pat oshie

Focusing on Energy Law, the legal team at Davison Van Cleve is uniquely qualified to navigate the waters of utility regulation and administrative law. The firm provides valuable advocacy and advice to industrial or commercial customers, co-operative utilities, and cogeneration facilities. Davison Van Cleve works with numerous utility commissions, power administrations, regulatory divisions, and business owners to ensure utility regulation is fair and balanced for our clients. Davison Van Cleve specializes in all aspects energy law, and practices before state and federal administrative entities, including the Public Utility Commission of Oregon, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and the Oregon Water Resources Division. Every Davison Van Cleve attorney is an energy lawyer.

For WECC, I served as Associate General Counsel and managed WECC’s legal office in Vancouver, WA. My primary duty was to prepare the necessary filings, contracts and other documents needed for FERC regulatory approval of WECC’s bifurcation, and to incorporate Peak Reliability and prepare the company for independent operation as the interconnection’s Reliability Coordinator. FERC’s approval order was issued on December 5, 2013. I began service as Peak’s Vice President and General Counsel on January 1, 2014.

In this position, I was responsible for managing the litigation of major rate cases and other matters of significance before the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), and representing the UTC in matters before state courts and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This position required the detailed analysis of legal issues and testimony, and the production of opinions, briefs and other documents necessary to the success of the litigation. I was also tasked with training, supervising, and mentoring new attorneys hired by the office. Further, I assisted the UTC in its development of legal and policy positions in subject areas such as carbon control and other environmental matters, oil train safety, electric system reliability, and utility interactions within the western interconnection.

As General Counsel, I was responsible for overseeing legal services delivered to Peak’s Board of Directors and management. In this capacity, I supervised or produced the agreements, legal opinions and other documentation necessary to successfully accomplish the spin-off of Peak Reliability from the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. I was required to work closely with managers and officers to recognize and respond to their legal needs, and to perform actions necessary to mitigate risk while achieving the company’s business objectives. The position required the exercise of confident and trustworthy business judgment, and a clear and comprehensive understanding of the company’s legal matters in areas such as: property, employment, contracts, corporate governance, legislative strategy and implementation, regulatory compliance, and utility operations and regulation.

Heritage University is a private, non-profit institution offering advanced degrees in diverse disciplines. It is grounded in the belief that a college education should be accessible to anyone with the talent and drive to pursue a degree; regardless of economics, culture or geographic locations. In this position, I was elected vice-chair of the board in October of 2016, and currently serve as the chair of the President’s Search Committee. Previously, I chaired the Facilities Committee and served on the Finance and Audit Committee.