Patrick McShane has a strong background in financial and transactional matters supporting large-scale infrastructure and energy projects. He advises clients on structuring, negotiating, and implementing complex commercial and project finance arrangements, including project development agreements, procurement and professional services contracts, power purchase agreements, and other documents critical to financing and delivering sophisticated projects.
Building on his transactional experience, Patrick focuses his practice on energy and energy transition matters, including renewable energy, sustainable fuels, renewable natural gas, energy storage, and related infrastructure. He represents clients in the development and financing of solar, sustainable aviation fuel, and waste-to-energy projects, and advises on permitting, tax incentives, and public and private financing strategies supporting energy project deployment.
Patrick also advises clients on environmental and regulatory issues that arise in connection with energy and infrastructure development. His experience includes counseling on compliance with the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and related state laws, as well as environmental permitting, enforcement, and risk allocation in transactions involving industrial, municipal, and energy facilities.
Patrick brings more than a decade of public-sector experience advising on the legal, financial, and policy frameworks that support major infrastructure and energy projects. Before joining a previous law firm, he worked as a Contract Specialist in Savannah, Georgia, supporting the Georgia Department of Transportation in the financial and contractual implementation of its multi-billion-dollar Major Mobility Investment Program. Prior to that role, Patrick served the City of Atlanta as Senior Assistant City Attorney, where he acted as environmental counsel on infrastructure, sustainability, and clean energy projects, and as Director of Policy and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Department of Watershed Management, overseeing legislative, regulatory, and policy initiatives. He began his public-sector career as a Legal and Regulatory Analyst at the Southern States Energy Board, advising on regional and national energy and environmental legislation and policy.
Representative Experience
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
- Drafted and negotiated project finance, procurement, and commercial agreements for complex infrastructure and energy projects, including equipment purchase, professional services, and construction related contracts.
- Negotiated Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC), Design Bid Build, and Construction Manager at Risk contracts for large scale water, transportation, and energy infrastructure projects.
- Prepared and negotiated project finance documents and power purchase agreements for utility scale solar projects and solar powered battery storage facilities in multiple states.
- Advised on negotiation and compliance with power purchase and interconnection agreements in support of renewable energy project development.
- Negotiated feedstock, offtake, operation and maintenance, and related commercial agreements for sustainable aviation fuel, renewable fuels, and renewable natural gas projects.
- Advised clients on securing private equity and public financing for energy transition projects, including programs administered by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Analyzed federal tax regulations and advised on the applicability of tax credits and incentives to renewable and clean energy projects.
- Negotiated ground leases, wastewater services purchase agreements, and management agreements supporting renewable natural gas, waste to energy, and energy recovery projects.
- Counseled clients on Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act compliance and permitting, including NPDES and Title V permits, in connection with energy and infrastructure facilities.
- Ensured compliance with Environmental Protection Agency consent decrees governing municipal combined sewer systems and municipal separate sewer systems.
- Drafted and negotiated solar energy procurement agreements enabling municipalities to finance and install solar facilities on public infrastructure.
- Advised on environmental due diligence, risk allocation, and compliance matters under CERCLA, RCRA, and analogous state laws in connection with project development, property acquisition, and infrastructure investment.
Thought Leadership
- Co-author "Trends for SAF financing and contract structures" SAF Magazine, October 2025
- Presentation - “Legal Issues Water Utilities Should Consider Before Using Artificial Intelligence,” National Association of Clean Water Agencies’ National Clean Water Law & Enforcement Seminar – November, 2023
- Published “Get the Lead Out!: Implementing the Lead and Copper Rule in Georgia” and “Eradicating Poverty and Promoting Sustainable Development” in the Fall 2016 GA Environmental Law Section Newsletter
- State Bar of Georgia, Environmental Law Section Leadership 2015 – 2018, Chair, 2018
Honors & Awards
- Recognized in Best Lawyers in America® Ones to Watch (BL Rankings), Environmental Law and Environmental Litigation, 2024 - present
