Wright & Talisman, P.C.

We are pleased to announce that Anna Fernandez has joined Wright & Talisman, P.C. as our newest Shareholder. Anna has nearly twenty years of experience advising on a wide variety of wholesale electric and natural gas matters.  She has focused her practice on the electric side, working on a broad range of matters involving regional transmission organizations and independent system operators. On the natural gas side, she has worked on rates, terms and conditions of service, certificates, and gas-electric coordination.    Prior to joining Wright & Talisman, Anna held multiple leadership roles during her long tenure at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), including Senior Legal Advisor and Managing Attorney in the Office of the General Counsel’s Energy Markets Division. She also served as a Legal Advisor to Commissioner Colette D. Honorable. During her time at FERC, Anna worked on countless tariff filings and multiple rulemakings, including Order Nos. 787 (gas-electric operational information), 809 (gas-electric scheduling coordination), and 904 (compensation for reactive power), as well as audits, investigations, and enforcement matters.         After graduating from the University of Central Florida with a B.A. degree in English Literature, Anna earned her J.D. from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. At Wright & Talisman, we take pride in leveraging our unparalleled FERC experience and advanced understanding of our clients’ businesses to deliver innovative and forward-thinking solutions to complex legal problems. Anna’s extensive experience and insight will be a key asset for the firm and our clients.   View more of Anna’s bio here: https://lnkd.in/e7jkGyAU

We are pleased to welcome Alyssa U. to Wright & Talisman, P.C. as our newest associate. With her rich background at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), particularly in the Office of the General Counsel, Energy Projects (OEP) and the Office of Enforcement, Division of Investigations, Alyssa strengthens our team and we are excited to have her join our firm.   Following her graduation from Penn State Law, Alyssa honed her legal skills as an attorney advisor in the FERC OEP, where she advised on matters regarding construction and operation of hydroelectric facilities and the jurisdictional status, operation, and abandonment of natural gas facilities. During her tenure at FERC, Alyssa also served as a law clerk in the OEP. She gained valuable experience in matters related to notice-and-comment rulemaking, due process, and potential enforcement actions under the Federal Power Act, the Natural Gas Act, the Natural Gas Policy Act, and Commission regulations.   At Wright & Talisman, we take pride in leveraging our unparalleled FERC experience and deep understanding of our clients’ businesses to deliver innovative and forward-thinking solutions to exceedingly complex legal problems. We look forward to the knowledge and contributions Alyssa will bring to our team as we continue our commitment to delivering exceptional legal services to our clients. View more of Alyssa's bio here: https://lnkd.in/giW3YD-R

Wright & Talisman, P.C. has once again received global recognition from Chambers and Partners as a leading firm in the areas of Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation) and Oil & Gas (Regulatory & Litigation). We are also pleased to announce that five Wright & Talisman attorneys have been ranked in Chambers Global 2025. Congratulations to Ryan Collins, Joseph Koury, Wendy Reed, Andrew Swers, and Wendy Warren!   The firm’s Chambers profile can be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/eDQ6itgE   The firm’s website can be accessed here: https://www.wrightlaw.com/   For more information, please contact our Marketing Coordinator, Alexandria Gilner (gilner@wrightlaw.com).

Wright & Talisman, P.C. Attorneys Recognized in Lawdragon’s 3rd Edition of 500 Leading Energy Lawyers Lawdragon named ten Wright & Talisman attorneys to its 2025 guide of the 500 Leading Energy Lawyers. Lawdragon selected lawyers through a combination of submissions and independent research, combined with peer discussion and nominations . Congratulations to the Wright & Talisman attorneys recognized in this year’s guide: David Berman – Energy Regulation Matthew Binette – Energy Regulation Vivian Chum – Electric Energy Regulation, Natural Gas Pipelines Ryan Collins – Energy Regulation Joseph Koury – Oil & Gas Regulation Ruth Porter – Natural Gas, Oil Pipeline Regulation Wendy Reed – Energy Regulation & Litigation Andrew Swers – Energy Regulation & Litigation Elizabeth Trinkle – Electricity Regulation Wendy Warren – Energy Regulation & Litigation The full 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Energy Lawyers guide can be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/eekZMwYP The firm’s website can be accessed here: https://www.wrightlaw.com/ For more information, please contact our Marketing Coordinator, Alexandria Gilner (gilner@wrightlaw.com).

We are pleased to announce that Mary Yang has joined Wright & Talisman, P.C. as Counsel. Mary has extensive experience advising on Regional Transmission Owners and Independent System Operators markets, transmission reform, and ratemaking matters for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Most recently, she served as a Legal Advisor to a FERC Commissioner, where she guided initiatives such as Order No. 1920 (regional transmission planning) and Order No. 2023 (generator interconnection), and generic proceedings involving transmission cost management, grid-enhancing technologies, and interregional transmission reform. In addition, Mary advised on market design and ratemaking cases under the Federal Power Act (FPA) and acted as the Commissioner’s liaison for Congressional and public affairs. Following her time at FERC, Mary was detailed to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of the General Counsel. There, she advised DOE leadership on FERC policies and helped implement grant and research programs under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Earlier in her career, Mary served as a Trial Attorney in FERC’s Office of Administrative Litigation. She litigated and negotiated cases involving electric, gas, and oil rate applications, including matters related to the rate of return on equity (ROE) for electric utilities and contested settlements for natural gas pipeline cost-of-service rates. Her expertise spans key ratemaking concepts such as tax normalization for Master Limited Partnership pipelines, depreciation of capital assets, ROE, utility accounting, and reactive power. Mary’s deep understanding of energy law and policy enables her to navigate complex regulatory frameworks and deliver impactful results for her clients. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in International Relations, Mary earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School where she was awarded the highest academic distinction as a James Kent & Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. At Wright & Talisman, we take pride in leveraging our unparalleled FERC experience and advanced understanding of our clients’ businesses to deliver innovative and forward-thinking solutions to very complex legal problems. Mary’s proven background in energy matters makes her an exciting addition as we strive to provide top-quality service to our clients.   View more of Mary’s bio here: https://lnkd.in/eex4D8aG

