Eric H. Drummond has joined Husch Blackwell as a Partner in its Denver office. Drummond brings more than 20 years of domestic and international energy development, technology, transactional and regulatory experience, continuing the growth of the firm’s Energy practice in Denver and nationwide.
Drummond will lead Husch Blackwell’s clean technology practice in Denver, furthering his extensive legal and policy work on behalf of smart-grid companies and various clean technology enterprises, such as manufacturers of electric vehicles, along with solar, wind and other forms of alternative energy. He also has extensive experience with project development and financing for gas, wind and hydroelectric power-generation projects; electric transmission development; power purchase agreements; and the development of biofuel production facilities. In addition, he has represented the U.S. Department of Energy on major projects, including the development of the largest utility-scale, high-concentrating solar photovoltaic generation plant in the world.
“Eric brings to bear a deep understanding of the energy and clean tech sectors, including the critical intersection in the field between business, law and policy,” said Partner Jim Goettsch, the leader of Husch Blackwell’s Energy group. “His client-partnering approach and unique insights, and extensive involvement in the clean tech community, further build upon our commitment to serve the evolving needs of clients throughout the energy sector.”
Drummond said that his new firm’s cohesive advocacy in the field of energy-efficient technology is especially unique and competitive. “Husch Blackwell’s commitment to support and drive innovation across virtually all of the critical clean tech segments is more robust than what is typically reflected in comparable-sized law firms,” he said. “The ability to assist the best of the companies graduating from the top incubators in the country — especially clean tech incubators here in Colorado — will allow us to facilitate the commercialization and growth of game-changing technologies and business plans.”
Previously, Drummond was a partner at Sherman & Howard, where he chaired its alternative energy and clean tech practice, and most recently at Patton Boggs. For the majority of his career, Drummond also has concentrated in electric utility and telecommunications law. Among other utility clients, he represented one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric utility holding companies, involving multistate/ multijurisdictional transactions and regulatory proceedings, including rate cases, with significant work addressing nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel contracts. He has represented cities, other governmental entities and private land owners in major electric utility rate cases and electric transmission-siting cases, as well.
Among myriad leadership positions with legal, energy and economic development organizations, Drummond serves on the board of directors of the Rocky Mountain Innosphere clean tech incubator and the Colorado Venture Capital Authority, and is an expert-in-residence for the Cleantech Fellows Institute. In addition, he was the mayor of Manitou Springs, Colo., from 2008 to 2010. In that role, he worked closely with the Governor’s Energy Office to develop and implement numerous energy-efficiency strategies on behalf of the city, initiated efforts to measure the City of Manitou Springs’ carbon footprint, and supported the implementation of a greenhouse gas emissions-reduction program. Based on his positions as chair of the Economic Development Council and mayor, he is credited with promoting an environment of economic development that led to a record amount of private investment in Manitou Springs.
Drummond earned his J.D. at the University of Texas School of Law, where he was a board of advocates moot court finalist and a mock trial finalist. He holds a B.A. in philosophy, with an emphasis in symbolic logic, from the University of Texas at Austin.
