TCS Professionals

With 15 years of in-house counsel experience, Director and Trading Counsel, Nicole Russell has proven expertise in crafting pragmatic and commercial legal solutions for clients. Ms. Russell has represented in-house clients including energy trading companies, utility holding companies, supply trading organizations, an international conglomerate trading business and an investment bank. With this experience has come a deep understanding of the differing commercial and legal needs of many different commodity market participants. Ms. Russell was the divisional General Counsel and Global Compliance Officer for an international trading company and brings an integrated company-wide approach to her advisement taking into account financing and corporate governance considerations.

Ms. Russell has been an active participant in industry working groups including ISDA, LEAP, EEI and NAESB. She is an active participant on International Energy Credit Association working groups and committees. Ms. Russell was a founding member of the Women’s Network for Energy, Environment and Transportation and a founding board member of the Chicago Chapter of the Women’s Energy Network. Ms. Russell is the annual co-chair of the American Conference Institute’s Women Leaders in Energy and Environmental Law Conference. An active speaker, Ms. Russell has provided training to the industry on Dodd Frank, practical compliance solutions for in-house counsel, FERC natural gas capacity release rules and master agreement negotiation. She is a member of the New York, Georgia and Louisiana Bars.

Jen is a dedicated, collaborative, and results-driven career contract management professional with a track record in organizing and streamlining the contract negotiation process from initiation through execution. She has a multi-commodity background in natural gas, power, oil, refined products, coal, RECs, and derivatives from her past roles with AIG, Sempra, Louis Dreyfus Energy (now Castleton Commodities) and, most recently, Freepoint Commodities. Jen’s knowledge and expertise includes the review and negotiation of standardized energy trading agreements including ISDA, NAESB, GasEDI, EEI, WSPP, as well as related credit support agreements, guarantees, broker agreements, GTCs, assignment agreements, netting agreements, and confidentiality agreements. Jen has been a participating member of the International Energy Credit Association (IECA) since 2010 and is a member of the Contracts & Legal Education Group; the Contract Administration Work Group, as well as a long term volunteer with the Marketing & Communications Committee.