Approximately two months after opening in Philadelphia with a 47-lawyer team, Polsinelli is continuing its expansion in the city with new Shareholder Christine Soares. Joining in the Energy Practice, Soares’ career spans two decades of experience serving as regulatory, litigation and commercial counsel, both in-house and in private practice. She is an experienced attorney who joins Polsinelli from a Fortune 100 company, where she served as a director for commercial legal and compliance issues. She has extensive experience in highly regulated industries and represents energy and utility clients before state public utility commissions on a wide range of legal and regulatory issues, including rate case, formal complaint, rulemaking, financing and merger and acquisition matters.
“Christine brings an excellent background in the energy and utility space to the table, and I am thrilled to expand our team in the Northeast with her,” said Alan Claus Anderson, Chair of Polsinelli’s Energy Practice. “She has extensive experience in representing clients before regulatory agencies and will be a great asset to our group.”
“Polsinelli’s commitment to Philadelphia is evident, and adding Christine to our team is another example of providing clients a full-service practice offering in Philadelphia,” said John D. Martini, Managing Partner of the Philadelphia office. “We are excited to continue our growth here and welcome Christine to the office.”
“I am thrilled to join Polsinelli’s Energy Practice and contribute to the growth of its Philadelphia office,” said Soares. “I’m eager to grow my practice and look forward to leveraging the Energy Practice’s national full-service platform to help clients in the energy and utility sector achieve their legal objectives.”
Soares previously served as a senior director to the largest investor-owned water and wastewater utility in the United States where she led execution of the company’s legal regulatory strategy for several subsidiaries in rate case, rulemaking, financing, and merger and acquisition proceedings. Additionally, she developed and executed an enterprise-wide operational compliance program focused on state and federal environmental and health and safety laws and regulations.
Prior to this, she was a member of the Utility, Environmental and Energy Practice Group at an Am Law 100 firm where she represented clients in the energy (natural gas and electricity), water/wastewater, and transportation industries on a wide range of legal and regulatory issues.
Soares received her J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and holds a B.A. from La Salle University.
Polsinelli’s Energy Practice has achieved a national presence by representing energy companies, utilities, developers, lenders, and investors across the country in connection with the acquisition, development, permitting, finance and operation of a variety of energy facilities – including electric generating facilities, transmission, wind, solar, battery storage and biofuel renewable energy projects along with oil and gas.
Polsinelli’s attorneys have a broad range of interdisciplinary experience and depth of knowledge that allows them to effectively collaborate with clients to achieve their legal objectives. The team also benefits from the valuable perspective of its members who have served previously as in-house counsel and leadership of federal and state regulatory agencies. The team’s vast experience in real estate, environmental, construction, land use, finance, regulatory, business, tax, construction and litigation issues is an invaluable resource for meeting clients' unique goals.
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