Energy Spotlight: Jay Hammond
In a depressed natural gas market in which every dollar counts for drillers, Jay Hammond tries to help people make deals efficiently.
The attorney joined Downtown Pittsburgh-based Babst Calland last month and advises energy companies on transactions including leasing, joint venture agreements, and mergers and acquisitions.
“The price of gas is obviously a concern, so what happens is you have to be much more efficient if you're going to be deploying lots of capital,” said Hammond, 43, of Fox Chapel.
Low prices prompt more demand for mutually beneficial deals between companies, he said.
“The opportunity for cooperation is pretty high, especially in the low-cost environment when you can't be throwing money away,” he said.
Hammond got his start in energy law at Consol Energy Inc. when the Cecil-based company began its gas arm, CNX. He helped craft the agreements between the two sides that outlined the rights and responsibilities of Consol and then-CNX. He moved to CNX as an in-house attorney in 2005, then to Atlas Energy in 2008, and most recently was at Chevron Corp.
He enjoys the transaction work, writing the legal framework for deals at Babst Calland, and said he chose the law firm for its strong presence across several aspects of energy law. The firm has attorneys specializing in real estate, land use, construction, titles, litigation, and environmental and regulatory compliance.
“There are certainly some significant regulatory challenges that are out there,” he said, noting an ongoing rewrite of the state's so-called Chapter 78 environmental rules for gas drilling. “Chapter 78 is something the industry is watching very carefully.”
Hammond, a native of Exeter, N.H., rowed in college at Harvard and while earning a graduate degree from Oxford in England. He was the rowing coach for Central Catholic High School in Oakland since 2002, just stepping down this spring so he could stay home with his kids, William, 6, and Isla, 5, on weekends. His wife, Christy Wiegand, is a lawyer with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh.
“The rowing was really a very significant effort in addition to my regular job. It could be as much as 20 hours per week,” he said.
Hammond taught a course at the University of Pittsburgh Law School on energy and regulation last year. Working for a law firm instead of being a corporate in-house attorney affords him flexibility, so he hopes to get involved in other activities.
“Because of the nature of working for a number of clients, you tend to have a little more flexibility in doing things with your life, rather than going to the office,” he said.
