Donald G. Kari
Don has successfully represented the firm's energy and utility clients for more than 30 years.
Don Kari focuses on state and federal public utility regulation, energy power marketing, energy regulation and policy, contract and administrative law, commercial transactions and energy law.
Areas of focus
Education & Credentials
Education
- Stanford Law School, J.D., 1972
- Stanford University, M.B.A., 1972
- Stanford University, B.S., Engineering, with great distinction, Tau Beta Pi, 1967
Bar and Court Admissions
-
Washington
- Supreme Court of the United States
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
Professional Recognition
Ranked by Chambers USA, as “America’s Leading Lawyers" for Energy & Natural Resource, 2021-2024
Ranked by Chambers USA, as a "Senior Statespeople," 2022-2024
Listed in Washington Law & Politics, “Washington's Super Lawyers", 2012-2014
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America: Energy Law, 1993-2025
Listed in Super Lawyers, 2007-2014
*Peer Review Rated AV in Martindale-Hubbell
(AV®, BV® and CV® are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies.)
Impact
Professional Leadership
- Edison Electric Institute Legal Committee
- Stanford Alumni Association, Puget Sound Chapter
News
Professional Experience
Energy
Energy Regulation and Policy
Work involving:
- Transmission
- Power
- Renewable energy integration
- Rulemaking and policy development
- Jointly owned facilities
- Numerous Bonneville Power Administration and FERC proceedings
- NERC reliability standards
Electric Transmission
- Worked on development of a comprehensive program for coordinated regional and interregional planning of electric transmission facilities.
- Worked on contractual arrangements for joint ownership and operation of major electric transmission facilities.
Bonneville Power Administration Residential Exchange Program
Numerous, lengthy proceedings (1980 - present) to determine and repeatedly adjust billing credits for residential customers of utilities.
Clatskanie People's Utility District v. Bonneville Power Administration
Successfully defended the Bonneville Power Administration's award of interim benefits under the Residential Exchange Program of the Northwest Power Act to our client, Puget Sound Energy Inc. and other investor-owned utilities. At our urging, the Ninth Circuit dismissed the petition for review on grounds that the petitioner had not been injured and accordingly lacked standing to complain. 2009 WL 1391548 (9th Cir. 2009)
Energy Project Permitting and Development
- Represented utility with ownership in major proposed new nuclear generation station in Washington state.
- Worked on permitting, equipment acquisition and construction contracts for other electric generating projects.
Bonneville Power Administration Residential Exchange Program Cases
Representing Puget Sound Energy Inc. and working with counsel for other Pacific Northwest investor-owned utilities in a series of cases involving the Residential Exchange Program and other aspects of the Northwest Power Act.