Clean Energy Counsel is proud to announce the promotion of four exceptional attorneys to Partner in 2026

Shane Devins | Kristen Berry | Gary Stapleton | Sandra Lee

Each brings deep sector experience, a commitment to client service, and a track record of advancing clean energy projects across the country. The promotions mark a significant expansion of the firm’s capabilities at a moment when the clean energy sector continues to accelerate.

A closer look at the new partners

For years, each of the newly promoted partners has played a central role in shaping CEC’s market-leading practice. Their experience collectively touches every stage of the renewable energy lifecycle, from site control and equipment procurement to offtake, financing, and complex portfolio transactions. Together, they represent the breadth and depth of expertise that clients increasingly rely on as clean energy projects become larger, more sophisticated, and more heavily scrutinized.

Gary Stapleton is known among clients as a trusted strategist who understands every angle of a clean energy transaction. His experience ranges from representing solar, wind, and battery storage developers to advising emerging technology companies and biomass and waste-to-fuel projects. Gary has also guided high-profile real estate preservation and infrastructure initiatives and counseled investors evaluating single-asset and multi-asset acquisitions across the U.S. and abroad. Whether acting as advocate, adviser, or deal negotiator, he brings a balanced, risk-mitigating perspective to complex transactions.

Sandra Lee brings significant breadth on the financing side of the industry, representing borrowers, lenders, tax equity investors, and buyers and sellers of clean energy assets. Her work advising both sponsors and financing parties gives her a uniquely balanced perspective - one that translates into thoughtful, pragmatic guidance aimed at driving projects forward. Sandra’s approach reflects a hallmark of CEC’s practice: pairing technical sophistication with a practical understanding of what it takes to get deals done.

Kristen Berry has emerged as a go-to adviser for renewable energy developers across utility-scale, commercial and industrial, and distributed generation markets. Her practice spans the full suite of development-stage agreements, including power purchase agreements, energy and capacity offtake structures, EPC and O&M contracts, REC transactions, virtual PPAs and hedging arrangements, energy services agreements, equipment supply agreements, build-transfer structures, and EV-charging master services agreements. Over the past several years, she has been instrumental in advancing several gigawatts of solar, wind, and storage projects nationwide, bringing a steady hand to negotiations that often define a project’s long-term success.

Shane Devins offers deep experience in the real estate dimensions of renewable and sustainable infrastructure. He has advised on title and survey matters, land use and entitlements, leasing, acquisitions and dispositions, and the development and financing of large-scale solar, wind, and storage assets. His work also extends to sustainable agriculture and water conservation projects, reflecting a broader commitment to environmental and land-based solutions. Beyond his real estate practice, Shane is well-versed in structuring joint ventures and M&A transactions, including cross-border investments into the United States.

Leadership weighs in

For CEC’s leadership, these promotions reflect both the firm’s internal growth and the broader momentum of the clean energy industry. Zach Crowley, Partner, noted, “This group of partners is a reflection of how much CEC’s practice has grown over the past several years across a huge range of expertise. From tax equity and debt finance, to safe harboring equipment and EPC, through real estate and offtake, these new partners are building a market-leading practice focused on sustainable technologies."

These promotions reflect both the depth of the firm’s talent and the strength of the clean energy industry. “We’re excited to add these four new partners, each of whom is an outstanding lawyer and has a bright future at our mission-driven firm. All four of them are focused on helping our clients solve problems and achieve their goals for deploying renewable energy solutions. In addition, our move to promote all four at the same time is an unequivocal statement that Clean Energy Counsel is bullish on the clean energy industry and on the prospects for our business to continue to grow.” said Brad DeJean, Founding Partner at Clean Energy Counsel.

Partner Jordan Dansby emphasized the significance of this moment, stating: “CEC’s new partner class is a testament to the success of our clients, the dominance of renewable energy generation and storage, and the growth required to keep it all going. This is the largest new partner class in our history, and we could not be more thrilled to welcome Kristen, Gary, Sandra, and Shane to the partnership.”