Farewell to Law Clerk Jack Watson

I suppose that all good things must come to an end. Such is the story with the departure of CUB’s now two-time Law Clerk, Jack Watson. I was introduced to Jack when he was a volunteer at CUB’s annual 2018 conference. His passion and enthusiasm for energy law was evident from the beginning, and by the next summer he had applied for a clerkship at CUB. After a competitive interview process, Jack’s application rose to the top of the pile due to his demonstrated commitment to CUB’s work and a better understanding of state utility regulation than most law students possess. Jack was able to hit the ground running, and his research proved invaluable in furthering our policy and litigation goals in several proceedings that summer.

Fast forward to the winter of 2019-2020, and the CUB regulatory staff and I discussed the possibility to bring on a law student as an extern to help at CUB several hours a week in addition to fulfilling other course work. Lucky for us, this for-academic-credit externship opportunity aligned well with Jack’s plans during his last semester of law school. Starting this past January, Jack was again able to hit the ground running with an in-depth understanding of the complex and niche work we do here at CUB. With that foundation, I was able to assign Jack complex research questions and assignments that would typically be reserved for an associate attorney. As always, Jack was able to turn around these projects with remarkable precision and accuracy.

For example, this past semester Jack has been working on a legal memorandum that will be critical as we enter into the contested case phase of UM 2024, an investigation into long-term direct access issues. This case has profound implications for residential customers. Under Oregon law, large industrial customers are given the option to largely leave the investor-owned utility’s system to purchase energy directly from suppliers on the market. This is known as “direct access”. However, since these customers leave behind a void in load that the utility has been planning for, the costs associated with that planned-for load are borne by direct access customers in the form of “transition charges.” Since Oregon’s direct access law prohibits the unwarranted shifting of costs to customers that are ineligible for direct access (i.e. residential customers), CUB is deeply invested in ensuring that these transition charges are accurately calculated. Jack’s research will help us pursue a favorable outcome for residential customers in a proceeding that has the potential to reap substantial savings for these customers.

Beyond the UM2024 proceeding, Jack helped in valuable ways with tackling the wide variety of regulatory issues that we address at CUB each day. He also worked admirably well with CUB staff as we have adapted to the new remote realities and unique challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We hope Jack’s experience at CUB has helped prepare him for what will undoubtedly be a long and successful career. Jack is finishing his last courses remotely to earn his J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law and will be taking the Oregon Bar Exam in July - or whenever it happens to be offered next. He hopes to practice energy or water law in Oregon or elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest region.

Please join us in thanking Jack for all his great work for CUB and wishing him the best in his future endeavors!

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