Public & Regulatory Law

Winstead's Public & Regulatory Law Practice Group operates at the intersection of business and government.  Members of the practice group have extensive experience in guiding clients through the maze of government regulation and in protecting them from the vagaries of government requirements.

With nearly 300 years of collective experience, our attorneys have a thorough understanding of the government's inner workings and access to extensive networks of personal and professional relationships among government officials and agencies.  Our attorneys have served as staff members for governors, U.S. senators and House members, as well as staff members for many state officials at the state legislature and a variety of state agencies.  By virtue of experience, we understand how government works and how public employees make decisions.  In our private practices, we have significant experience representing national and local companies on a variety of issues, including:

• Licensing, permitting and registration
• Entity organization and initial licensure
• Entity reorganizations for regulatory and tax purposes
• General corporate counsel and guidance
• Transaction documentation and concomitant approvals
• Risk finance and risk management
• Strategic counsel on regulatory and legislative issues
• Compliance and enforcement issues: negotiation and dispute resolution
• Mergers and acquisitions of regulated entities
• Rate applications, negotiated agreements and contested hearings
• National and international operational and organizational issues
• Federal, state and local tax issues and guidance
• Counsel with respect to ethics regulations and political action issues
• Appeals of agency decisions
• Agency procurement

Members of our Public & Regulatory Law team have represented clients in many states, and specifically, before every major state agency in the Texas government, including the Department of Insurance, Commission on Environmental Quality, Public Utility Commission, Railroad Commission, Lottery Commission, Electric Reliability Council, Office of Attorney General, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Water Development Board, Department of Banking, Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner, General Land Office, Department of Transportation, Real Estate Commission, Department of State Health Services, Department of Licensing and Regulation, Department of Agriculture, Credit Union Department, Department of Savings & Mortgage Lending, Education Agency, Employees Retirement System, Facilities Commission, Health and Human Services Commission, Board of Nursing, Medical Board, Board of Professional Engineers, State Board of Pharmacy, State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, Veterinary Medical Association, Teacher Retirement System and State Office of Administrative Hearings.

Our practice encompasses a diverse clientele, including midsize to large businesses and a wide variety of industries.  We represent insurance companies and agents, energy and power companies, companies dealing with environmental issues, banks and telecommunications companies.  Some of these companies are large and nationally recognized, while others are small and local in nature.  Whatever size or industry, our commitment is to provide a valuable service to each client.

We recognize the necessity of maintaining good relationships and therefore being able to work agreeably with regulators, but we also recognize the wisdom of being able to disagree with regulators without being disagreeable.  In both instances, our attorneys are capable, and their experience gives them the wisdom to know when each is best asserted.