Cheri is a member of Butler Snow’s Regulatory and Government Group. Prior to joining the firm, Cheri represented Commission Staff in the Legal Division for the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), as lead attorney in complex ratemaking proceedings, contested licensing cases at the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), and in proceedings before the PUCT. Cheri was also an attorney-advisor in the Office of Policy and Docket Management where she advised the PUCT Commissioners on contested and routine proceedings. Before her career as an attorney, Cheri was a project manager in the oil and gas industry in Houston, where she worked on offshore projects located in Angola, deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska.
Overview
Cheri is a member of Butler Snow’s Regulatory and Government Group. Prior to joining the firm, Cheri represented Commission Staff in the Legal Division for the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), as lead attorney in complex ratemaking proceedings, contested licensing cases at the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), and in proceedings before the PUCT. Cheri was also an attorney-advisor in the Office of Policy and Docket Management where she advised the PUCT Commissioners on contested and routine proceedings. Before her career as an attorney, Cheri was a project manager in the oil and gas industry in Houston, where she worked on offshore projects located in Angola, deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska.
Practice Areas
Experience
- Provides counsel to generation companies, data centers, developers, and others on large load and behind-the-meter considerations.
- Works collaboratively with clients to craft and refine commercial strategies in compliance with market structure rules and regulations.
- Represents clients in administrative litigation, including utility rate litigation and certificate of convenience and necessity litigation.
- Counsels and collaborates with clients in the development of regulatory policy and market structure throughout rulemaking processes at the PUCT.
- Provides counsel in responding to regulatory investigations and requests for information from regulatory authorities.
- Represented Commission Staff in hearings on complex electric ratemaking proceedings and regulatory licensing in front of the State Office of Administrative Hearings and during settlement negotiations.
- Represented Commission Staff during settlement negotiations on Energy Efficiency Cost Recovery Factor (EECRF), Transmission Cost of Service (TCOS), and Distribution Cost Recovery Factor (DCRF) applications, as well as on electric and water licensing amendments and applications, and electric system resiliency plan applications.
- Represented Commission Staff in formal complaints brought by members of the public involving retail electric providers, water utilities, and electric utilities.
- Advised PUCT Commissioners on contested and routine cases in preparation for open meetings.
Bar Admissions
- Texas, 2021
Education
- Tulane University School of Law School, J.D., 2021
- Editor in Chief, Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law, 2020-2021
- Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competitor, 2020
- Tulane Fourth Annual Energy and Trade Forum – Student Debate Panelist, 2019
- Reviewer, Chinese Maritime cases, 2019-2020
- Judicial Internship, Hon. Meredith Grabill, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Summer 2020
- Tulane Utility Vegetation Management Institute – inaugural class of interns, 2020-2021
- Tulane Latin American Law Student Association, Vice President 2019-2020
- Tulane Academic Scholarship
- Cornell University, B.A., Government, 2004
- Concentration, International Relations
- Dean’s Scholar
- MEChA de Cornell, member
Associations
- Austin Bar Association
- Administrative Law Section
- State Bar of Texas
- Public Utility Law Section
- American Bar Association
- Gulf Coast Power Association
- Houston Young Lawyers Association
- Hispanic Bar Association of Houston
- Mexican American Bar Association of Houston