new hire

Global law firm names partner to build growing infrastructure, energy transition business

Weil, Gotshal & Manges announced infrastructure lawyer Jacqui Bogucki has returned to the firm. Photo via weil.com

An international law firm has named a new partner in the Houston office to help build its growing infrastructure and energy transition capabilities

Weil, Gotshal & Manges announced infrastructure lawyer Jacqui Bogucki has returned to the firm.

"Jacqui will be an extremely valuable addition to our growing Houston team,” says Weil Executive Partner Barry Wolf in a news release. “Her significant infrastructure experience – including in the digital sector – and strong relationships with leading investment professionals will help to advance our fast-growing infrastructure and energy transition capabilities, and will be an immediate value-add to our clients globally.”

She will advise private equity sponsors and strategic clients on a wide range of corporate transactions. Her focus will include infrastructure, digital, technology, energy transition, and oil and gas sectors. Previously, Bogucki was a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Her previous stint at Weil was from 2014 through 2018.

“I am so pleased to have the opportunity to return to Weil, where I began my legal career,” says Bogucki in a news release. “It is an incredibly exciting time to be joining the Firm as it further builds out its infrastructure and energy transition capabilities. I look forward to reconnecting with former colleagues and leveraging my experience to provide the highest quality service to our clients.”

Since 2023, notable energy partners Omar Samji, Chris Bennett, Cody Carper, and Irina Tsveklova have joined Weil in Houston – with Steven Lorch joining in New York just last month.

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A View From HETI

The project would nearly eliminate the emissions associated with power and steam generation at the Dow plant in Seadrift, Texas. Getty Images

Dow, a major producer of chemicals and plastics, wants to use next-generation nuclear reactors for clean power and steam at a Texas manufacturing complex instead of natural gas.

Dow's subsidiary, Long Mott Energy, applied Monday to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a construction permit. It said the project with X-energy, an advanced nuclear reactor and fuel company, would nearly eliminate the emissions associated with power and steam generation at its plant in Seadrift, Texas, avoiding roughly 500,000 metric tons of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions annually.

If built and operated as planned, it would be the first U.S. commercial advanced nuclear power plant for an industrial site, according to the NRC.

For many, nuclear power is emerging as an answer to meet a soaring demand for electricity nationwide, driven by the expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence, manufacturing and electrification, and to stave off the worst effects of a warming planet. However, there are safety and security concerns, the Union of Concerned Scientists cautions. The question of how to store hazardous nuclear waste in the U.S. is unresolved, too.

Dow wants four of X-energy's advanced small modular reactors, the Xe-100. Combined, those could supply up to 320 megawatts of electricity or 800 megawatts of thermal power. X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell said the project would demonstrate how new nuclear technology can meet the massive growth in electricity demand.

The Seadrift manufacturing complex, at about 4,700 acres, has eight production plants owned by Dow and one owned by Braskem. There, Dow makes plastics for a variety of uses including food and beverage packaging and wire and cable insulation, as well as glycols for antifreeze, polyester fabrics and bottles, and oxide derivatives for health and beauty products.

Edward Stones, the business vice president of energy and climate at Dow, said submitting the permit application is an important next step in expanding access to safe, clean, reliable, cost-competitive nuclear energy in the United States. The project is supported by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

The NRC expects the review to take three years or less. If a permit is issued, construction could begin at the end of this decade, so the reactors would be ready early in the 2030s, as the natural gas-fired equipment is retired.

A total of four applicants have asked the NRC for construction permits for advanced nuclear reactors. The NRC issued a permit to Abilene Christian University for a research reactor and to Kairos Power for one reactor and two reactor test versions of that company's design. It's reviewing an application by Bill Gates and his energy company, TerraPower, to build an advanced reactor in Wyoming.

X-energy is also collaborating with Amazon to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear power projects online across the United States by 2039, beginning in Washington state. Amazon and other tech giants have committed to using renewable energy to meet the surging demand from data centers and artificial intelligence and address climate change.

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