June 28, 2022
Melissa M. Rounds recently joined Babst Calland as senior counsel in the Energy and Natural Resources Group. Mrs. Rounds has represented clients in the oil and gas industry for more than 15 years and has assisted producers in a variety of transactional matters, including real estate closings, preparation of documents for leasing purposes and examining and certifying title. Her work includes resolving complex title defects, coordinating urgent title projects, working in-house with major energy producers to provide comprehensive lease analysis and assistance with mineral purchases, and providing legal analysis for changes in statutory and case law.
Mrs. Rounds’ work on behalf of the oil and gas community is primarily focused in Morgantown, West Virginia. Her representation in the Morgantown area includes working with operators to reach drilling commitments, and interactions with county officials in major producing counties in northcentral West Virginia.
Prior to joining Babst Calland, Mrs. Rounds was the owner and attorney for Melissa Rounds Law. She is a 2006 graduate of West Virginia University College of Law.
June 22, 2022
Babst Calland today published its 12th annual energy industry report: The 2022 Babst Calland Report – Legal & Regulatory Perspectives for the U.S. Energy Industry. Each of our nation’s energy sectors is impacted by local, state and federal policies, many of which are addressed in this inclusive report on legal and regulatory developments for the energy industry in the United States.
The Babst Calland Report represents the timely and insightful perspectives of the firm’s energy attorneys on some of the most critical issues facing the industry, including climate change, cybersecurity, ESG and environmental justice, hydrogen and carbon capture sequestration, pipelines, and renewables.
Joseph K. Reinhart, shareholder and co-chair of Babst Calland’s Energy and Natural Resources Group, said, “The U.S. energy industry, and the U.S. economy as a whole, is reacting to shifting market forces and potential significant new changes in laws and regulations. Importantly, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year and the resulting worldwide shortage of oil and gas has spotlighted the world’s continued reliance on fossil fuels and reinforced the value of America’s relative energy independence even as the nation and the world continue to seek alternative energy sources.”
Report Features Video Commentary from U.S. Senator Joe Manchin
This edition of The Babst Calland Report also features commentary from Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who spoke with Babst Calland energy clients at a special briefing on May 26, 2022 called “A Perspective on U.S. Energy Policy with Senator Joe Manchin.”
To request a copy of The 2022 Babst Calland Report, click here.
The Babst Calland Report is provided for informational purposes for our clients and friends and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
June 17, 2022
Legal Intelligencer
Alyssa Golfieri is a shareholder in the firm’s public sector and energy and natural resources groups. Her practice focuses primarily on municipal and land use law, with an emphasis on zoning, subdivision, land development and municipal ordinance enforcement.
Practice Profile:
Golfieri is a shareholder in the firm’s public sector and energy and natural resources groups. Her practice focuses primarily on municipal and land use law, with an emphasis on zoning, subdivision, land development and municipal ordinance enforcement.
She represents the firm’s municipal clients on a wide array of local government issues, including the preparation of zoning and land development ordinances pursuant to the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, the processing of land development applications, responses to record requests submitted under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, navigation of public bidding matters, abatement of property maintenance issues, defense of notices of violations before zoning hearing boards and magisterial district judges, and compliance with both the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act and the Pennsylvania Public Official and Employee Ethics Act.
Leadership Activity:
Golfieri is an active leader within the firm, having served on the associates, summer associates, recruiting, technology and carpetmaster’s committees. She also serves as a mentor to future generations of attorneys outside the firm.
Pro Bono and Civic Work:
She frequently volunteers as an alumni judge for Duquesne University School of Law 1L appellate oral arguments, a juror for Allegheny County High School Mock Trial Competition, a panelist for Allegheny County Bar Association’s young lawyer’s division roundtable discussion titled “Preparing for the Bar Examination,” and a coordinator for Allegheny County Bar Association’s young lawyer division holiday toy drive.
Experience:
Current employer, May 2011-present, summer associate, 2011, associate, September 2012-December 2020, shareholder, Jan. 1, 2021-present.
