Profile
Aaron Atcheson practices in the area of business transactions and energy projects law. He is a partner in the London office of Miller Thomson and Chair of the National CleanTech Practice Group.
Aaron has experience representing parties on all sides of transactions and projects in the area of renewable energy, including developers and power producers, turbine manufacturers, solar panel and associated equipment manufacturers, debt and equity providers, underwriters, vendors and purchasers of projects and consultants. Aaron has also provided design and construction advice on district energy, landfill gas, bio-gas, energy-from-waste, hydro-electric, gas-fired thermal power generation, co-generation, natural gas production, gas pipeline and gas storage projects, as well as transactions related to water testing and treatment and waste and recycling.
Aaron regularly provides advice on the applications for, transfers and amendments of environmental approvals, as well as regulatory requirements in respect to project developments. He advises clients on the purchase and sale of real property, leasing and financing transactions and the development of real property including brownfields. He has significant experience in the office, retail and industrial property sectors.
Aaron is a member of the Canadian Wind Energy Association and the Canadian Solar Industries Association and has provided advice on projects in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Aaron previously practised in the Toronto office of another national firm in the areas of commercial real estate, environmental, and energy law. He also spent one year in Dublin, Ireland practising project finance law with Matheson Ormsby Prentice, European Business Law Firm of the Year, 2002, with a concentration on environmental law and the energy sector.
Recent files include involvement in over 150 industrial-sized solar rooftop projects, the development, construction, financing and sale of several industrial-sized wind farm projects, addressing environmental issues as part of a significant property divestiture program, and the financing of a series of industrial and commercial complexes. Aaron also represented the vendor on the sale of the world’s largest offshore wind farm prospect, having a nameplate capacity of 4400 MW, sufficient to produce enough electricity to power 2 million homes.
Community Involvement
- Member of Huron University College Corporation
- Member, Terry Fox Run, London Organizing Committee
- Member, Ireland-Canada Chamber of Commerce
- Board Member, YMCA of Western Ontario
Memberships
- Member, Canadian Bar Association
- Member, Ontario Bar Association
- Member, Law Society of Upper Canada
- Member, Middlesex Law Association
- Member, London Chamber of Commerce
- Member, TechAlliance
- Member, Executive of Environmental Law Section, Canadian Bar Association (Ontario)
- Member, Executive of National Resources Law Section, Canadian Bar Association (Ontario)
- Member, Real Property Law Section, Canadian Bar Association (Ontario)
- Member, Canadian Wind Energy Association
- Member, Canadian Solar Industries Association
Presentations
- Appeal of Renewable Energy Approvals, Lecture to Western Law Environmental Law Class, October 31, 2012
- Heavenly Hosts: Creating Support Through Host Community Benefit Agreements, Canadian Wind Energy Association Annual Conference, October 16, 2012, Toronto
- Issues in Solar Rooftop Leasing, ILCO Conference, May 2012, London, ON
- Common Considerations for Drafting and Reviewing Groundmount Solar Leases, April 2012, Cambridge, ON
- Renewable Energy in Ontario, Lecture to Western Law Environmental Law Class, November 2, 2011
- Electrons Without Borders: Legal Issues in Exporting Power, Canadian Wind Energy Association Annual Conference, October 2011, Vancouver
- FIT to be Tied: Ontario's Environmental Review Tribunal, Canadian Wind Energy Association Annual Conference, November 2010, Montreal
- Government Programs and How to Get the Most From Them, Wind, Water, Sun - Renewable Technologies Conference, March 2010, London, ON
- New Opportunities in CleanTech, November 2009, at client seminars in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Cambridge
- An Update on the Wide Range of Environmental Issues Impacting Commercial Leasing and Building Owners, Real Leasing Conference, September 2009, Toronto
- Renewable Energy and the Carbon Markets, University of Toronto Carbon Finance Conference, October 2009, Toronto
- Getting that Dirty Deal Done: Environmental issues in the Purchase and Sale of Real Estate, Ontario Bar Association - Environmental Section Breakfast, April 2009, London
- Clean Tech: The Legal Perspective - Tips, Traps and Opportunities, OnSETT CleanTech Conference, February 2009, Toronto
- A Developing Opportunity for Wind: International and Domestic Carbon Credit Markets, Canadian Wind Energy Association Annual Conference, October 2008, Vancouver
- Legal Issues with Wind Farm Stakeholders: Making Your Wind Farm Marketable, World Wind Energy Conference, June 2008, Kingston
Education
- LL.B., McGill University
- B.A. Honours Economics & Political Science, Huron College, University of Western Ontario
Publications
- The Ins and Outs of IP, WaterCanada, March/April, 2012
- Lasting a Lifetime - The ABCs of water infrastructure warranties, WaterCanada, 2011
- Uncertainty in Renewables, HazMat Magazine, 2011
- Action-Packed Week for Renewable Energy, EnviroNotes!, August 2011 - Environmental Alert
- More from the Rooftop, Leasing Times, March 1, 2011
- Aaron Atcheson comments on the growth of clean-tech in law practices in the Law Times article "Green Energy a Growing Area of Practice", 2010
- Offshore Wind and the Canadian Market: Push and Pull in the New Economy, North American Clean Energy, 2010
- Ontario Tilting at Windmills as Province Alters Course Midway, Law Times, 2010
- Winds of Change - Part 1, Leasing Times, August, 2008
- Ontario Snapshot, Miller Thomson Climate Change Newsletter, 2010
- Provincial Snapshots - Ontario, Climate Change Newsletter, June 2010
- To Test or Not to Test..., Leasing Times, April 1, 2010
- Recent Developments of Importance in Environmental Law, The 2010 Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, 2010
- Ontario’s New Feed-In Tariff – Provincial Content Requirements, GTMA Vantage, 2009
- Ontario’s New Green Energy Act, CleanTech Canada, 2009
- Ontario’s New Green Energy Act, American Lawyer/Lexpert Leading 500 Lawyers Directory, 2009
- Winds of Change - Part 2, Leasing Times, September 2008
Industry Expertise
Key Practice Expertise
Areas of Focus
- Electricity
- Power Generation
- Energy and Natural Resources
- Alternative Energy Generation
- Real Estate Finance
- Waste and Waste Recycling
- Brownfield Redevelopment
Year of Call
- Ontario Bar, 2000