Baker Donelson's Water Utilities Team brings together a diverse and cross-disciplinary group of attorneys to effectively serve our investor-owned water and wastewater utility clients.
Many are familiar with eminent domain in the context of the government taking land to widen a road or build a school, but governments can also attempt to take an entire privately-owned company in order to turn the business into a municipal enterprise. This happens most often with investor-owned utility companies. Defending these threats requires a specialized and deep knowledge of both eminent domain and utility law, and our team has both.
Since 1998, Baker Donelson has built a preeminent national practice defending major investor-owned water and wastewater utility companies facing eminent domain and other hostile takeover threats from municipal governments. Our team routinely litigates complex right-to-take and valuation phases of condemnation and helps clients avoid condemnation in the first place through strategic political and public relations efforts, and proactive dialogue with potential condemnors and stakeholders. In matters concerning valuation, whether in the context of condemnation or non-condemnation (such as public service commission proceedings and consensual acquisitions), we leverage our experience and expansive network of professionals in business valuation, real estate appraisal, and engineering and utility condition assessment to provide our clients with the most supportable and compelling valuation proof possible. Over the past two decades, Baker Donelson has helped utility companies retain and/or ensure truly fair compensation for utility systems' worth in excess of $1.2 billion.
As a full-service law firm, we offer water utility clients the benefit of working with one team, regardless of jurisdiction or legal issue. While eminent domain was the gateway into Baker Donelson's representation of investor-owned water and wastewater utility companies, our expanded team now counsels clients across a variety of matters, including acquisitions, labor and employment, environmental and crisis response, data privacy and cybersecurity, rate cases, regulatory compliance, and government contracts, among others.
While our Water Utilities Team is located throughout the Southeast, we counsel clients all over the United States and have represented clients in utility cases in Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.