Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy

John E. Rooney is a partner with Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP. His practice focuses primarily on representing natural gas, electric, telecommunications and water industry clients before regulatory agencies and state courts.

Mr. Rooney’s recent experience includes:

• Preparing and litigating rate proceedings for natural gas, electric, and water utilities. Frequently serving as lead outside counsel before regulatory agencies and in related appeals.
• Serving as counsel on regulatory matters involving state utility commission approvals of corporate reorganizations, investigations into affiliate issues and litigation over an alternative regulation program.
• Serving as counsel in other matters involving regulatory reconciliations and audits (prudence of purchase of commodity and correctness of accounting), electric market restructuring, utility tariffs and business processes, distribution reliability, rulemakings, and wholesale electric procurement.

Mr. Rooney previously served as Chief Administrative Law Judge at the Illinois Commerce Commission, and formerly was a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. He is past chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Public Utility Law Committee, and has been recognized as a leading energy and telecommunications lawyer in Illinois in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2003-2010).

Mr. Rooney received his law degree from The John Marshall Law School (J.D., 1988), where he was a member of the Law Review. Mr. Rooney received his bachelor's degree in business from Loyola University (B.A., 1985).

Mr. Rooney is admitted to the bar in Illinois and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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E. Glenn Rippie is a partner with Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP. He primarily represents natural gas and electric industry clients before regulatory agencies such as state public utility commissions and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and before state and federal courts.

Mr. Rippie’s practice focuses on complex regulatory, operational, and commercial matters ranging from strategic planning and counseling to trial and appellate work. Representative engagements encompass:

• Preparing and litigating bundled and delivery rate proceedings, including seven recent natural gas and electric general rate cases, five as lead outside counsel.
• Representing clients in the planning, design, permitting, and construction of new energy facilities, and subsequent representation before courts and regulatory bodies in connection with approval of the facilities and efforts initiated by opponents to interfere with their construction or operation.
• Advising clients with respect to new capabilities and services, including the deployment of Smart Grid technologies and applications and rates designed to facilitate price responsiveness, other forms of demand response, and efficiency.
• Wholesale and retail energy sales, including representing utilities in each of the recent general supply procurement proceedings in which Illinois electric utilities have been supplied with over $20 billion of electricity, capacity, and related services.

Mr. Rippie also represents clients on a variety of projects infused with technical and operational issues, including interconnections; station and backup power; transmission and distribution planning, operation, and reliability, including compliance with regulatory requirements; and rates and regulation of regional transmission organizations.

Mr. Rippie has been consistently named a #1-rated energy lawyer in Illinois by Chambers USA – America’s Leading Business Lawyers, and is the only lawyer in Illinois to have been so rated for five straight years. He is cited by The Best Lawyers in America® and the Illinois Leading Lawyers Network® for his work in energy and administrative law, and was selected in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 as an Illinois Super Lawyers® for energy work.* He formerly was a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP.

Mr. Rippie received his law degree from Yale Law School (J.D., 1985), where he was a Coker Fellow. He is also trained in economics and mathematical modeling, having received undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics and economics from Northwestern University (A.B., highest distinction & M.A., 1982).

Mr. Rippie is a member of the bar of Illinois and of the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association and its Public Utilities, Litigation, and Natural Resources, Energy & Environmental Law Sections, the Chicago Bar Association and its Public Utilities Committee, and the Energy Bar Association.

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John P. Ratnaswamy is a partner with Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP. His practice focuses primarily on counseling, trials, and appeals involving natural gas and electric industry clients; commercial disputes and litigation; appeals; and counseling on legal ethics and professional responsibility.

Mr. Ratnaswamy’s recent experience includes:

• Preparing and litigating distribution and bundled rate proceedings, including nine recent natural gas and electric general rate cases, serving as lead outside counsel in rate cases filed in 2007, 2009, and 2011, and serving as counsel in related appeals
• Serving as counsel in other matters involving regulatory reconciliations and audits (prudence of construction, operations, and coal procurement; and correctness of accounting), electric market restructuring, utility tariffs and business processes, distribution reliability, rulemakings, and wholesale electric procurement
• Serving as litigation counsel in business disputes pending in federal court.

Mr. Ratnaswamy has been recognized by Chambers USA as one of the top Energy & Natural Resources attorneys in the state of Illinois for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. He was also selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2010 and 2011 and the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011 Illinois Super Lawyers® lists in the field of energy law.* He has published articles on a number of subjects, such as the inter-relationship of federal bankruptcy and energy regulation statutes. He formerly was a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP.

He also has served as an Adjunct Professor of Legal Ethics at the Northwestern University School of Law since 1996, served on the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2003-2006), and has had an ethics column published in the national magazine of the American Inns of Court, The Bencher, since 1997.

Mr. Ratnaswamy clerked for the late Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the Honorable Norma L. Shapiro of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Ratnaswamy received his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1985), where he was a member of the Law Review. Mr. Ratnaswamy also received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communications studies from Northwestern University (B.S./M.A., 1982).

