NEW YORK – Troutman Pepper Locke partner Ghillaine Reid was honored with the Wiley A. Branton Award for Law Firm Excellence by the National Bar Association. The annual award is bestowed upon members of the legal community whose careers embody a deep and abiding commitment to civil rights and economic justice advocacy.
Reid is co-leader of Troutman Pepper Locke’s Securities Investigations and Enforcement Practice Group. She focuses her practice on government and securities regulatory investigations, financial services litigation, commercial litigation, and corporate compliance. Drawing on her experience in government service and private practice, Reid regularly represents corporations and individuals in investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and other government and regulatory agencies.
Reid also represents clients in complex financial services and commercial litigation matters, in both federal and state courts. She has achieved favorable outcomes in cases involving fraud, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation, and tortious interference. Reid has also successfully defended clients in large scale arbitration proceedings, both through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the American Arbitration Association.
The National Bar Association is the nation’s oldest and largest global network of predominantly Black American attorneys and judges, uniting a membership that spans the legal profession at every level. Its mission is to advance the science of jurisprudence, uphold the honor of the profession, foster fellowship among members, and protect the civil and political rights of all citizens across the U.S.
Troutman Pepper Locke
Troutman Pepper Locke helps clients solve complex legal challenges and achieve their business goals in an ever-changing global economy. With more than 1,600 attorneys in 30+ offices, the firm serves clients in all major industry sectors, with particular depth in energy, financial services, health care and life sciences, insurance and reinsurance, private equity, and real estate. Learn more at troutman.com.
AUSTIN – Robert Miller, principal at Troutman Strategies, has been named to USLege’s Lobby Legends of the Year list for 2025. The list recognizes individuals who have demonstrated consistent influence and credibility across multiple legislative sessions, possess deep institutional knowledge, and maintain trusted relationships across the political spectrum. Additionally, honorees are acknowledged for their role in mentoring and elevating the next generation of Texas lobbyists.
The Lobby Legends list celebrates professionals whose contributions have significantly shaped Texas government affairs over the years. These individuals are trusted veterans, mentors, and leaders, known for their results-driven approach, strong relationships, and respected reputations. Their work in advising clients, guiding coalitions, and setting the tone for future leaders underscores their excellence and enduring presence in the Capitol.
As one of this year’s Lobby Legends, Miller represents the leadership, credibility, and long-term vision that define the very best of Texas government affairs. With nearly four decades of experience in government relations law, he has been instrumental in lobbying efforts across local, state, and federal levels for both public and private clients. Miller’s diverse clientele ranges from Fortune 500 companies to family-owned businesses, and his influence has been pivotal in shaping significant state and local initiatives. Beyond his professional achievements, Miller’s dedication to public service is evident through his leadership roles in civic organizations, notably as the former chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, TX, highlighting his unwavering commitment to advocacy and community engagement.
Troutman Strategies
Troutman Strategies is a professional government affairs firm committed to providing solutions for business and government. Troutman Strategies is a subsidiary of Troutman Pepper Locke, a law firm with more than 1,600 attorneys in 30+ offices in the U.S. and UK, including the 10 largest U.S. legal markets. Learn more at troutmanstrategies.com.
Antonio Avant, director of legal technology for Troutman eMerge, was quoted in the October 8, 2025 PR Newswire article, “Relativity Fest 2025: Relativity Announces Generative AI Solutions for Legal Review to Be Standard in Cloud Offering.”
- “Relativity aiR for Case Strategy is a game changer for our litigation team. It cuts through the complexity of managing and making sense of disparate case data, allowing attorneys to focus on strategy,” said Antonio Avant, Director of Legal Technology at Troutman eMerge. “From early case assessment to deposition prep, the platform helps us see the story we’re trying to tell while helping our attorneys ramp quickly, bring clarity to data sprawl and transform how we build our cases.”
NEW YORK – Troutman Pepper Locke advised Station Partners in its strategic growth investment in First Children Services (FCS), a family-owned and operated organization that provides a comprehensive continuum of care, taking an integrated approach to special education and therapeutic services. For more information, see the press release.
Based in Morristown, NJ, Station Partners is a private investment firm focused on making control and control-like investments in profitable U.S. businesses. Station Partners was formed to make transformative investments in concert with management teams leading lower middle market businesses with the potential for immediate growth. The investment in FCS will support the company in its next phase of growth and help expand its critical service offerings to even more children across the region.
The Troutman Pepper Locke team that advised Station Partners included Dan Sieck, Jack Taylor, Patrick Archambault, Matt Divis, Tom Phelan, and Kevin Miserez.
