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Colette leads the firm’s Energy Regulatory group and is a member of the firm’s executive committee. She is also a member of the firm’s ESG group and is resident in the Washington, D.C. office.* Colette is a highly regarded thought leader and strategist in domestic and international energy sectors. Colette recently served as Commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). She was nominated by President Barack Obama in August 2014, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, serving from January 2015 until her term expired in June 2017. At the firm, Colette is a trusted advisor and counselor to several Fortune 500 energy companies, investor-owned utilities, renewable energy and technology companies. In this capacity, she provides strategic advice and counsel in a number of areas, including ratemaking matters, clean energy integration, performance-based ratemaking, achieving ESG goals and environmental justice issues. In her work, Colette supports clients working to mitigate the impacts of climate change and advises them on the development and execution of inclusion strategies.

At FERC, Colette focused on reliability oversight of the bulk power system, cyber and physical security, oversight of wholesale markets, transmission planning and cost allocation in regional transmission organizations, gas-electric coordination, renewables integration, energy storage integration and valuation, ratemaking, infrastructure development and enforcement matters. Colette joined the FERC from the Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC), where she began her service in October 2007, and led as Chairman from January 2011 to January 2015.

Credentials

  • University of Memphis
  • University of Arkansas at Little Rock, J.D.

  • Arkansas

  • All State Courts - Arkansas
  • U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Arkansas
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Eighth Circuit

  • Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Institute 
  • Ambassador of the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative (U.S. Department of Energy and the MIT Energy Initiative; International Clean Energy Ministerial)
  • Selected to serve as a Reed Smith Client Inclusion Leader 
  • Member of the Energy Bar Association
  • Member of the National Bar Association
  • Member of the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment
  • Member of Sustaining and Training African American Attorneys at Reed Smith (STAARS)
  • Past Chair of the DC Office's Women's Initiative Network (WINRS)
  • Former Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution's Initiative on Energy and Climate
  • Past President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners

Awards & Recognition

  • Ranked in Chambers Global for USA Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation), 2022-2023
  • Ranked in Chambers Global for USA Energy: Oil & Gas (Regulatory & Litigation), 2022-2023
  • Named a 2022 Trailblazer South by American Lawyer
  • Selected through peer review for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© for Energy Regulatory Law, 2020-2023
  • Listed as a Leading Lawyer in The Legal 500 USA for Energy: regulation: conventional power, 2021, and for Energy: regulation: oil and gas, 2021-2023
  • Ranked in Chambers USA for Nationwide Energy: Oil & Gas (Regulatory & Litigation); Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation) 2021-2022
  • Recognized as key lawyer in Legal 500 USA for Energy: regulation: conventional power; Energy: regulation: oil and gas; Energy: renewable/alternative power, 2020
  • Ranked in Chambers USA for Energy: Oil & Gas (Regulatory & Litigation), 2020
  • Women's Council on Energy and the Environment Woman of the Year, 2019
  • Recognized in Legal 500 USA for Energy: regulation: conventional power ‘highly recommended’; Energy: regulation: oil and gas; Energy: transactions: conventional power; Energy: transactions: oil and gas, 2019 
  • Ranked in Chambers USA for Energy: Oil & Gas (Regulatory & Litigation), 2019
  • National Women in Law Award for Collaborative Leadership, 2018  
  • Recognized in Legal 500 USA for Energy: litigation: oil and gas, 2018
  • FRI Crystal Award for Distinguished Contribution to Energy Sector, 2018 
  • American Association of Blacks in Energy James E. Stewart Award, 2017
  • Women’s Foundation of Arkansas Inaugural Woman in Public Service Award, 2016
  • Alumnus of the Decade by the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law, 2016
  • National Bar Association Congressional Black Caucus Leadership Award, 2015
  • Induction into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, 2014
  • Just Communities of Arkansas Humanitarian Award, 2013
  • Ranked in Legal 500 USA for Energy: regulation: electric power, 2023