Top Lawyers: Amie Colby of Troutman Pepper On The 5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law

An Interview With Chere Estrin

Education — The electric industry is complicated. A successful lawyer needs to educate themselves not only with the law but also on the entire business. For example, it is important to understand the engineering required to produce and transport electricity. The electric grid (i.e., the transmission and distribution system) is an engineering marvel, and to provide sound legal advice it is important to understand the technical aspects of how the grid functions.

The legal field is known to be extremely competitive. Lawyers are often smart, ambitious, and highly educated. That being said, what does it take to stand out and become a “Top Lawyer” in your specific field of law? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law”, we are talking to top lawyers who share what it takes to excel and stand out in your industry.

As a part of this interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amie Colby.

Amie Colby is a partner and chair of the Regulatory and Finance Department at Troutman Pepper. She also serves on the firm’s Management Team and Policy Committee. Amie’s practice focuses on representing clients in the energy industry before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), with particular experience with vertically-integrated utilities, developers, and transmission-related issues.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit more. What is the “backstory” that brought you to this particular career path in Law? Did you want to be an attorney “when you grew up”?

I was always interested in the law. My father was a litigator at a law firm in St. Louis. As litigators do, he always had interesting stories to tell about his work. However, when I graduated from college, I wanted to work for a couple of years before deciding if I wanted to pursue a career in the law. Taking time away from school was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Can you tell us a bit about the nature of your practice and what you focus on?

I am a regulatory attorney that specializes in electricity. The bulk of my practice is before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, mostly for utilities and developers.

You are a successful attorney. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? What unique qualities do you have that others may not? Can you please share a story or example for each?

The three character traits that I think have been most instrumental to my career are determination, collaboration, and a sense of humor.

• Being a lawyer is both personally and intellectually rewarding but to be a success, you must be determined. Determined to work hard, determined to find the right answers, determined to meet the needs of your clients, determined to assist your colleagues — the list goes on.
• Much of being a lawyer is working alone researching and drafting documents. However, being willing to collaborate and exchange ideas with colleagues and clients always makes for a better work product and solution.
• A sense of humor is key to being a lawyer — it makes everything better. If you can’t laugh at recording your day in six-minute increments, it will be a very long career.

Do you think you have had luck in your success? Can you explain what you mean?

Yes. I absolutely believe I have been the beneficiary of luck. I have a framed poster of my university (Vanderbilt) in my office which I have had since I was a young associate. By chance, the former chair of my firm and I attended the same university. This poster jump-started my relationship with the former chair. Then as a young partner, the chair asked me to take over as the office managing partner in Washington, D.C. Without that poster, I do not think the former chair would have known me well enough to choose me for such a role. The opportunity to serve as office managing partner really broadened my skill set and allowed me to grow both as a lawyer and a leader, and has allowed me to take on other leadership roles within the firm.

Do you think where you went to school has any bearing on your success? How important is it for a lawyer to go to a top-tier school?

Overall, I do think schools can open doors especially as a young lawyer. However, once you have developed your craft and skillsets and have gained a particular area of expertise, the question of where you went to school almost never comes up. I would suspect that the bulk of my clients do not know where I went to school and are hiring me because of my expertise — not my schooling.

Based on the lessons you have learned from your experience, if you could go back in time and speak to your twenty-year-old self, what would you say? Would you do anything differently?

I would tell my twenty-year-old self to keep at it and keep trying. I feel incredibly blessed to have had the interesting career that I have had. At the age of twenty, I did not have the vision to see where I was going and have been very lucky to have been given such interesting opportunities.

This is not easy work. What is your primary motivation and drive behind the work that you do?

I love collaborating with clients and my colleagues to find solutions to problems.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

The generation evolution has been extraordinary. When I started in this business, coal was king. Now renewable have taken over the throne. The regulations are not keeping up with the technology which allows for unique and creative legal strategies. For example, batteries can provide multiple uses to the electric system but the regulations on these multiple uses are still being developed.

Where do you go from here? Where do you aim to be in the next chapter of your career?

