Phillip A. Casey

A Partner with the firm and Co-Chair of Calfee's Energy and Utilities practice group, Phil has significant experience formulating comprehensive regulatory strategies across multiple jurisdictions, major litigation management, incident response leadership and public company merger transactions. He delivers outstanding value by providing sound advice and frequently better-than-anticipated results across a wide range of business and legal challenges.

Phil previously served as Vice President of Administration and General Counsel for Prairie State Generating Company, where he also served as a member of the senior leadership team.

He developed legal operations systems from the ground up and was responsible for establishing legal strategy and managing day-to-day legal services, resolving legacy litigation, creating the framework for game-changing environmental regulatory permitting, enhancing collaboration and transparency, creating a new board member onboarding program and leading the comprehensive revision of corporate policies and vendor agreements.

He also served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel/Regulatory for NiSource as a member of the legal department leadership team. He provided proactive and strategic counsel to three business units in eight states at both the state and federal levels, while also breaking down silos and creating and executing on policy alignment initiatives. Notably, Phil and his team of regulatory lawyers beat “plan” in nine rate cases.

Prior to joining NiSource, Phil was a partner at Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal (now Dentons) where he counseled utilities on economic regulation and reliability standards at both state and federal levels. Phil began his career first as an Administrative Law Judge, then as General Counsel of the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Phil joined Calfee in 2019. In 2023, Phil joined the firm's Practice Planning & Growth Committee.

Education

J.D., The John Marshall Law School, 1988

B.S., Illinois State University, 1984

Experience

• Developed multistate rate case strategies aligning positions between state utilities; overcame disjointed positions historically taken by different utilities within parent.
• Successfully negotiated resolution of OSHA action based on alleged lockout/tagout violations; obtained reduction in severity of all willful citations and a reduction in fine by 40%; responsible for legal strategy, discovery, witness preparation, and negotiation.
• Resolved utility tax overcharge for incorrect assessment of municipal taxes; worked with incumbent utility and local municipality to secure repayment program that considered economic stresses faced by municipality.
• Led the prosecution of a FERC interstate pipeline rate case, exceeding internal goals and obtaining $100,000 award against an Intervenor for frivolous claims.
• Obtained state regulatory commission approval allowing incumbent carrier to withdraw mandatory yet uneconomic services, saving millions of dollars annually and reducing paper waste.
• Led the successful negotiation of FERC audit penalty, achieving a 70% reduction in amount sought by Enforcement.
• Managed to conclusion the legal regulatory response to significant pipeline incidents before PHMSA; in each instance, result bested internal goals.
• Successfully negotiated resolution of OSHA regulatory action brought after work-related amputation; obtained reduction in severity level and fine; responsible for legal strategy, discovery, witness preparation, and negotiation.
• Obtained Illinois’s first ever order approving gas energy efficiency program; primarily responsible for rate design securing substantial increase in fixed-cost recovery, and team attained second-largest increase in company history.
• Achieved reversal of $25 million rate base ruling in rate case proceeding; primarily responsible for rate design and the recovery of costs associated with securing/hardening facilities.
• Created administrative rules for adversarial proceedings for a regional reliability authority.

Professional & Community

• Midwest Energy Association – Legal, Regulatory, and Governmental Affairs, Chair 
• Energy Bar Association, Finance, Transaction & Investment Steering Committee, Member
• The Chicago Bar Association, Public Utility Section, Member
• Indiana State Bar Association, Public Utility Section, Member
• Franciscan Alliance Foundation, Trustee
• St. Anthony Hospital, Community Board Committee, Human Relations Mission/Vision Committee
• Frankfort Youth Athletic Association, Vice President, Secretary, Board Member
• Bloom Township Education Foundation, President, Vice President, Trustee

Presentations and Speeches

• “Reactive to Proactive – Changing How Inside Counsel Provides Services,” ACC (2013 & 2014)
• “Reliability,” Energy Bar Association (2008)
• “Implementation Group Report,” Post 2006 Rate Freeze Initiative Report (2004)
• “Decoupling, the Regulators Perspective," Midwest Energy Association (2004)
• ”Ex Parte Communications,” Chicago Bar Association (2004)
• “Implementation of 2003 State Ethics Reform,” Chicago Bar Association (2003)