Consistently recognized as a top-tier practice, Troutman Pepper Locke’s corporate attorneys regularly handle middle market transactions for private equity clients alongside strategic deals for Fortune 100 corporations. Core areas of service include mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate governance, securities laws compliance, capital markets transactions, and other significant domestic and cross-border transactions, as well as general corporate counseling. The firm has a strong focus in the private equity and private fund services space, advising clients on matters including fund formation, growth equity investments, leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, and exit transactions.
Troutman Pepper Locke
Troutman Pepper Locke helps clients solve complex legal challenges and achieve their business goals in an ever-changing global economy. With more than 1,600 attorneys in 30+ offices, the firm serves clients in all major industry sectors, with particular depth in energy, financial services, health care and life sciences, insurance and reinsurance, private equity, and real estate. Learn more at troutman.com.
BOSTON – Troutman Pepper Locke advised Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Eupraxia) (NASDAQ: EPRX; TSX: EPRX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing targeted therapies that leverage a proprietary extended-release delivery system to provide the right dose of a drug, in its public offering of 14,636,363 common shares at $5.50 per common share for gross proceeds of approximately $80.5 million, before deducting the underwriting commissions and estimated expenses incurred in connection with the offering. For more information, see the press release.
Eupraxia intends to use the net proceeds from the offering primarily for the continued advancement of its product pipeline, including the completion of ongoing preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory submissions, and associated commercial preparation and manufacturing scale-up activities.
The Troutman Pepper Locke team that advised Eupraxia was led by Tom Rose, Shona Smith, Nicole Edmonds, Alex Yarbrough, Jason Langford, Taylor Williams, and Joe Cataldo, and included Mark Goldsmith, Noreen Onimus, Heather Morehouse Ettinger, and Judy O’Grady.
Consistently recognized as a top-tier practice, Troutman Pepper Locke’s corporate attorneys regularly handle strategic deals for clients ranging from industry leading, Fortune 100 corporations to emerging companies. Core areas of service include mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate governance, securities laws compliance, capital markets transactions, and other significant domestic and cross-border transactions, as well as general corporate counseling.
Troutman Pepper Locke
Troutman Pepper Locke helps clients solve complex legal challenges and achieve their business goals in an ever-changing global economy. With more than 1,600 attorneys in 30+ offices, the firm serves clients in all major industry sectors, with particular depth in energy, financial services, health care and life sciences, insurance and reinsurance, private equity, and real estate. Learn more at troutman.com.
HOUSTON – Troutman Pepper Locke advised Genesis Park, a Houston-based private investment firm, in its investment in Perfect Feast, a leading provider of corporate gifting solutions. SageLink Capital, a Utah-based private investment firm, led the strategic partnership. For more information, see the press release.
The partnership and investment will provide resources to accelerate Perfect Feast’s growth, expand its product offerings, and build upon its exceptional service to customers. Perfect Feast’s flagship product, a universally accepted grocery gift certificate, enables employers of all sizes to provide employees with meaningful holiday gifts in the form of meals for their families.
The Troutman Pepper Locke team that advised Genesis Park included Allison Pearce, Brian Rose, Suzanne Soboeiro, and Phillip Chason.
Consistently recognized as a top-tier practice, Troutman Pepper Locke’s corporate attorneys regularly handle middle market transactions for private equity clients alongside strategic deals for Fortune 100 corporations. Core areas of service include mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate governance, securities laws compliance, capital markets transactions, and other significant domestic and cross-border transactions, as well as general corporate counseling. The firm has a strong focus in the private equity and private fund services space, advising clients on matters including fund formation, growth equity investments, leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, and exit transactions.
Troutman Pepper Locke
Troutman Pepper Locke helps clients solve complex legal challenges and achieve their business goals in an ever-changing global economy. With more than 1,600 attorneys in 30+ offices, the firm serves clients in all major industry sectors, with particular depth in energy, financial services, health care and life sciences, insurance and reinsurance, private equity, and real estate. Learn more at troutman.com.
BERWYN – Troutman Pepper Locke advised HMP Global (HMP), the omnichannel market leader in health care events, education, and insight, in its acquisition of Psychiatry Redefined, a pioneering educational platform transforming mental health care. For more information, read the press release.
The acquisition accelerates HMP’s whole-patient educational strategy by uniting traditional psychopharmacology education with functional, nutritional, and integrative approaches, equipping clinicians with a complete, evidence-based, and science-backed toolkit to deliver more personalized, transformative care.