Education:
The Pennsylvania State University, B.S. in crime, law and justice, 2009; Duquesne University School of Law, J.D., 2012.
To view the full article, click here.
Reprinted with permission from the June 17, 2022 edition of The Legal Intelligencer© 2022 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved.
May 9, 2022
Amanda L. Brosy recently joined Babst Calland as an associate in the Environmental Group. Her practice involves client counseling on compliance with federal and state environmental laws and regulations, resolving liabilities under federal and state remediation programs, and advising clients on significant environmental liability and compliance issues arising in various types of transactions. Ms. Brosy also assists with administrative appeals and environmental litigation in state and federal courts.
Prior to joining Babst Calland, Ms. Brosy was a senior associate with McCullough, Goldberger & Staudt, LLP. She is a 2011 graduate of Quinnipiac University School of Law.
May 8, 2022
Babst Calland continues to support the Allegheny County Bar Association and 2021-2022 Law Firm Leadership Circle campaign to continue to provide much-needed support to our community and profession. For more information about ACBA and its Pro Bono Center Gratitude Report, click here.
April 29, 2022
Babst Calland Attorney Christina Manfredi McKinley, has been selected to Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, 2022 Rising Stars for Business Litigation. Only a few attorneys from each state are selected to Super Lawyers designation for any given year. The multi-factor selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and evaluations, as well as professional achievement in legal practice.
April 29, 2022
Babst Calland Attorney Gina Falaschi, selected to Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, Rising Stars for 2022. Based in the Firm’s Washington, DC office, she provides legal services for issues involving Environmental law. Only a few attorneys from each state are selected to Super Lawyers designation for any given year. The multi-factor selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and evaluations, as well as professional achievement in legal practice.
April 25, 2022
Austin D. Rogers recently joined Babst Calland as an associate in the Litigation Group. Mr. Rogers practices in a variety of litigation practice areas, including commercial, employment and labor, environmental, and energy and natural resources.
Prior to joining Babst Calland, Mr. Rogers was a staff attorney with the Public Service Commission of West Virginia, representing the Commission’s Staff in administrative hearings regarding utility regulation. He is a 2020 graduate of West Virginia University College of Law.
April 21, 2022
Babst Calland is pleased to announce that Bruce F. Rudoy has been elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (ABF). Membership is limited to just one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Members are nominated by their peers and selected by the ABF Board.
The ABF Fellows is a global honorary society that recognizes attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities. ABF Fellows hail from nearly 40 countries and hold a wide variety of influential roles.
Mr. Rudoy is a shareholder and co-chair of Babst Calland’s Energy and Natural Resources and Renewables groups and Land and Energy Title Department. Mr. Rudoy concentrates his practice in the areas of Oil and Gas, Renewable Energy, and the associated business transactions, corporate and real estate law. He counsels various clients on title, transaction and regulatory matters. Those matters are diverse and include title issues and opinions, purchase and sale of assets and equity, due diligence examination and analysis. Transactional matters related to energy contract matters include Joint Ventures, Farm-Outs and Farm-Ins, Power Purchase Agreements, Equipment Supply Agreements, EPC Contracts, Offtake Agreements, leases and licensing, secured lending, and litigation related to all of the foregoing. Mr. Rudoy is also a member of the Firm’s board of directors.
Mr. Rudoy is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, Alaska, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming. He is also a member of the bar associations in each of those states. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1987 with a B.S. in Finance. He attended the London Metropolitan University (formerly City of London Polytechnic) in London, England in 1986 where he studied law and economics. Mr. Rudoy received his J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1992. During law school, he served on the Cleveland-Marshall Journal of Law and Health. Mr. Rudoy was also a visiting student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Mr. Rudoy is past chair of the Oil and Gas Committee of the American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy and Resources and a current member of the Environment and Energy, Business Law, Real Property, and Probate & Trust Law sections of various states’ bar associations. He is a Trustee-at-Large on the Trustees Council and serves on the Programs Committee of the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law (fka Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation). He is also a member of the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation (EMLF), National Association of Division Order Analysts (NADOA), American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL) (including the Michael Late Benedum Chapter of the AAPL), Houston Association of Professional Landmen (HAPL), Permian Basin Landmen’s Association (PBLA), New Mexico Oil & Gas Association (NMOGA), Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association (PIOGA), Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), Northern Appalachian Landman’s Association (NALA), Energy Bar Association, Solar Energy Professionals, Solar Energy Network, Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
Mr. Rudoy has been listed by BL Rankings in The Best Lawyers in America© in the Mergers and Acquisitions Law Section since 2012 and Corporate Law Section since 2013. He was elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 2022. Mr. Rudoy was selected to the 2015-2016 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters) lists for Energy & Natural Resources. He has also been named in the Pittsburgh Business Times Who’s Who in Energy.
