This week we’re joined by Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, a national law firm with a proven reputation and deep experience in the energy, finance, healthcare and life sciences industries, to name a few.

Tell us about Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney is a national law firm with a proven reputation for providing progressive, industry-leading legal, business, regulatory and government relations advice to our regional, national and international clients. Our 450 attorneys and government relations professionals across 15 offices proudly represent some of the highest profile and innovative companies in the nation, including 50 of the Fortune 100. While we service a wide range of clients, Buchanan has especially deep experience in the energy, finance, healthcare and life sciences industries. We bring to our clients an intimate knowledge of the players, market forces, and political and regulatory landscape, and use our full-service capabilities to protect, defend and advance our clients’ businesses.

How does your company support clients or customers in the energy space?

At Buchanan, we’re recognized among the top energy law firms serving the Marcellus Shale region and other energy hubs around the country. Our firm has more than 150 years of experience managing transactional matters, regulatory issues, and complex litigation across the upstream, midstream, and downstream industries.

Buchanan’s services for clients in the energy space, and specifically the natural gas space, truly run the gamut. We handle energy transactions and complex litigation from our expert team of attorneys as well as provide insights at the local, state, and federal level from one of the largest teams of government relations and public policy professionals in a law firm. In natural gas, our teams have experience in finance, environmental, regulatory, tax, labor and employment, intellectual property, real estate, governmental affairs and other areas.

Our deep roster of contacts with the energy industry’s most powerful and influential policymakers, industry groups, trade organizations, regulators, thought leaders, and other energy companies, provides our clients with the connections they need to succeed in what will always be an evolving industry. We’ve helped countless energy providers navigate the complex processes for permitting, approval and construction of natural gas pipelines and other critical infrastructure necessary to move energy to markets. Additionally, our risk and activism mitigation and litigation expertise allows energy production and economic advancement to thrive when it otherwise wouldn’t. And when challenges do arise, we boast a robust team of attorneys who have resolved energy-related disputes in federal and state trial courts, in appellate courts at every level, in regulatory tribunals, and in arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

What is a key differentiator for your business?

Buchanan has been involved in the natural gas space since the very beginning with more than 150 years of direct energy experience. In the last decade alone, we’ve managed more than $30 billion in energy transactions. Our deep roots in the Appalachian region, the Marcellus Shale region, and other shale regions around the country have given us experience and insights that few firms across the nation can claim. We boast some of the region’s biggest shale litigation wins, opening doors for energy production throughout the Appalachian basin.

Our firm also is home to one of the largest teams of government relations and public policy professionals in a law firm, with more than 100 combined years of experience in shaping policy and gaining critical insights at the local, state and federal level. Especially in an industry such as natural gas, having a hand in determining policy and regulation is key to surviving and thriving now and in the future.

How has MSC membership been of value to your company and the services you provide?

Our attorneys and government relations professionals rely on MSC for unique insights into the current and future trajectory of the natural gas industry in the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions. Beyond the data and resources the organization provides, Buchanan also gets tremendous value from the connections our teams can make with policymakers, regulators, media and other public stakeholders throughout the industry. We also benefit from the advanced studies and reports MSC develops as well as the advocacy efforts the organization provides on behalf of the industry.

What is something that you would like a neighbor unfamiliar with the industry to know?

While there may be a lot of discussion surrounding natural gas, specifically in the Marcellus Shale region, one thing is clear – the industry, over the long-term, has delivered significant economic benefits to the Appalachian region. From thousands of new jobs to providing a cleaner burning energy source for so many, natural gas has proven to be a valuable component to any energy mix and a logical next step in the energy puzzle as coal has slowly declined.

As our teams work to push forward new pipeline construction and help companies across the industry navigate changing regulations, we’re confident that the natural gas space will continue to be an important one for millions of Americans for many years to come.