A boutique law firm is carving out a unique business model: strictly working on clean energy projects while asking its lawyers to bill less than two-thirds the hours of a traditional Big Law associate.
Clean Energy Counsel calls itself a “mission-driven” firm that’s focused on advancing the renewable energy transition. The roughly 30-lawyer firm won’t work on fossil fuel energy projects, but its leaders say business is booming as solar energy projects, electric vehicle charging stations, and battery energy storage plants proliferate.
Junior lawyers at the firm are required to bill 1,200 hours a year. That’s a far cry from the 2,000 hours young lawyers are often expected to toll at Big Law firms. The firm’s starting salaries are lower than the prevailing Big Law wage, but lawyers can make up the difference: the firm provides a bonus for every hour billed above the 1,200-hour threshold and gives associates origination credit.
The lower billing requirement is part of the firm’s “sustainability” ethos according to its leaders. They want lawyers to have a balanced life and to remain at Clean Energy Counsel for their entire careers, eschewing Big Law’s grinding hours and its up-or-out model.
The approach has attracted alumni from firms including Wilson Sonsini, Cooley, Winston & Strawn, Milbank, and Orrick. Part of the attraction for climate-minded lawyers is that, unlike at many Big Law energy practices, they don’t have to split time between oil and gas and renewable clients. They can also work remotely and live in less expensive cities.
Clean Energy Counsel, which has no physical offices, is on the hunt for more lawyers in a competitive space. Big Law firms are ramping up hiring in the area, and some lawyers say the supply of renewable energy experts is outstripped by demand for them.
Headcount at Clean Energy Counsel has more than doubled since 2021, and it now is arguably one of the larger groups dedicated to renewable energy at any law firm. Only two of the largest law firms, Norton Rose Fulbright and Orrick, have more than 40 lawyers with renewable energy specialties, according to Leopard Solutions, which tracks law firm hiring and headcounts.
Large law firms have experienced a boom in renewable energy work, driven in large part by tax credits for renewable energy project developers provided through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Clean Energy Counsel lawyers said that has also supercharged their practice, and the firm now competes directly for deals with large firms.
A November election win for Donald Trump could threaten IRA-driven growth, especially for the green energy sector, through targeted cuts to tax incentives, Bloomberg Intelligence said in a June report.
Beyond the firm’s lower hourly requirements, lawyers said they joined because they were aligned with the firm’s mission to accelerate the renewables transition.