James served as lead attorney for energy and regulatory reform matters in the legal department of the World Bank between 1996 and 1998. James was also a law clerk for the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit between 1986 and 1989 and served in the chambers of Judge William W. Wilkins, Jr., prior to first joining the firm of Hunton & Williams in 1989. James returned to Hunton & Williams after the World Bank, and was Counsel in its Energy and Project Finance team until leaving to establish Megawatt Law in June 2015.
James is a frequent speaker on energy and infrastructure subjects, including attracting and sustaining public-private partnerships in infrastructure investments, developing and financing cross-border and multi-jurisdictional infrastructure investments, developing institutional capacities of new regulatory agencies in licensing and tariff-setting activities, the challenges of developing and financing renewable energy projects for on-grid and off-grid supply, and on legal and policy issues related to market design, sector restructuring, and commercialization of state-owned utilities.
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Relevant Experience
Represents the project company and investing stakeholder Governments and their utilities in development of a West African multi-jurisdictional transmission line project.
Represents the governments of southern African countries in their tender and negotiation processes for coal-fired generation capacity and other large electric sector projects.
Represented the developers of wind, solar, and bio-mass projects in negotiations of electricity off-take agreements, site agreements, and transmission interconnection agreements.
Represented the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) in tariff and market design issues.
Represented the government-owned electric transmission enterprises of Eastern European countries in their efforts to restructure, corporatize, and commercialize their operations.
Represented the government of Kosovo in the rehabilitation of existing coal-fired power generation facilities, and the construction of new generation facilities.
Represented a government in South East Europe in its efforts to restructure and attract private investment in a state-owned post and telecoms (landline and mobile) enterprise.
Conducted training for Nile Basin Initiative and ECOWAS member countries and their utilities in public-private partnerships, multi-jurisdictional investment alternatives, and transmission and generation planning issues.
Represented an East African government in developing strategies for attracting private investors in transmission and generation investments, and conversion of diesel-fired generation to natural gas operations.
Represented a utility affiliate in the negotiation of a contract for differences for part of the output of a new merchant coal generation facility in the PJM service territory.
Worked with the governments and utilities of South East Europe on electricity market design and sector restructuring issues both through national institutions and through the Athens Forum process.
Represented the government of a southern African country in the licensing and development of ownership interests in a multi-jurisdictional electric transmission line project.
Worked on numerous infrastructure projects in water, natural gas, telecoms, and electric sectors both in the United States and globally.