UB Greensfelder counsels energy companies on their business’s mobility, consumer, and product aspects. Our nationally recognized team has extensive experience representing energy clients in counseling, transactional work, and disputes and litigation.
How We Help
Our role spans from day-to-day counseling to defense of complex commercial litigation on wholesale supply, joint ventures, company operations, as well as direct supply, convenience retailing, and renewables, including in the following areas:
- Advertising & Marketing: We advise on advertising and marketing issues, including reviewing draft advertising (including for potential greenwashing claims), as well as the terms and conditions for marketing programs for traditional fuel products, biofuels, and renewables.
- EV-related contracts
- Channel of Trade Development/Joint Ventures/Licensing Agreements: We counsel on legal risks and options associated with developing and modifying channels of trade, including wholesale, joint venture, dealer, and company operations; piloting new innovative distribution concepts; and exploring avenues for driving more traffic, customer experience/engagement/growth, and alternative profit centers.
- Pricing: We counsel on federal and state antitrust and pricing, including advising on pricing laws, below-cost, competition, promotional programs, competitive allowances, and incentive programs.
- Price Posting and Labeling: We advise on price posting and labeling, including the various state and local laws regulating how prices may be posted.
- Rewards and Loyalty Programs: We advise clients on terms and conditions related to loyalty and rewards programs, branding issues, co-branding arrangements, and related intellectual property issues, as well as sweepstakes and contests.
- Cards and Payments: We counsel on payment card issues (credit/debit), electronic payment platforms, POS systems, data security protocols, and touchless consumer transactions.
- Data Privacy: We routinely advise energy clients on privacy laws, specifically how they impact customer relationships, advertising, payment systems, and employees.
- Real Estate: We represent clients in acquisition, development, disposition, leasing, and financing transactions, as well as contracts with deed restrictions and ROFR rights.
- Procurement
- Product Liability
- Franchising & Distribution
- Intellectual Property, Trademark, and Technology
- Defense of litigation related to all of the above areas, including business-to-business, franchise, M&A, pricing, consumer protection, and class actions
Why Clients Choose UB Greensfelder
Relying on our extensive experience, we actively maintain and update legal surveys on several topics to allow us to have answers to clients’ questions at our fingertips and provide efficient legal input, including on the state relationship laws, divorcement laws, below-cost, pricing/antitrust, emergency power statutes, and price posting laws.
Representative Matters
- Developed EV pilot and contracts for an energy client adding EV charging to its footprint.
- Assessed the risks and developed options associated with the distribution of products to customers.
- Advised a client on analyzing and developing franchise business models.
- Drafted and updated convenience retailing franchise agreements.
- Advised on a client’s mobile fueling businesses.
- Counseled clients on pricing and antitrust issues associated with mobility businesses.
- Developed loyalty programs for convenience retailing.
- Reviewed and advised clients on convenience retailing advertising to consumers.
- Defended a franchisor on claims related to convenience retailing and a point-of-sale system.
- Defended class actions on consumer protection claims associated with convenience retail advertising.
- Defended a client in a class action alleging national and state subclass claims for breach of contract and deceptive advertising related to a consumer marketing program.
- Served as special counsel on divestment of retail assets.
