The Trump administration is expected to call on major U.S. technology companies and data center developers to voluntarily commit to a compact designed to ensure power-needy data centers do not raise household electricity prices or undermine grid reliability.[1] The initiative comes amid a nationwide surge in energy demand, driven largely by the rapid proliferation
Managing Legal Risk when Implementing AI: Examining the Promise + Pitfalls of Artificial Intelligence in Real Estate + Construction (Properties Magazine)
One can hardly turn on the television today without being inundated by artificial intelligence (AI), whether in the form of commercials during the big game, as the lead segment on the news, or through advertisements on your favorite podcast, or elsewhere. AI is all around us, and yet, its practical uses in everyday life –
A More Efficacious Way to Measure Greenhouse Gas Emissions
As an environmental attorney who spends much of my time advising business owners, I have learned an immutable truth: markets work best when the rules are clear, fair, and grounded in reality. Environmental policy is no exception. Contrary to the prevailing narrative in popular media, the global business community has not uniformly shifted away from
Government Contracting in 2026: Key Legal & Compliance Risks
As federal agencies continue to navigate budget constraints, geopolitical uncertainty, workforce shortages, and rapid technological change, government contractors entering 2026 face an increasingly complex legal and enforcement environment. Recent case law, agency guidance, and enforcement activity reflect a clear trend: Contractors are being held to higher standards of documentation, transparency, and internal controls across the
WARNING: This Product Contains an Ingredient Not Recommended for Human Consumption …
Businesses across the country face a consequential legal and commercial crossroads as Texas Senate Bill 25, branded the Make Texas Healthy Again Act, thrusts state level food labeling regulation into uncharted constitutional and regulatory territory. The stakes are high: companies that manufacture, market, or sell food products may soon confront unprecedented warning requirements that could
Trump Administration and Mid-Atlantic Region Governors Announce Emergency Reliability Action Targeting Data Center Load Growth
by Stephen J. Humes and Jason Drogin Atwood
On Friday, President Donald Trump—together with governors across key Mid-Atlantic Region states—announced a new initiative aimed at addressing soaring electricity demand driven by large‑scale AI and cloud‑computing data centers. This joint federal-state initiative directs the regional wholesale power grid operator, PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM)1, to
Some Dystopic Thoughts for the New Year
Things are looking pretty sweet out there right now, aren’t they? The economy seems immune to all the handwringing over jobs and inflation. The stock market is on fire. The financial community, including but certainly not limited to the commercial real estate finance community, is doing cartwheels over the expectation that 2026 will be the year we’ve been
Why Electricity Will Be the Number One Environmental Issue of 2026
Energy, especially electricity, will define environmental law and policy in 2026
Authorship and Data Disclosure Risks in Construction and Design
Originally published to the Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce on December 18, 2025
Contractors and design professionals are rapidly incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) technology into their work. We construction lawyers are striving to keep up with the breakneck pace of technological adoption and evolution and develop ways to protect against emerging risks. During this period
FERC’s New Order on Data Center Co-Location: What Utilities Need to Know
On December 18, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
issued a pivotal order to PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest regional wholesale power grid operator running the transmission system in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Order intends to help reshape how large loads—especially data centers—connect to the grid in the face of