About the ABF Fellows
Notable Fellows include Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Former United States Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton.
The ABF Fellows serve as stewards of the American Bar Foundation, an independent, nonprofit research organization which conducts short- and long-term socio-legal research projects. The ABF’s mission is to serve the legal profession, the public, and the academy through empirical research, publications, and programs that advance justice and the understanding of law. The ABF’s research falls under one of three categories: learning and practicing law; protecting rights and accessing justice; and making and implementing law. The Foundation is committed to broad dissemination of research findings to the organized bar, scholars, and the general public. For more information about ABF Fellows, contact: Nina Darner at ndarner@abfn.org or (312) 988-6512.
April 20, 2022
The Keystone Space Collaborative Inaugural Conference led by Babst Calland Attorney Justine Kasznica is happening April 20-21 at the Carnegie Science Center. The Keystone Space Collaborative is the leading force for the growth and success of commercial space in the Tri-State Region (PA, OH, WV). The collaborative values making space more accessible for all who want to learn and understand what commercial space represents for the nation and humankind.
To view additional details, click here.
April 7, 2022
Pittsburgh Legal Diversity & Inclusion Coalition
On May 11 from 12-1:30 p.m., the PLDIC will offer a CLE opportunity, “Deep Retention: Inclusion vs. Tokenism,” presented by Asta Kill, (she/hers), Esq., of the Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation and hosted by Babst Calland.
Course Summary:
This course will explore and suggest how to go beyond mere number reporting in your organization or firm’s diversity efforts to foster LGBTQ+ inclusion. Traditionally employers are not required to collect statistics on the number of LGBTQ+ people. The required data collection focuses primarily on race and traditional definitions of gender. Most diversity certifications only address LGBTQ+ people in an aggregated data set with little insight as to the actual representation. This combined with only about half of LGBTQ+ people out at work shows that something is missing in attracting and retaining LBGTQ+ diverse talent.
About the Presenter:
Asta Kill (she/hers), Esq., is a corporate trainer with the Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation. She provides training and consultations to foster equity of gender and sexual orientation in the corporate space.
Qualifies for 1 hour of substantive PA, WV, or OH CLE credit (pending): lunch will be provided.
To register, click here.
If you have any questions about the event, please email ena.lebel@pghlegaldiversity.org.
March 21, 2022
Marley R. Kimelman recently joined Babst Calland as an associate in the Environmental Group. Mr. Kimelman assists clients with matters encompassing a broad range of environmental issues, including those related to state and federal permitting, regulatory compliance, and environmental litigation.
Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Kimelman worked as an Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulatory Consultant at Enhesa, Inc. In this role, he was responsible for analyzing federal and state EHS regulations and drafting legal compliance reports used to advise clients on a course of action to achieve regulatory compliance. Mr. Kimelman is a 2021 graduate of George Washington Law School.
March 3, 2022
Babst Calland, through its Women’s Initiative, is pleased to announce the Firm’s participation in the Allegheny County Bar Association’s ALLY Initiative Cohort. ALLY stands for “Attorneys, Learning as allies, Living as allies, and Yielding results.” The Initiative is designed to engage attorneys and their law firms, corporate legal departments, courts and other organizations to commit to increasing inclusivity, creating equitable workplaces and empowering historically marginalized and underrepresented community members.
