPA authorities and for advising the EPA administrator and other political-level managers on proposed legislation and high-profile policy matters.
This recognition follows The National Law Journal’s inaugural list of Divorce, Trusts & Estates Trailblazers, published in March, featuring McGuireWoods partners Ronald Aucutt, Dennis Belcher, and Charles “Skip” Fox, IV. McGuireWoods partners were named to The National Law Journal’s four trailblazers lists in 2015, including partner Russell Sullivan, who was recognized as an “Energy and Environmental Trailblazer” last April.
McGuireWoods’ multidisciplinary energy team boasts more than 100 lawyers who work across multiple sectors, from electric and gas, to natural gas and renewable fuels, to coal and Marcellus shale, and emerging technologies. The team represents 20 energy companies listed in the Fortune 500. The projects handled by the firm’s energy team represent approximately 30,500 megawatts of electric capacity with a combined value of more than $100 billion. They include solar, wind, coal-fired, gas-fired, nuclear, and hydroelectric power generation and cogeneration facilities, as well as nonconventional projects using alternative technologies and fuels. McGuireWoods received a nationwide ranking for Energy: Electricity in the 2015 Chambers USA guide.