Ryan Baron offers strategic counsel to public agencies and private clients on all aspects of utilities law.
Ryan understands the business of government and industry, and the need to navigate clients through complex matters with creative, revenue-focused approaches.
Ryan is the chair of the Board of Representatives of the California Lawyers Association, the second largest voluntary bar association in the U.S.
Ryan Baron offers strategic counsel to public agencies and private clients on all aspects of utilities law. He provides general counsel services to public agencies and practices in the areas of utilities regulation, administrative law, environmental law and infrastructure development. Ryan regularly advises on business, regulatory and transactional matters related to energy, climate change, stormwater, solid waste and air quality.
Ryan currently serves as chair of the Board of Representatives of the California Lawyer’s Association (CLA), the second largest voluntary bar association in the United States. He formerly chaired CLA’s Public Law Section Executive Committee and Sustain SoCal, a trade association focused on cleantech and sustainability in Southern California.
General Counsel
Ryan is general counsel to several joint powers authorities, including San Diego Community Power, Orange County Power Authority, Desert Community Energy and Butte Choice Energy Authority. He has served as agency general counsel for two large county agencies. In this capacity, he advises on all aspects of public law, including agency compliance, public records, open meetings, litigation, crisis and risk management, and public contracting.
Utilities
Ryan has a breadth of experience in all aspects of utilities, representing cities, counties, special districts, community choice aggregators, municipal aggregators, municipal utilities, developers and hedge funds. He represents clients on administrative law matters before various public utilities commissions and other federal and state regulatory agencies, and advises on regulated utility rules. He has extensive experience in California’s energy market regarding resource adequacy, renewables portfolio standard and resource planning. He has advised clients in Colorado, Virginia and other states on utility regulation and alternatives to traditional retail electric service.
Environmental Law
Ryan has extensive experience under the Clean Water Act, including stormwater regulation, NPDES permit compliance, total maximum daily loads, and trading and offset programs. He also advises clients on air quality and climate change regulations, such as air permits and California’s cap-and-trade program. He previously served as counsel to a large landfill system, and has experience in landfill, solid waste and recycling regulations.
Contracts, Project Development & Permitting
Ryan counsels clients on all aspects of the development of utility and large-scale infrastructure projects. He has significant experience in contracts and negotiation, including short-term power purchase and sale agreements, long-term power purchase agreements, financial agreements, municipal cooperative agreements and real estate contracts. He has experience with the development of alternative energy projects, such as waste-to-energy, solar, fuel cell, wind, renewable natural gas and battery storage, as well as with the development of flood control and water facilities, transportation corridors and master-planned developments. In total, Ryan has advised on billions of dollars in projects and development.
Government Service
Ryan is a former senior deputy county counsel to Orange County, California, the sixth largest county in the U.S. with over 3 million residents. In a 70-attorney law office, he advised the Board of Supervisors and department heads on all utilities matters and was general counsel to the public works and landfill agencies, each with over a billion dollars in revenue and funding.
Prior to government service, Ryan practiced in Washington, D.C. with Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick: PLLC working on behalf of Fortune 100 companies on regulatory litigation and federal enforcement actions in telecommunications, securities and oil services. During law school, Ryan was a law clerk and junior lobbyist for the global government relations office of an international telecommunications company and a legal intern in the International Bureau of the FCC and for FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani. Ryan was editor-in-chief of Catholic University’s communications law journal and a graduate of the school’s Institute for Communications Law Studies (now the Institute of Law & Technology).
Teaching
Ryan was an adjunct professor of Administrative Law and Energy Law at Whittier Law School. He has guest lectured at the University of Southern California School of Law, Chapman University School of Law, and in the Advanced Power and Energy Program at the University of California, Irvine.
Education
Admissions
Memberships & Community Involvement
The Court’s Decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency Opens the Door For Courts to Reconsider and Potentially Erode Chevron Deference
Part 3: California Laws Impacting Public Agencies for 2020
City Proposals for Funding Due Nov. 4
Public Agencies Will Be Impacted by Various Actions
2019 Brings Changes to Election, Revenue, Conflict of Interest, Property and Public Safety Laws… and More
Comments Being Sought
Ryan Baron Weighs the Community Choice Aggregation Question for Cities in PublicCEO
Public Agencies Must Submit Application by Dec. 31
Nation’s High Court Agreed to Hear Challenges to Controversial Rule
Ryan Baron, Of Counsel, Answers in Tax Notes
$900 Million in Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2016-17
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