Foley Hoag LLP

Foley Hoag is committed to helping our clients achieve their desired results by excelling in the time-honored practices of the legal profession and seizing on new ways to continuously improve our performance and service level.

For nearly seven decades, Foley Hoag has represented public and private clients in a wide range of disputes and transactions around the world. We have established a lengthy record of success in industries such as life sciences, health care, technology, energy/renewables, investment management and professional services. We also offer our clients market-leading international litigation and arbitration services, and expert counsel in the evolving field of corporate social responsibility.

From our offices in Boston, Washington, D.C., and Paris, we provide creative, strategic legal advice tailored to clients’ unique goals. Our powerful regional, national and international practices share a common emphasis on superior client service.

What makes us different?

Insight – We deeply understand our clients’ businesses, priorities, strategies and industries.

Creativity – With approximately 250 lawyers, we have a reputation for an intellectual approach to case analysis and efficiently developing creative, compelling legal strategies.

Innovation – We are connected to the entrepreneurial community and detect emerging trends that will affect clients down the road.

Size – Our clients have the full sustained attention of partner-level talent backed by large-firm firepower.

Responsiveness – In an Internet-driven culture, we still like to pick up the phone and meet face to face to cultivate the deep mutual understanding needed for success.

Loyalty – The exceptionally long average tenure of our lawyers reflects the appeal of our easy-going yet professionally serious culture.

Diversity – In addition to their rich cultural diversity, our attorneys typically possess complementary expertise beyond the law, often manifested in multiple advanced degrees.

PRO BONO

A deep commitment to pro bono work has been Foley Hoag LLP’s hallmark since we successfully represented the plaintiffs in Boston’s seminal landmark school desegregation case. Then and now, we believe that freely sharing our talents with individuals and the community makes us better lawyers, better people, and a better firm.

In a typical year, we handle approximately 100 matters and contribute approximately 23,000 hours to our pro bono program, accounting for more than five percent of the work of the firm. We also serve the community in other ways, including board involvement and charitable organizations.
Our peers have acknowledged our leadership in this area. The American Lawyer ranked our pro bono effort number 12 of the top 200 firms in 2012. We have also been named to the publication’s “A-List: Honorable Mention” of the 50 elite law firms nationally that are “best at balancing a thriving business with their obligations to the profession.”

CLEANTECH & RENEWABLES

Foley Hoag’s Cleantech and Renewables practice has become one of the legal industry leaders by helping innovators and pioneers succeed. We embrace the spirit of innovation and pride ourselves on helping entrepreneurs bring their ideas to commercialization and beyond. Whether you are spinning a breakthrough technology out of an academic lab, monetizing a creative financing strategy for solar or developing a new technology that was previously unthought-of, we have deep experience in making ideas work.

We provide all our clients with cutting-edge advice on the tax, project structuring, intellectual property, and employment strategies needed to move a company successfully through the start-up, public offering and public company stages. Our team also counsels clients on the environmental and regulatory issues that can arise in the course of permitting and operating clean energy projects, and helps clean energy and technology companies anticipate market shifts so they can respond quickly to take advantage of opportunities.

Our clients include companies in all of the following sectors:
Wind
Solar Thermal and Photovoltaics
Energy Efficiency and Demand Response
Biomass and Biomass Gasification
Landfill Gas
Hydrogen Generation
Cellulosic Ethanol
Smart Grid and Green IT
Biodiesel
Wave Energy and Hydropower
Geothermal
Aerogels and other Advanced Materials
Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries
Solid State Lighting
Green Building
Emission Reduction and Renewable Energy Credits
Water Treatment and Conservation
Power Plant Emission Optimization Software

For early stage technology ventures, we manage the business and legal issues that commonly arise in the early years. Our work with our startup clients is widely varied, including helping establish founders’ agreements, creating equity incentive plans, protecting and acquiring intellectual property, and raising capital as debt or equity. We also work frequently with startup project development entities and are familiar with the challenges (and solutions) specific to such entities.

We help our clients secure federal, state and local permits for various renewable energy projects, and are experienced in qualifying facilities to generate Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), selling RECs and drafting EPC, O&M and power sales agreements. Additionally, we provide our clients with advice on interconnecting wind, photovoltaic and combined heat and power facilities, and negotiating property tax agreements for renewable energy facilities sited on private and municipal land.

Solving clean energy and technology problems takes knowledge and creativity. We will provide you with the creative legal and business thinking that will allow your company to build an economically and environmentally sustainable future.