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Indeed, investment by venture capital funds in clean technologies is on the rise. Last year, private investment into the sector rose by roughly 85 per cent over the last two quarters, while contri- butions by venture capital firms in the United States have been increasing by an average of 18 per cent annually. The Par- is-based International Energy Agency, to which 27 countries officially belong, re- cently projected that $45 trillion would be spent globally on alternative energy technologies to cut carbon emissions in half by the year 2050. "That's in the range of a trillion a year," observes Blair Horn, a partner in Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP's securities and mergers and acquisitions group in Vancouver. "It's really something when you look at the money involved. The size of the market is just staggering." Clean tech is a catch-all term to de- scribe the development of environmen- tally friendly energy products and ser- vices that will serve to reduce the world's carbon emissions. The term was evident- ly coined by a Canadian venture capitalist and, with the rise in oil prices and grow- ing global consciousness, has become a formal and official sector of its own. For lawyers serving clean-tech clients, it's proving to be an exciting yet complex area of practice as the sector matures. "At the end of the day, what it comes down to for us is we really have to understand our clients' businesses and help them on the novel issues," says Horn. "But once you're over the new issues, a lot of ele- ments are what we would normally do in our day-to-day practice." One of Horn's clients, Lignol Energy Corp., is a Canadian company develop- ing technology to produce fuel-grade ethanol from cellulose obtained largely from wood waste products. As the com- pany is blazing new territory, Horn and his Faskens colleagues who were in- volved on the file also had to be creative. "One of the challenges there was under- standing what was possible in the pat- ent portfolio and taking the onion and peeling the layers to be able to see all the possible applications of their technol- ogy beyond the immediate application for fuel ethanol," he says. "I know that's one area in which Lignol felt we were "IT'S REALLY SOMETHING WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE MONEY INVOLVED. THE SIZE OF THE MARKET IS JUST STAGGERING." — Blair Horn, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP able to add a lot of value." Faskens also acted for the underwriters in connection with Pristine Power Inc.'s initial public offering — completed ear- lier this year — and Day4 Energy Inc.'s IPO last December. These IPOs are a testament to the sector's vibrancy. "They were done in a really difficult finance market. The public markets just weren't there, and if you go back and look at the statistics on recent IPOs, Pristine and Day4 are two of only a few IPOs com- pleted recently," says Horn. Pristine was approximately $55 mil- lion and Day4 upwards of $100 million. "To be able to do an IPO in this mar- ket is a significant accomplishment," he says. "But I think part of that is because they are bringing clean technologies to the market and the market is receptive to that." It helps that B.C. has introduced some legislative incentives. Over recent years it has enacted several pieces of legislation to ensure the province lowers its green- house gas emissions. NEW PRACTICE GROUPS The clean-tech sector is flourishing clear across the country. So much so that two Ontario-based firms have stepped out and established formal clean-tech prac- tice groups. Last fall, Ogilvy Renault LLP announced the launch of its new prac- tice group, headquartered at the MaRS Discovery District, an innovation centre in Toronto. Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP earlier this year formalized its clean- tech practice group, also establishing an outstanding product achievement award in partnership with CATAAlliance, Can- ada's largest technology association. At Ogilvy Renault, the practice was formalized by pulling together exper- tise from the firm's intellectual property, energy, and business practices. The group comprises 39 lawyers. "It's almost like an industry vertical," or business practice, with a focus on innovation, explains Richard Sutin, who, with Andrew A. Taylor, heads the Toronto- based group. The firm's clients range from innovators working on wind farms, geo- thermal projects, fuel-cell developers and emissions trading, with most in the re- newable energy sector. Sutin's practice fo- cuses on corporate finance, transactions, and securities law, while Taylor is versed in energy and environmental regulatory law. Taylor says the number of clients in the clean-tech sector has risen markedly while the practice extends globally. Gowlings similarly pooled its exper- tise, although the practice group didn't physically relocate. It taps into the firm's 150 intellectual property lawyers and another 100 in its business law group, which together it touts as an integrated technology industry group. Within that, David Pamenter heads up the clean-tech practice. "Our experience is clients want to see service providers who are focused, and many clients in the clean-tech group see themselves as being in a distinct in- dustry from energy or life sciences or technology — or even environmental, for that matter," says Pamenter, of the deci- sion to separate the clean-tech group. "So in some ways we're responding to market demand. But there's also a knowledge set that goes with that." Still, other lawyers are regularly in- volved with the group. Carlton Mathias, a partner in the firm's energy and infra- structure group, is called upon regularly to advise energy developers. "While we have an emerging technologies group and a clean-tech group, there is overlap certainly in the energy world," he says. Says Pamenter: "There are so many challenges in this area of practice, it spans www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com SEPTEMBER 2008 41