For the past decade, Heidi Werntz has had the pleasure of serving as an adjunct professor for MSU Law, originally team-teaching an energy law course, and now enthusiastically championing MSU Law’s vibrant DC externship program.

Heidi is an Attorney-Advisor at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Office of General Counsel, responsible for authoring decisions on major litigated matters.  In 2016, Heidi was selected along with a handful of other attorneys to spearhead a new group specializing in orders on rehearing – the last line of administrative defense prior to review of Commission action in federal court.  In addition to her advisory duties, she assisted the Commission negotiate a memorandum of understanding between FERC and the National Energy Administration of the People’s Republic of China, providing a foundation for cooperation on issues of common interest to both agencies.  Prior to joining FERC, Heidi was Counsel at Preston Gates and Huber Lawrence & Abell, from 2000-2004; and an associate at Skadden 1994-2000.  She clerked for the Honorable Diane G. Weinstein at the United States Court of Federal Claims.

She has an A.B. from Brown (History and Chinese, 1985); a Masters’ degree from Yale (East Asian Languages and Literature, 1989); and a J.D. from Catholic University Columbus School of Law (1992).  Her awards include a Rotary Fellowship and the John H. Fanning labor law writing prize.  Heidi was honored to participate in the Yale Climate and Energy Institute’s First Annual Conference in 2010 (her panel focused on providing incentives for constructing transmission for renewable resources; see http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol28/iss2/2.  Her most recent publication is Counting on Chevron?, 38:2 Energy L.J. 229 (2017).