Wisconsin Public Utility Institute

Program Information

Biographies

Presentations


Ethical Obligations and Practical Lessons:
Working with the Public Service
Commission

Featuring: Commissioner Lauren Azar . Branko Terzic . Ave Bie . Larry Martin . Brian Winters . Dave Gilles . George Edgar . Charlie Higley . Todd Stuart

December 5, 2008 - Fluno Center

Eligible for 6 CLEs and 0.6 CEUs

For complete details and to register please visit the registration link below:
Registration

Co-Sponsored by
The State Bar's Energy and Telecommunications Law Section

and promoted by

The National Association of Regulatory Commissioners

Over the past 10 years, the energy industry has become far more complex. There are more stakeholders interested in and actively participating in what happens at the regulatory level. New issues such as GHG are now more urgent concerns for commissions. This seminar will address the past and future for commissions, ethical rules and protocols, and perspectives on how to prepare a persuasive case before a commission. Following the formal session you are ivited to attend a reception.

9:30 - 9:45 Introductions
Cara Lee Mahany Braithwait, Director, Wisconsin Public Utility Institute and,
Event Chair: Theresa Hottenroth, Chair of the State Bar's Energy and Telecommunications Law Section

9:45 - 10:15 Session One: The role of public policy in achieving public goals-the enforcer of the "social contract"…
Speaker: Branko Terzic, former Wisconsin and FERC Commissioner, currently with Global & U.S. Regulatory Policy in Energy & Resources for Deloitte Services LP

10:15 - 11:15 Session Two: Rules of the road-the process, regulations and ethical considerations for communications to and from the PSCW.
The Commission's current practices in contested cases. Rules and protocols and ethical considerations in contacting Commissioners and Commission staff; ex parte communications with the Commission.
Speaker: Commissioner Lauren Azar
  • Ruling on a case before the commission- Rules and protocols,
  • Ruling on an issue in general-Rules and protocols
  • Ex parte communications with the Commission
11:15 - 11:30 Break

11:30 - 12:30 Session Three: Putting together a complex case- Case studies of cases gone right and cases gone wrong, including ethical challenges.
Speakers: Larry Martin and Brian Winters, Quarles and Brady
  • What ought to happen and when should it happen
  • What different forms of communication can be used
  • What triggers changes in the process of a case
12:30 - 1:30 Lunch in the Fluno Center

1:30 - 4:30 Session Four: Structuring Public Service Commissions to meet future challenges.

Moderator: Commissioner Lauren Azar - Prior to her appointment, Commissioner Azar worked extensively in the area of electric and water utilities, representing both ratepayers and utilities.  As a representative for ratepayers, Commissioner Azar negotiated power purchase agreements and resolved disputes with utilities.  In the utility realm, Commissioner Azar worked with the creation of new public utilities, and the extension of both electric and water services.

Panelist:
  • Branko Terzic - Branko Terzic, a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioner, Public Service Commission of Wisconsin  commissioner and utility chief executive officer. He is currently a Global & U.S. Regulatory Policy leader in Energy & Resources for Deloitte Services LP. From 1999 to 2002.

  • Ave Bie - Currently an attorney with Quarles and Brady, Bie was the former chairperson of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Prior to joining the PSC, Bie held a number of other government leadership roles: Deputy secretary of the Department of Corrections, deputy secretary and executive assistant to the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing, and as director of appointments for former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson and the Assembly Republican Caucus of the Wisconsin State Legislature.

  • Larry Martin - Public utility regulation, administrative law, and litigation Attoney. Mr. Martin has over 30 years of experience handling issues that arise in the electric power and gas distribution industries. As a founding board member of the Wisconsin Bar Association's Energy and Telecommunications Section, Mr. Martin helped revise the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin's procedural rules. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 1989, and has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell (highest possible rating by peers for quality as well as ethics of legal representation).

  • Brian Winters - Partner, Quarles and Brady Yale University (J.D., 1996); Olin Fellow in Law, Economics and Public Policy (1993-96) (Yale Law School); Editor-in-Chief, Yale Journal on Regulation (1995-96); University of Geneva (Switzerland) (Program in Banking and Capital Markets Law, 1994); University of Toledo (M.A., Economics, 1989) (M.A., Philosophy, 1980); Cornell University (A.B. in Economics with Distinction in All Subjects 1974); Phi Beta Kappa.

  • Dave Gilles - Attorney with Godfrey and Kahn, formerly General Counsel of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin and prior to that Wisconsin Attorney General.

  • George Edgar - Director-Policy, Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation, Prior to joining WECC, George was a Commissioner on the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, an attorney for the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin and a partner in a private law firm that provided energy and environmental legal services primarily to municipal utilities.

  • Charlie Higley - CUB

  • Todd Stuart - WIEG


Topics:
  • What might the PSC of the future look like, structurally and/or procedurally?
  • What issues might trigger the need for the change in agency structure or procedures?
  • How do you decide what agency structure best suits Wisconsin's situation?
  • What are the options in use by other commissions?
  • Procedural Process Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) options and possible commission uses.
  • Use of ALJ Staff as mediators outside mediators.
  • How to comply with ethical challenges inherent in representations before administrative agencies while effectively representing your client.
  • Maintaining civility, while effectively representing our clients.
  • Differences in practice before an administrative tribunal and before a judge/jury.
  • Relationships between regulated entities and intervenors.

3:00 - 3:30 Break

4:30 - 5:30 Reception Sponsored by the State Bar's Section on Energy and Telecomunnications Law Section -- No host bar