I have been at Troutman Pepper (previously Troutman Sanders) for my entire legal career. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities and challenges of working for clients and in a law firm. Most of all, I feel blessed to be able to work with smart, talented, and interesting clients and with my wonderful colleagues at the firm. I hope to continue my career at Troutman Pepper while continuing to grow not only as a lawyer but also as a person.

Ok, fantastic. Let’s now shift to discussing some advice for aspiring lawyers. Do you work remotely? Onsite? Or Hybrid? What do you think will be the future of how law offices operate? What do you prefer? Can you please explain what you mean?

I am working a hybrid schedule right now with some days in the office and some days at home. I see this as the future of law offices. We have shown that being fully virtual is possible but being fully virtual, to me, is not ideal. Part of what makes work enjoyable is the camaraderie at the office. The camaraderie is not the same in a fully virtual office. The Energy Team in the Washington, D.C. office has tried to coordinate our days in the office, and it has made a world of difference in keeping up with projects, exchanging ideas, and bringing the fun back to the practice of law.

How has the legal world changed since COVID? How do you think it might change in the near future? Can you explain what you mean?

One of the biggest changes is that conference calls are now all video calls. At the start of Covid, I took a lot of calls while walking outside. Now, however, almost all calls have turned into Teams, Zoom, or Webex where we have to be in front of our computer. It can make for a long day to have to be “on camera” all day. Second, the pace of the work has changed. There used to be built-in commuting time, social time, home time — but that has all changed and there is no beginning, middle, or end of the day. It is just non-stop work.

We often hear about the importance of networking and getting referrals. Is this still true today? Has the nature of networking changed or has its importance changed? Can you explain what you mean?

Yes, networking continues to be important. While the nature of networking obviously changed during Covid, it is still important to connect with current clients and attempt to meet new ones. There is no substitute for the personal connection.

Moreover, it is important to know other attorneys in your industry. The Energy Bar is a small one. I know many of the attorneys at other firms in the same practice area and sometimes because of conflicts or the like, we refer work to each other.

Based on your experience, how can attorneys effectively leverage social media to build their practice?

I am not the poster child for building my practice through social media. However, I have seen my colleagues successfully obtain business from podcasts that they produce or articles that they have written and then posted on LinkedIn or tweeted on social media platforms. This type of connection will continue to grow in importance especially as the Baby Boomer and Gen X folks retire and the younger generations take over leadership roles within companies.

Excellent. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law?” Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Education — The electric industry is complicated. A successful lawyer needs to educate themselves not only with the law but also on the entire business. For example, it is important to understand the engineering required to produce and transport electricity. The electric grid (i.e., the transmission and distribution system) is an engineering marvel, and to provide sound legal advice it is important to understand the technical aspects of how the grid functions.

2. Understanding — To provide the best legal counseling it is important to not only be educated about the utility system, but it is important to understand the utility business as a whole, not just the federal regulations that are part of my particular expertise. Utilities are heavily regulated at both the state and federal level and sometimes these regulations are at odds with each other. Understanding the different pressures the business is under at all levels allows me to provide more informed counseling to clients.

3. Creativity — As the technology evolves so does the regulation. As clients face new challenges, it is important to think creatively about solving the problem. Many times, this involves working with the regulator to come up with a good solution. This can be in utilizing prior FERC precedent but deploying it in new ways. FERC actively wants to ensure new technologies have an opportunity but, of course, also has to ensure the new technologies are being deployed in a just and reasonable manner.

4. Interest — It really helps to have an interest in the field you are working in. I find the electricity sector and the fact that it is constantly evolving and changing to be of keen interest. I cannot imagine working day after day if the subject matter did not interest me.

5. Perseverance — The legal business at times can be draining, challenging, and exhausting. Perseverance is key to get through the hard days.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

It is hard to narrow it down with so many interesting people in the world. I would be very interested to have lunch with Sara Blakely — the founder and creator of Spanx. As a female entrepreneur that developed and created a billion-dollar company while having four children, I would be fascinated to have a conversation with her about her inner drive, her leadership style, the challenges she faced, the mistakes she made, and how all of it led her to became a wildly successful business person. Just this week, she announced that she was selling Spanx to Blackstone.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!