The Troutman Pepper Locke team that advised HMP was led by Brandon Raphael, Matt Greenberg, and Raffaele Cicala, and included Sheri Adler, Howard Goldberg, Brent Hoard, David Wormser, Jessica Rothenberg, Olivia Hilt, and Lele Meng.
Consistently recognized as a top-tier practice, Troutman Pepper Locke’s corporate attorneys regularly handle strategic deals for Fortune 100 corporations and middle market transactions for private equity clients. Core areas of service include mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate governance, securities laws compliance, capital markets transactions, and other significant domestic and cross-border transactions, as well as general corporate counseling.
Troutman Pepper Locke
Troutman Pepper Locke helps clients solve complex legal challenges and achieve their business goals in an ever-changing global economy. With more than 1,600 attorneys in 30+ offices, the firm serves clients in all major industry sectors, with particular depth in energy, financial services, health care and life sciences, insurance and reinsurance, private equity, and real estate. Learn more at troutman.com.
PHILADELPHIA – Troutman Pepper Locke advised Ocugen, Inc. (Ocugen), a pioneering biotechnology leader in gene therapies for blindness diseases, in the execution of a licensing agreement with Kwangdong Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd. (Kwangdong), one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Korea, for the exclusive Korean rights to OCU400 — Ocugen’s novel modifier gene therapy for retinitis pigmentosa. For more information, see the press release.
There are an estimated 7,000 individuals in the Republic of Korea with retinitis pigmentosa, which represents approximately 7% of the U.S. market. OCU400 provides the opportunity for Kwangdong to help thousands of patients facing vision loss. Upon regulatory approval of OCU400 in Korea, Kwangdong will be positioned to become a leader in the field of ophthalmic gene therapy in Korea.
The Troutman Pepper Locke team that advised Ocugen included Debbie Spranger, Elizabeth-Ann Weeks, Mindy Rudolph, Emily Makar, Joan Arnold, Peter Jeydel, Judy O’Grady, and Barbara Sicalides.
Troutman Pepper Locke’s leading Health Care and Life Sciences Practice encompasses the entire spectrum of health care and life sciences companies. The team collaborates across disciplines to solve complex legal challenges confronting clients, offering a full suite of corporate, intellectual property, regulatory, and litigation services. Few law firms have a comparable health care and life sciences practice, and Troutman Pepper Locke draws on its deep industry knowledge to provide the precise, holistic advice and guidance clients need throughout their business cycles.
Troutman Pepper Locke
Troutman Pepper Locke helps clients solve complex legal challenges and achieve their business goals in an ever-changing global economy. With more than 1,600 attorneys in 30+ offices, the firm serves clients in all major industry sectors, with particular depth in energy, financial services, health care and life sciences, insurance and reinsurance, private equity, and real estate. Learn more at troutman.com.
New insights gathered by law firm Troutman Pepper Locke reveal a sector bruised but buoyant amid regulatory and tariff uncertainty
NEW YORK – The U.S. energy storage sector remains optimistic after a turbulent year marked by increased regulatory and tariff-related risks, according to findings from law firm Troutman Pepper Locke.
Its latest industry report, “Brave New World: What’s Next for US Energy Storage After OBBBA and Amid Continued Tariff Risk?“ highlights how developers, investors, and lenders across the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) landscape have prepared to face escalating risk profiles in 2025, and why they remain confident about the sector’s overall growth trajectory.
Co-author and Troutman Pepper Locke partner Vaughn Morrison said, “Energy storage’s versatility of use cases has untethered it from the fate of wind and solar to a meaningful degree.”
Across the shifting U.S. energy landscape, the strategic value of storage is widely recognized. It is seen as much as a service for grid resilience and power price stability as it is for decarbonization. Andrew Waranch, CEO of Spearmint Energy, points to this as a source of industry confidence: “So much of the power market and power price is set by expensive and old generators that only need to operate during ramp times in the morning and evening. In contrast, batteries can solve that quickly and cheaply with extremely high reliability.”
As the implications of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and tariffs become clearer, the report finds that project owners expect to be better placed to plan for risks and move their projects forward.
John Leonti, partner and chair of the Energy Department at Troutman Pepper Locke, said, “Although the impact of the OBBBA on energy storage is less severe than some feared, the ambition to onshore battery component manufacturing and the attendant Foreign Entities of Concern (FEOC) provisions issue significant supply challenges for the industry moving forward. The most prepared in the sector have acted nimbly to restructure supply chains, and key stakeholders are strengthening their close working relationships to share risk and collaboratively revise strategies.”