Mr. Ratnaswamy is admitted to the bar in Illinois and Minnesota and is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois and the Northern District of Texas; the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court.

His community and professional activities include membership in the American Bar Association, Energy Bar Association, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, North American South Asian Bar Association, American Inns of Court, Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, Illinois State Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Chicago Council of Lawyers, Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area, Indian American Bar Association of Chicago, American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Boardroom Bound, and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Mr. Ratnaswamy serves on the ABA’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. He recently concluded terms in the ABA’s House of Delegates and on the ABA’s Standing Committee on Silver Gavel Awards. He formerly served on the boards of directors of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms, the Chicago Council of Lawyers, and the Patrick G. Ryan and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center (the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s training program for young opera singers).

 

 

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Ms. Vidmar is a partner with Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP. She concentrates her practice in environmental and natural resources law, representing companies in the manufacturing, gas, electric, transportation and financial services industries. Ms. Vidmar advises clients on a wide range of environmental issues, including hazardous substance and waste management; redevelopment of contaminated properties (Brownfields); Superfund (CERCLA) investigation, remediation and cost-recovery; complex air permitting and climate change issues; enforcement actions, litigation and rulemaking and other administrative proceedings; environmental aspects of corporate and real estate transactions; consumer product regulatory compliance, including green advertising, and recycling laws; environmental inspections and audits; and hazardous substance releases.

Her experience includes:

• Providing counsel to gas and electric companies in air, water and natural resources permitting matters, and matters regarding the investigation, remediation and redevelopment of former manufactured gas plants.
• Representing a railroad client in a matter involving soil and water contamination caused by a bankrupt previous tenant.
• Providing contractual advice in connection with the sale and remediation of one of the largest undeveloped tracts of land in New York City.
• Representing a manufacturing client in root cause investigation, governmental inquiry and lawsuit following an on-site explosion at its chemical facility.
• Assisting a foreign-based tire manufacturer to identify potential manufacturing sites in the United States based upon air quality regulation and permitting concerns.
• Defending manufacturing client against governmental allegations of multiple counts of mismanagement of hazardous waste.

• Assisting major residential builder in remediation of landfill sites for reuse as residential development.
• Counseling several product manufacturers on disclosure obligations for potentially harmful components in their products.

Ms. Vidmar has been recognized by Chambers USA as one of the top environmental lawyers in the state of Illinois, and named an Illinois Super Lawyer®, an Illinois Leading Lawyer®, and one of the Best Lawyers in America®. She is AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale Hubbell's highest rating for legal ability and ethical standards, and Lawdragon Magazine named her to its "New Stars, New Worlds" list of 500 lawyers "carving the path to the new heights of the legal profession". She formerly was a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP.

Ms. Vidmar is an active proponent of diversity in the legal profession. She served on the board of directors of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms from 2002 to 2010 (on its Executive Committee from 2005-2010) and held the position of Chairperson from 2007 to 2009. She is a board member of the Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago.

Ms. Vidmar received her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1988. She received her bachelor’s degree in Russian studies from the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1985). Ms. Vidmar also trained at the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute in Moscow (1984).

Ms. Vidmar is admitted to the bar in Illinois and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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Carla Scarsella is a partner with Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP.  Her practice focuses primarily on representing natural gas and electric industry clients before regulatory agencies and state courts.

Ms. Scarsella’s recent experience includes:

• Preparing and litigating rate proceedings for natural gas and electric utilities before regulatory agencies and in related appeals.
• Preparing and litigating a proceeding relating to the approval of an alternative regulation plan.
• Preparing and litigating a proceeding relating to new capabilities and services such as the deployment of Smart Grid technologies and applications and rates designed to facilitate price responsiveness, other forms of demand response, and efficiency.  
• Wholesale and retail energy sales, including representing utilities in recent general supply procurement proceedings in which Illinois electric utilities have been supplied with over $20 billion of electricity, capacity, and related services.

Ms. Scarsella is the Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Energy and Communications Law Committee.  Previously, she served as an attorney in the Office of General Counsel at the Illinois Commerce Commission, where she represented Commission Staff on a variety of matters, including rate proceedings for natural gas, electric, and water utilities.  Ms. Scarsella was also formerly an associate at Foley & Lardner LLP.

Prior to joining the Illinois Commerce Commission, Ms. Scarsella worked in tax consulting for eight years, including as a Senior Tax Consultant in the Real Estate Tax Practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Ms. Scarsella received her law degree from The John Marshall Law School (J.D., 1992).  She received her bachelor’s degree in public accounting from Loyola University Chicago (B.B.A., 1988).  Ms. Scarsella is a certified public accountant in Illinois.

Ms. Scarsella is admitted to the bar in Illinois and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.  She is also a member of the American Bar Association.

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Carmen L. Fosco is a partner with Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP. His practice focuses primarily on representing natural gas, electric, telecommunications and water industry clients before regulatory agencies and state courts.