The Initiative, which will run from March 15 through October 2022, will offer programing and other projects, which will then allow firms and legal departments to earn an official “ACBA ALLY Certification.”
To read more, click here.
February 10, 2022
Babst Calland announced the addition of two professionals to its Washington, D.C. office – former PHMSA Official Christopher Hoidal as Senior Director of Safety and former API Policy Advisor, Christopher Kuhman as an Associate.
Chris Hoidal recently joined Babst Calland as Senior Director of Safety in the Energy and Natural Resources, Environmental and Pipeline and HazMat Safety groups. Mr. Hoidal advises clients throughout the United States on the regulation of transportation pipelines, LNG facilities and other regulated energy facilities. He has over 30 years of experience in various leadership roles with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).
Mr. Hoidal has extensive knowledge of the pipeline safety regulations, industry codes and standards, and agency policy. He guides industry stakeholders seeking to improve regulatory compliance and safety performance, conducting transactional due diligence, and building remedial programs to address accidents and near-miss events. Mr. Hoidal also advises clients on special permits, inspection preparation, enforcement, rulemaking and policy development.
Mr. Hoidal worked for the United States Department of Transportation from 1990 to 2021, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s Office of Pipeline Safety since 1993. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Hoidal served as a Senior Technical Advisor in PHMSA’s Office of Pipeline Safety between 2018 and 2021. In this role, he supported PHMSA in the development of recent rules and guidance, including the 2019 Gas “Mega Rule.” Before this role, Chris served for 20 years as PHMSA’s Western Region Director for the Office of Pipeline Safety.
Mr. Hoidal has his Bachelor of Science in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Nevada (1980), and Master of Business Administration from the University of Colorado (1983).
Chris Kuhman recently joined Babst Calland as an associate in the Energy and Natural Resources and Pipeline and HazMat Safety groups. Mr. Kuhman advises energy clients on a variety of pipeline safety-related matters.
Prior to joining the Firm, he worked as a Policy Advisor for the American Petroleum Institute (API) where he helped to develop API’s legislative and regulatory positions on pipeline safety matters. Before his work at API, Chris served as an engineer for a gas distribution company and an upstream energy services company where he gained practical technical knowledge. Firm clients benefit from Chris’ unique mix of policy and engineering experience. He is a 2021 graduate of American University Washington College of Law.
Commenting on their move to the Firm, Jim Curry, Managing Shareholder of Babst Calland’s Washington, D.C. office said, “We are very pleased to welcome Chris Hoidal and Chris Kuhman to our Firm. They have great backgrounds in the energy sector and a commitment to client service, and both are a natural fit for our pipeline practice. They join our growing Washington, D.C. office and will support our energy clients nationwide.”
February 1, 2022
Christina Manfredi McKinley recently joined Babst Calland as a shareholder in the Litigation, Energy and Natural Resources, and Environmental groups.
Ms. McKinley provides business-oriented solutions to her clients and routinely serves as a general advisor, counseling clients on day-to-day legal and business matters on any number of issues. Her business-focused, proactive approach to problem-solving allows her to provide solutions to clients in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, retail, energy, chemicals, and environmental.
As a litigator who focuses on complex commercial matters, Ms. McKinley’s trial practice encompasses all phases of litigation, from early alternative dispute resolution through post-trial motions. She has concentrated experience in complex purchase agreement and commercial contracts disputes, protection of competitive interests (e.g., Lanham Act, unfair competition, tortious interference, trade secret protection, restrictive covenants), technology disputes (e.g., software services and license agreements), and director and officer defense.
An experienced appellate litigator, Ms. McKinley has practiced before the United States Supreme Court at every stage of the process, including the briefing and preparation of two merits cases that were argued before the Court. She also has briefed and prepared cases for argument before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Sixth, and D.C. Circuits, and she has argued numerous cases before the Pennsylvania intermediate appellate court.
Prior to joining Babst Calland, Ms. McKinley was a shareholder with Dentons Cohen & Grigsby. She is a graduate of The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.