Many see reasons for continued optimism. While the energy storage sector navigates supply strain, demand for its services is set to rise sharply due to the country’s exploding load growth and aging grid infrastructure. The burgeoning data center industry requires high uptimes and short- and long-term reliability from energy providers in order to grow, making energy storage an increasingly essential solution.
However, the report also emphasizes that uncertainty remains one of the primary barriers to progress and attracting investment.
Market actors report a complicated and tumultuous chapter in the ongoing rollout of utility-scale energy storage, with a number of critical obstacles unresolved.
Foremost among these are the tariff hikes on China — the source of the majority of the world’s battery components — and compliance with FEOC rules, which exclude entities linked to adversarial nations, particularly China, from the benefits of U.S. energy tax incentives. Investors underlined the difficulty of forecasting scenarios given that the supply chain capacity needed for U.S. energy storage currently far exceeds what can realistically be manufactured domestically. Tom Cornell, CEO of BESS supplier Prevalon, described the FEOC rules as “handicapping the industry pretty significantly.”
Still, tailwinds such as robust demand for grid flexibility, supportive federal incentives, and growing bipartisan recognition of the strategic value of energy storage are helping the sector push forward. Its clear value proposition for grid reliability, economic development, and national security has meant energy storage retains an integral role in the U.S.’ energy future. For these reasons, energy storage has — and will continue to — march on.
To read the full report, visit: “Brave New World: What’s Next for US Energy Storage After OBBBA and Amid Continued Tariff Risk?”
Troutman Pepper Locke’s market-leading energy practice helps clients with their most important and complex matters throughout the U.S. and beyond. Whether electric power, oil and gas, or emerging technologies, the cross-discipline team is equipped to handle any related matters, drawing on the depth of the firm’s knowledge in the market. Troutman Pepper Locke regularly advises electric utilities, independent power producers, banks, upstream and midstream companies and service companies, private equity funds, and other public and private corporations. Learn more at energylawinsights.com.
About Troutman Pepper Locke
Troutman Pepper Locke helps clients solve complex legal challenges and achieve their business goals in an ever-changing global economy. With more than 1,600 attorneys in 30+ offices, the firm serves clients in all major industry sectors, with particular depth in energy, financial services, health care and life sciences, insurance and reinsurance, private equity, and real estate. Learn more at troutman.com.
ATLANTA – Brandon Marzo, leader of Troutman Pepper Locke’s Energy Regulatory Practice Group, has been named the 2025 State Regulatory Practitioner of the Year by the Energy Bar Association (EBA). This prestigious honor recognizes Marzo’s outstanding representation of clients before state regulatory agencies and his significant contributions to the advancement of energy law.
The EBA State/Provincial Regulatory Practitioner Award is presented annually to individuals whose practice before U.S. or Canadian provincial regulatory agencies has produced significant results or recognition. Recipients are recognized for their professional competence, leadership, and substantial contributions to the field of energy law, whether through private practice, government service, academia, or legislative activities.
Marzo’s dedication to his clients and active participation in the state energy regulatory process have set him apart as a leader in the field. His work has not only produced significant results for clients but has also helped to enhance the professional standards and development of energy law in the states where he practices.
A sought-after thought leader in the energy sector, Marzo is widely recognized for effectively representing clients in matters involving regulatory approvals before state commissions. He has particular experience working on rate cases, fuel cases, and integrated resource planning cases; certifications of new generation, including new nuclear generation; RFPs for purchase power; certifications and RFPs for renewable resources; and qualifying facility contracting processes. Marzo has also helped clients with their regulatory matters in the natural gas industry, specifically in Georgia’s deregulated retail natural gas market.
Marzo, who has been top-ranked by Chambers USA since 2009, brings an informed, inside perspective to his practice. Before joining the firm, he served as an attorney for the Georgia Public Service Commission, where he focused primarily in the area of natural gas regulation, including matters involving state retail deregulation, pipeline safety, and violations of consumer rights. Prior to that, Marzo worked as an attorney with Georgia’s Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs; he later assisted the governor and legislators with the development of the Consumers’ Relief Act of 2002.
Marzo was presented with the State Regulatory Practitioner of the Year Award at the EBA Fall Energy Forum on Sept. 16, 2025.
Troutman Pepper Locke
Troutman Pepper Locke helps clients solve complex legal challenges and achieve their business goals in an ever-changing global economy. With more than 1,600 attorneys in 30+ offices, the firm serves clients in all major industry sectors, with particular depth in energy, financial services, health care and life sciences, insurance and reinsurance, private equity, and real estate. Learn more at troutman.com.