Before joining Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy, Mr. Fosco spent more than 14 years with the Illinois Commerce Commission, gaining extensive experience and serving as lead counsel in numerous regulatory proceedings including rate, reorganization, procurement, and reconciliation cases.  Mr. Fosco also has more than 12 years of private sector legal experience as general counsel for a group of companies that owned and managed multi-family and single-family residential real estate, and as an associate at Burke, Smith & Williams Chartered where his practice focused on commercial litigation matters.

Mr. Fosco’s experience includes:

• Litigating rate proceedings, including six recent natural gas and electric general rate cases where he served as lead counsel for ICC Staff.  
• Representing ICC Staff in reorganization proceedings involving electric and gas utilities.
• Serving as counsel in general supply procurement proceedings to establish competitive procurement processes for electricity (including renewable energy resources), capacity, and related services, as well as providing counsel and advice with respect to the implementation and oversight of approved procurement plans for capacity, energy and renewable energy resources.

• Serving as counsel in proceedings to approve plans for compliance with statutory energy efficiency and demand response requirements, and advising his client regarding implementation of approved plans and compliance issues.
• Serving as counsel in workshops, collaboratives, and proceedings to develop and consider investment in advanced metering infrastructure and other smart grid technologies.
• Providing counsel and advice with respect to implementation of Illinois’ clean coal and renewable energy portfolio standards.
• Serving as counsel in telecommunications cases involving the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Illinois Public Utilities Act, including investigations of compliance with the requirements of Section 271 of the 1996 Act, rulemakings to establish wholesale service quality standards, arbitration proceedings for negotiated agreements under the 1996 Act, and certification proceedings.

Mr. Fosco received his law degree from DePaul University College of Law (J.D., 1983).  He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Southern Illinois University (B.A., 1980).  Mr. Fosco is admitted to the bar in Illinois and Texas (currently inactive) and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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Ms. Mitchell is an associate with Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP.  She represents natural gas, electric and water industry clients in regulatory proceedings before the Illinois Commerce Commission, including rate litigation.  Ms. Mitchell has extensive experience representing insurance companies in class actions in state and federal courts nationwide.  Ms. Mitchell also represents clients in commercial disputes, including claims for fraud, unfair trade practices, and breach of contract.

Notable engagements include:

• Represented major Illinois electric and natural gas companies in obtaining multi-million dollar rate increases.
• Defeated plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in nationwide insurance class action alleging consumer fraud.
• Secured dismissal of eight of nine defendants in class action against holding company and multiple insurance subsidiaries alleging breach of contract and unfair trade practices.
• Secured summary judgment on seven of eight causes of action in commercial litigation related to arena development project.
• Defended insurance client in federal multi-district litigation arising out of Ponzi scheme, including responsibility for all aspects of expert witness discovery. 

Ms. Mitchell has an active pro bono practice.  Ms. Mitchell represented a client who was sexually assaulted in prison in a federal civil jury trial and won a verdict in favor of the client.  Ms. Mitchell also briefed and argued the appeal of a denial of her client’s petition for writ of habeas corpus before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.  Ms. Mitchell received SNR Denton LLP’s 2006 Rothschild Pro Bono Award.  She formerly was an associate at SNR Denton LLP in Chicago.

Ms. Mitchell’s community and professional activities include service as Co-Chair of the Outreach Committee of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago Young Professionals Board and membership in the Chicago Bar Association and Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.  Ms. Mitchell was a Public Interest Law Initiative Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois in 2002.

Ms. Mitchell received her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 2002.  She received her bachelor’s degree in French and History from Agnes Scott College (B.A., with honors, Phi Beta Kappa, 1997).

Ms. Mitchell is admitted to the bar in Illinois and is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Seventh Circuits and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of Illinois.

Caitlin M. Shields is an associate with Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP.  She represents natural gas, electric, and water industry clients before regulatory agencies and state courts.  She also represents companies in environmental matters.

Previously, Ms. Shields worked as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Herbert L. Stern III of the Denver District Court where she focused on complex civil litigation and administrative appeals.

Ms. Shields’ experience includes:

• Representing a major Illinois utility company in a multi-million dollar rate increase.
• Assisting an arbitrator with a $50 million mineral expropriation claim under NAFTA.
• Assisting with the EPA’s criminal prosecution of asbestos company executives for alleged contamination in Libby, Montana.
• Representing multinational banking clients in mergers & acquisitions as a summer associate at Estudio Beccar Varela in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ms. Shields is committed to volunteerism and pro bono service.  Fluent in Spanish, Ms. Shields enjoys working with Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S. and abroad.  She has volunteered at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, advocated for microfinance investment in Argentina, and currently volunteers with Child Rights and Protection Consultancy International. 

Ms. Shields received her law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2009, where she was president of the Spanish Speaking Lawyers’ Association and a Chairperson for the Natural Resources & Environmental Law Group.  In 2009, she was awarded the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Scholarship for achievements in natural resources law.  Ms. Shields received her bachelor’s degree in Journalism, with honors, from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2002 and was awarded the Craig Rubenstein Environmental Scholarship and the Chicago Alumni Association Scholarship.

Ms. Shields is a member of the Chicago Bar Association’s Energy and Communications Law Committee.  She is licensed to practice in Illinois and Colorado.