Senior Counsel, Rates

Requisition ID # 174516 

Job Category: Legal 

Job Level: Attorney

Business Unit: Gen Counsel, Ethics, Risk & Compliance

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Department Overview

The Law Department provides timely, efficient, business-focused legal services to the Company across a broad spectrum of practice areas: Regulatory, Commercial Litigation, Labor and Employment, Transactional and Corporate Services, Environmental and Land Use, Risk, and Compliance and Ethics. In the Regulatory practice area, the Rates and Regulatory section provides legal advice and support for regulatory proceedings at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and other state regulatory agencies pertaining to customer rates, cost allocation, rate design, cost recovery, risk, decarbonization/climate change, low-income customer equity and other rate-related policy issues.

Position Summary

The Senior Counsel will be expected to lead and actively manage cross-functional project teams in proceedings primarily before the CPUC. Representative matters and subject areas at the CPUC include the General Rate Case (Phase I – Cost Recovery and Phase II – Rate Design); Demand Response; Real Time Pricing; Risk Assessment and Mitigation Phase (RAMP); Climate Adaptation and Vulnerability Assessment (CAVA); Income Qualified programs, and Affordability Rulemaking proceedings. The Senior Counsel will be expected to have substantive experience in handling regulatory litigation work, including discovery, motion practice, workshops, status conferences evidentiary hearings, and post-hearing briefing. The role necessarily will include advising Company’s senior leaders and interacting with CPUC regulators, staff, and other utility-industry stakeholders.

This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned work location based on business need. The assigned work location will be within the PG&E Service Territory.

Reporting

The Senior Counsel will report to the Managing Counsel for the Rates and Regulatory section. This section is part of a broader Law, Ethics, Operation and Strategy team in the Law Department that manages regulatory, commercial litigation, labor and employment, and ethics and compliance matters.

Job Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain deep, substantive knowledge in CPUC ratemaking, including ratemaking mechanisms, cost-allocation and rate design principles, cost-recovery standards, and related policy issues.
• Develop and implement effective regulatory strategies as part of a cross-functional team that includes client representatives from regulatory affairs, finance, marketing, and operational organizations within the Company (e.g., Gas, Electric, Customer).
• Represent PG&E in proceedings before the CPUC and other regulatory agencies.
• Provide advice to Law Department senior management and other Company senior leaders.
• Review and prepare legal documents, including testimony, motions and pleadings, and briefs.
• Efficiently manage and coordinate outside counsel, including outside counsel budget if needed.

Background Qualifications

Minimum

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school
• Law Bar Admission, U.S., and active member in good standing
• Legal experience, post-JD-Juris Doctor, or other job-related, 10 years
• Experience as Attorney, 7 years

Desired

• Experience in complex legal matters, including settlement negotiations and litigation
• Law Bar admission, CA or, alternatively, Registered In-House Counsel permit, CA
• Previous CPUC practice experience - industry or bar associations
• Previous experience in corporate finance, economics, and public policy is a plus

Leadership Qualities

PG&E expects its leaders to conduct themselves with the highest ethics and integrity and to embody specific leadership qualities.

Strategic Mindset

• Sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies.
• Operates effectively, even when things are not certain, or the way forward is not clear.

A Leader in the Community and Industry

• Effectively builds formal and informal relationship networks inside and outside the organization.
• Anticipates and balances the needs of multiple stakeholders.

Demonstrates Safety Leadership

• A safety champion in words and deeds with respect to both employee and public safety.
• Creating and maintaining a speak up culture free of retaliation.

Influences and Inspires

• Using various- communications that convey a clear understanding of the needs of different audiences.
• Maneuvering comfortably through complex policy, process, and people-related dynamics.

Optimizes Team Performance

• Building teams with a strong identity that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.
• Creating a climate where people are developed and motivated to do their best to help the organization.

Values Inclusion and Respects Individual Differences

• Recognizing the value that different perspectives and cultures bring to an organization.

Fiscally Responsible

• Interpreting and applying understanding of key financial indicators to make better business decisions.
• Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals.

Leads Ethically and in a Compliant Manner

• Sponsoring and sustaining a high integrity speak-up corporate culture which prioritizes safety, compliance, and ethics.
• Building on necessary level of industry, company, and subject-matter expertise, including laws and regulations.

Provides a High Level of Customer Service

• Building strong customer relationships and delivering hometown, customer-centric solutions.

Compensation

PG&E is providing the salary range that the company in good faith believes it might pay for this position at the time of the job posting. This compensation range is specific to the locality of the job. The actual salary paid to an individual will be based on multiple factors, including, but not limited to, specific skills, education, licenses or certifications, experience, market value, geographic location, and internal equity. 

We estimate the successful candidate hired into this role will be placed within the reasonable compensation range of $226K to $306K.  The decision will be made on a case-by-case basis.  This leadership role is also eligible for an annual Short Term Incentive Plan (STIP) award, as well as the Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) grant.