Balch’s Elizabeth Flachsbart, attorney in the firm’s Litigation Practice, Alan Lovett, attorney in the firm’s Energy Practice, and Jesse Unkenholz, partner in the firm’s Energy Practice, have been recognized as 2019 Rising Stars Lawyers by the Birmingham Business Journal. The publication’s annual list highlights distinguished, up-and-coming lawyers making notable contributions to their firm, the Birmingham community, and positively impacting the legal industry. Honorees were announced in the October 11, 2019, edition of the Birmingham Business Journal.
- Elizabeth Flachsbart has a diverse practice in the area of general commercial litigation, with particular experience in casualty claims, electrical contact cases, environmental litigation, personal injury and death claims, product liability defense, insurance, and patent claims. She has counseled clients in response to joint use claims, Proposition 65 actions in California, and shoreline/commercial real estate matters. Her clients include state and local utility companies, insurance companies, and private corporations and manufacturers.
- Alan Lovett counsels electric utility clients on a variety of regulatory and commercial issues involving generation development, acquisition, and decommissioning, electric transmission service, natural gas supply and transportation, wholesale power contracts, and retail rates. Among his utility clients, Alan represents nuclear facility owners and operators, including the license holder for some of the first new nuclear facility units to begin construction in several decades and purchasers of nuclear facilities entering decommissioning. In addition to representing clients before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Alan represents large investor-owned utilities in a variety of proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and state public service commissions.
- Jesse Unkenholz advises clients in all aspects of the electric industry with a focus on natural gas and renewable energy generation and energy storage: particularly power purchase agreements, engineering, procurement, and construction contracts, operating and service agreements, and energy market management agreements for natural gas, solar, wind, and biomass generating facilities and battery energy storage systems. Jesse also has significant experience developing new wholesale and retail renewable energy products and programs, advising clients on voluntary, state, and federal green energy requirements, compliance with Renewable Energy Credit (REC) mandates and marketing requirements, and energy efficiency legislation and regulations. Jesse also assists utility clients in matters before state public service commissions and other regulatory agencies.
