R. Taylor Speer

Practice Areas

Taylor Speer is an energy lawyer who focuses on advising and litigating for electric utility customers, independent power producers and special interest groups. Taylor also maintains a state and federal litigation practice.

Energy

Taylor has represented solar and energy storage developers in interconnection disputes, and supported regulatory approval of over 750 MWs of new solar generation and related transmission. He frequently consults on regulatory compliance for independent power producers. Taylor is passionate about developing distributed energy resources for commercial and industrial utility customers. For these clients, Taylor has litigated net metering and PURPA claims before regulators including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and served as regulatory counsel for national microgrid projects. Taylor is well versed in utility planning, appearing on behalf of utility customers and special interest groups, and achieved rejection of a utility’s first fully litigated resource planning proceeding on behalf of his client, following an eight-day trial.

Taylor is a frequent contributor to the public dialogue on clean energy and was cited in filings with the U.S. Supreme Court related to voluntary cleanup of brownfields.

Litigation

Employers rely on Taylor to protect their interests in litigation involving allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination, as well as violations of fair housing, wage-and-hour, immigration and consumer protection laws. His successful representations include trying an employment case to jury verdict in federal court and arguing for an employer in a federal court of appeal. He also advises and counsels businesses on a broad range of multistate business litigation, particularly lawsuits involving business torts and other deals gone bad.

Career

Prior to joining Fox Rothschild, Taylor was a shareholder in the Greenville office of a regional law firm. Before that, he was partner at a boutique firm in Florida. Taylor served as a law clerk at two different firms while earning his law degree.

Professional Memberships

Haynsworth-Perry American Inn of Court | Green Ribbon Advisory Committee for City of Greenville | Member of the Board, Conservation Voters of South Carolina | E4 Carolinas: Task Force for South Carolina Clean Energy Industries (formerly South Carolina Clean Energy Business Alliance Advisory Committee).

Personal

Florida Coastal School of Law (J.D.) | University of Colorado Leeds School of Business (B.S.)

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Bar Admissions: South Carolina, Florida