Jude N. Leblanc
Jude Leblanc structures, drafts, and negotiates complex commercial transactions across the energy and infrastructure sectors, with a primary focus on the United States and Latin America. Over more than 25 years of practice, Jude has led the negotiation and execution of numerous project development contracts, including engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreements for significant industrial, energy, data center, and nuclear generation facilities (both large-scale and SMR) and related infrastructure. He also advises on large-scale equipment purchase agreements, project and corporate finance transactions, M&A deals, and joint venture consortium agreements. Fluent in English, French, and Spanish, Jude brings a multilingual perspective to cross-border transactions.
Jude has led transactions in the renewable energy, gas-fired power, nuclear power, data center, mining, oil and gas, petrochemical, chemical, carbon capture, and telecommunications industries across the United States, Canada, and Latin America.
Beyond structuring and negotiating numerous multibillion-dollar EPC contracts, Jude brings a deep background in negotiating large capital supply agreements for US offshore wind projects with leading European suppliers and contractors. Jude also advises global power industry vendors on nuclear equipment procurements and development agreements with major reactor and services providers, as well as petrochemical and oil and gas equipment procurements and technology development agreements.
Before returning to private practice, Jude spent more than a decade in senior legal leadership roles at global engineering and construction company Fluor Corporation, including as vice president, law.
- Negotiated contracts for the development and construction of several power projects with a large domestic utility, with an aggregate contract value of over $10 billion
- Negotiated contracts for the development and construction of two methanol plants with an aggregate value close to $5 billion
- Structured and negotiated collaboration and joint development agreements with several partners and investors for the first NRC-approved small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) technology and the negotiation of partnering agreements with its first commercial customer
- Represented an independent power producer in the drafting and negotiation of an EPC contract for substations and switchyards connecting nuclear power generation facilities with data centers
- Represented a utility client in the drafting, RFP process administration, and negotiation of innovative build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) agreements for the development, construction, operation, and transfer of three battery storage projects (79 MW, 50 MW and 50 MW, respectively) on Long Island, NY
- Represented an American utility in the development of RFPs, evaluation of bids, and drafting and negotiation of EPC contracts for six battery energy storage facilities in Virginia totaling 230 MW
- Represented an American utility in the development of RFPs, evaluation of bids, and drafting and negotiation of EPC contracts and turbine supply agreements for a 78-MW and a 50-MW natural gas-fired generating facility in South Carolina
- Drafted and negotiated EPC contracts, ESS supply agreements, ESS long-term services agreements, and O&M agreements for a developer for three utility-scale battery storage facilities in Texas totaling 545 MW
- Structured and negotiated EPC and supply contracts for the development of a 2,600 MW utility scale offshore wind project on the East Coast of the United States
- Structured and negotiated contracts for the construction of a nuclear power plant in South Carolina (project cost of $9 billion) and a nuclear power plant in Georgia (project cost $25 billion)
- Negotiated terms of a master services agreement for engineering and construction services for a major lithium producer’s lithium processing plants in Chile, Australia, Argentina, and China
- Negotiated terms of an engineering and construction agreement for a new refinery in Mexico with a project cost of more than $8 billion
- Negotiated terms of supply agreements for a multibillion-dollar offshore wind project off the East Coast of the United States
- Negotiated an engineering and construction agreement for a large renewable energy developer’s 250 MW solar project in Riverside County, California
- Negotiated a master services agreement for engineering and project management services with a major international oil company for its capital projects in Alask
- Cornell University, 1988, B.A.
- University of Colorado Law School, 1997, J.D.
- Texas
- California
- Colorado
Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Construction Law, Texas (2024–2026)