FERC Unanimously Accepts SPP’s Markets+ Proposal On Thursday, January 16, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) unanimously accepted Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (SPP) proposed Markets+, a regional day-ahead and real-time energy market to be operated in the Western Interconnection, which SPP expects to begin operating in 2027 after development and market trials during 2025 and 2026. Building on its success operating its “Integrated Marketplace” in its Eastern regional transmission organization (RTO) footprint and its Western Energy Imbalance Services (WEIS) Market, SPP worked extensively with Western stakeholders to develop the key design features of Markets+—a co-optimized day-ahead and real-time energy and flexibility reserves market with a reliability unit commitment process, incorporation of greenhouse gas (GHG) pricing, and, importantly, an open and inclusive stakeholder process—which together are expected to bring greater reliability and cost-effectiveness to the region. Importantly, SPP will serve as market operator of Markets+, but the proposal does not establish an RTO or consolidated balancing authority. Instead, existing Balancing Authority Area operators and Transmission Service Providers (TSP) will continue to fulfill their roles once Markets+ is implemented, under their existing open access transmission tariffs (OATT) and other governing agreements. In accepting SPP’s Markets+ proposal, FERC agreed with SPP and various commenters that the Markets+ proposal will provide important economic and reliability benefits to market participants. FERC expects Markets+ to help market participants manage the effects of increasing levels of variable energy resources, load growth, and extreme weather events in the region. FERC accepted the Markets+ Tariff proposal as just and reasonable, with minimal additional modifications and periodic reporting requirements during the development period and early years of market operation. To read more here: https://lnkd.in/dFJ8JanQ For more information, please contact: Matthew Binette, Mary Yang or Sigifredo (Sig) Perez

We are pleased to announce the elevation of Vivian Chum to shareholder at Wright & Talisman, P.C. Vivian has a proven track record of expertly navigating issues in energy policy, market design, and ratemaking, enforcement and compliance, and antitrust and market power analyses. She has successfully settled and litigated a variety of electric, oil, and gas ratemaking and enforcement matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission). In addition, Vivian has a deep understanding of emerging issues in electric transmission and interconnection policy, which she has leveraged in filings before the Commission to successfully implement outside-the-box solutions. Prior to joining Wright & Talisman, Vivian held numerous leadership roles during her long tenure at FERC.  Known for her investigative work which led to the largest enforcement settlement in FERC history, she recently served as Special Counsel to the Legal Director of FERC’s Office of Administrative Litigation.  In that position, she advised senior leadership on agency-wide initiatives and led the settlement and litigation of complex matters before administrative law judges and the Commission.  As an innovative and skilled consensus-builder, Vivian has settled numerous multi-million to multi-billion-dollar matters addressing highly complex issues of first impression. After graduating with a double major in Linguistics and Asian Studies from Rice University, Vivian earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she cut her teeth as a litigator and board member at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. At Wright & Talisman, we take pride in leveraging our unparalleled FERC experience and advanced understanding of our clients’ businesses to deliver innovative and forward-thinking solutions to very complex legal problems. We are excited to see Vivian continue to strengthen and deepen her expertise and client counseling skills here at our firm. To learn more about Vivian, visit her bio here: https://lnkd.in/drPdH69B

Wright & Talisman, P.C. Volunteer Days at DC Central Kitchen On Saturday, December 7, Wright & Talisman attorneys and staff joined DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) again for a morning of food preparation. In continuing our commitment to community service and to support the meals DCCK distributes throughout the week, we chopped fruits and vegetables, prepped food to be cooked, and portioned a variety of dishes to be shipped to charities and schools around DC. DCCK combats hunger and poverty in the District of Columbia through job training and job creation. The organization provides hands-on culinary job training for individuals facing high barriers to employment while creating living wage jobs and bringing nutritious, dignified food where it is most needed. Learn more about DCCK’s volunteer program here: https://lnkd.in/d2F2Au8 For any additional information, please contact our Marketing Coordinator, Alexandria G..

Wright & Talisman, P.C. Clothing Drive with Gifts for the Homeless Continuing our commitment to serving the local community, Wright & Talisman was pleased to partner this holiday season with Gifts for the Homeless in its annual used clothing drive.  Our employees donated and gathered bags of various clothing items and blankets for men, women, and children to be donated to shelters and homeless service organizations throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia.    The Gifts for the Homeless Used Clothing Drive, now in its 38th year, is a unique event, where law firms, government agencies, corporate law departments, legal vendors, and others come together to donate, collect, sort, and deliver used clothing and other items to be distributed to approximately 40 homeless services providers in the Washington, D.C. area. Visit the Gifts for the Homeless website (www.gfth.org) for more details about their organization. For any additional information, please contact our Marketing Coordinator, Alexandria G..

Wright & Talisman, P.C. Shareholder, Ruth Porter, moderated a panel for the Energy Bar Association’s Northeast Chapter and Electricity Steering Committee Energizer on December 5, 2024. The program, “Post-Election Energy Landscape: What’s Ahead – From the Lens of Capitol Hill, FERC, and Industry Stakeholders,” focused on the energy landscape with the changing Administration. The panel of experts with congressional, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and industry experience discussed what they anticipate will be the future of energy policy.  To learn more about Ruth, visit her bio here: https://lnkd.in/e7tuhAzY