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Sheila Slocum Hollis is chair of the Washington, D.C. office and serves on the firm's Executive Committee and Partners Board. Ms. Hollis practices in the areas of energy transactional and regulatory law and international and administrative law before government agencies, Congress and other entities. She focuses on domestic and international energy, water and environmental matters, representing governmental bodies and the power and natural gas industries. In 2010, Ms. Hollis received the Paul Nordstrom Service Award for her contributions to the legal profession and the community from the Energy Bar Association and the Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association. She was recently named one of the 50 Key Women in Energy worldwide and was twice a finalist for Lifetime Achievement in Energy in Platt's Global Energy Awards. Ms. Hollis is the first attorney in private practice to be nominated for the award. With a long career in issues relating to infrastructure, energy reliability, enforcement and compliance, and international energy policy, Ms. Hollis recently successfully represented the District of Columbia in a key electric reliability case and the Town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in a vital nuclear plant relicensing and negotiation matter. She also was lead investigator on an investigation of a grid operator's market monitoring practices, and represented a grid in an investigation of a major blackout. She also has represented numerous clients in investigations related to natural gas and oil development, trading, transportation and other activities.
Ms. Hollis was the first director of the Office of Enforcement of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, establishing the office and its policies and procedures, serving from 1977 to 1980. Those policies and procedures remain in place today. She began her energy law career as a trial lawyer at the Federal Power Commission from 1974 to 1975. Over the course of her career, she has played a key role in the formation and implementation of energy law and policy.
Ms Hollis is chair of the Standing Committee on Gavel Awards of the ABA and serves on the Nominating Committee of the ABA and the Steering Committee of the Nominating Committee. Ms. Hollis served as the chair of the Board of Editors of the American Bar Association's Journal from 2007-2010, and as a member of the board from 2001-2007. She chaired the ABA's Council of the Fund for Justice and Education from 2006-2009. She is the past chair (2001-2002) of the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources of the American Bar Association, representing 11,000 ABA members. She served a three-year term as the Federal Circuit representative on the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary and in that capacity was one of the two primary investigators of Chief Justice John Roberts. She serves in the ABA's House of Delegates. In addition, she served as chair of the Standing Committee on Environmental Law from 1997 to 2000 and served two terms as chair of the ABA's Coordinating Group on Energy Law. A Fellow of the ABA, Ms. Hollis was the first woman to serve as president of the Federal Energy Bar Association (1991 to 1992). She served as president of the Women's Council on Energy and the Environment (1997-2002). She is the first person to serve as both president of the Federal Energy Bar Association and chair of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. She is treasurer and a board member of the United States Energy Association and chairs its nominating committee. She also is a member of the Advisory Committee of the North American Energy Standards Board. Ms. Hollis served as a professorial lecturer in the law on the subject of energy law at The George Washington University Law School from 1979 to 1999 and was recently recognized by the school for her 20-year teaching contribution. She serves on the Board of the American Friends of the Royal Society, which is one of the oldest scientific bodies in the world.
Admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Colorado, she is a member of the American Law Institute and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Center for American and International Law and was vice chair of its Institute for Energy Law. She delivered the "Dean of the Oil and Gas Bar" lecture for the organization in 2009. She was also a trustee of the Eastern Mineral Law Foundation and served on the board of the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia. With an extensive background in international energy law, Ms. Hollis is admitted as an honorary, international member of the Commercial Bar of England and Wales. She is a member of the Energy, International, Women's and Federal bar associations and the Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Ms. Hollis is widely published in energy law and policy matters, having co-authored two energy law texts and numerous articles on energy policy, energy enforcement, natural gas, independent power and cogeneration, and hydroelectric energy regulation. She was ranked by The National Law Journal as one of the United States' top 20 energy lawyers and is listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World and other biographical directories, including The World's Leading Oil and Gas Lawyers and The World's Leading Project Finance Lawyers.
Education
University of Denver College of Law, J.D., 1973
University of Colorado, B.S., Journalism, cum laude and with honors, 1971
Professional Activities
American Bar Association
- Standing Committee on Gavel Awards, 2010-present
- Chair, Council of the Fund for Justice and Education, 2006-2009
- Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, 2002-2005
- House of Delegates, 1990s-present
- Fellow, 1999-present
- Nominating Committee, 1996-1998, 2003-2005, 2011-present
- Section of Environment, Energy and Resources
-- Representative to the House of Delegates, 1995-present
-- Chair, 2000-2001
-- Chair, Standing Committee on Environmental Law, 1997-present
- Coordinating Group on Energy Law Chair, 1990s
ABA Journal Board of Editors
- Member, 2001-2007
- Chair, Board of Editors, 2007-2010
- Chair, 2001-present
Federal Bar Association
- Chair, Energy Committee
Federal Energy Bar Association
- President, 1991-1992
- Representative to the American Bar Association's House of Delegates, 1992-1995
Member, American Law Institute
Women's Council on Energy and Environment
- President, 1997-2004
The District of Columbia Bar
- Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Section
-- Steering Committee, 1991-1992
International Bar Association
Women's Bar Association
- Board of Trustees Member, 2007-2009
Eastern Mineral Law Foundation
- Trustee, 2007-2009
International Oil and Gas Law Center
- Vice President, 1995-2010
COMBAR (the Commercial Bar Association of the England and Wales)
- Honorary Overseas Member
Professional Lecturer in the Law, "Energy Law," The George Washington University School of Law, 1979-1999
Advisory Board, Public Utilities Fortnightly