Donna Brady

• County Transportation Commission – Expressway Lanes Project and Connector. Key member of the legal team that advised on the procurement of a contract for design, installation, operation, and maintenance of the toll system for a major California express lanes and connector project, concurrent with procurement of the design-build contract for project construction, including drafting of provisions to coordinate activities and allocate risk between contractors.
• Airport Modernization Project. Member of legal team that advised on various structural options for carrying out an international airport’s program for modernizing modes of access, and drafted and negotiated a master cooperative agreement among the airport authority and other stakeholders.
• San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) – Water Transportation System. Advised WETA in its acquisition of the Oakland/Alameda Ferry Service from the Port of Oakland and the City of Alameda, and the Vallejo Ferry Service from the City of Vallejo, including drafting and negotiating agreements for the transfer of vessels, facilities, and equipment, amending dozens of preexisting agreements with funding and permitting agencies; regional bus services; and other stakeholders, and assisting with procurement of contracts for refurbishment of ferry vessels and construction of new ferry vessels.
• California High-Speed Rail Authority. Advised on right-of-way and utility relocation issues, and various federal grant administration issues, for the design-build contracts for a planned high-speed train system connecting the state’s major urban centers.
• County Transportation Authority – Federal-aid contracts, utility agreements, and other contracts. Key member of the legal team that worked with Authority staff on a variety of federal-aid contracts for construction of new on/off ramps from an interstate highway and a new bus rapid transit system, including an agreement with the Department of the Navy to relocate Navy-owned utilities within the project right-of-way and an agreement with the state regarding the application of Buy America requirements to utilities affected by the project.
• Regional Rapid Transit Program. Assisted regional transportation authority with drafting and negotiation of agreements with the regional rapid transit district for acquisition of train sets and operation and maintenance of a 10-mile extension of the existing subway system.
• Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Toll Services Project. Primary legal team advising on procurement of a toll services contractor to provide, operate, manage, and maintain a toll collection system and provide back-office and customer services support for the Ohio River Bridges Project, including the Lewis and Clark, Downtown, and Kennedy bridges, a joint project of the Indiana Finance Authority and the Kentucky Department of Transportation.
• New York State Thruway Authority – Tappan Zee Bridge. Key member of the legal team that advised on procurement of a $3.1 billion design-build contract for replacement of an aging, three-mile-long cantilever bridge over the Hudson River with a new cable-stayed, dual-span structure that opened to traffic in 2017.
• Various State and Local Toll Projects Nationwide. Advised various state and local entities on civil works and technology procurements for new electronic toll collection facilities and back-offices services, as well as conversion of HOV to HOT Lanes.
• City of Los Angeles, Department of Public Works, Bureau of Sanitation – Hyperion Treatment Plant. Key member of team that advised on procurement of the contract for a digester gas utilization project that uses gas byproduct from wastewater treatment to generate electricity and steam for use in the wastewater treatment and water reclamation process—reducing the plant’s reliance on the electrical grid.
• Pipeline Project. Represented large city (lead agency) in drafting and negotiation of a Water Capture and Reuse Pipeline Project Agreement among the affected cities, county, water district, sanitation district, and state department of transportation for the joint design and construction of a pipeline to capture and divert flows from two storm drains, a side channel, and a groundwater treatment facility.
• Military Base Reuse Project. Acted as special counsel to city on a project to transform a former marine air station into a metropolitan park, including procurement of master design, schematic design, program manager, and other contracts for the project, and interim leases of base property pending construction, including green waste recycling, agricultural, office, and other uses, and coordination with master developer of adjacent private projects.

Private Sector Matters

• South Bay Expressway. Member of the legal team that advised a private toll road developer selected for the first P3 in California—a tolled, 10-mile stretch of SR 125, including negotiation of complex right-of-way dedications to help facilitate financing during the economic downturn.
• Property Transfers. Representation of numerous investors, developers, landlords, tenants, and financial institutions, in the acquisition, sale, or exchange, lease, and ground lease of office buildings, industrial parks, malls, shopping centers, apartments, mixed-use projects, undeveloped land, and a marina.
• Construction and Development. Representation of owners in negotiating development agreements with public/government agencies, construction contracts, general contractor and subcontractor agreements, and architectural and engineering contracts.
• Finance. Representation of borrowers and lenders in construction, interim, and permanent loans, credit enhancement transactions, and cross-border lease financing transactions of electric generation and transmission systems and telecommunications systems.
• Edison Capital Wind Power Facility Acquisition. Acquisition of $100 million equity interest in a state-of-the-art wind-turbine power facility. Reviewed and negotiated terms of design-build, installation, and operating agreements for facility, loan documents, take or pay power sales agreement for sale of electricity into grid, and power curve and availability warranties. Reviewed underlying real estate issues, regulatory issues, wind study, and power curve due diligence and other corporate due diligence matters, and worked with tax counsel to address energy tax credit, indemnity, and opinion issues.
• Miscellaneous Energy Projects. Represented private owners/developers in connection with proposed turbine purchase and installation agreement for domestic cogeneration facility, asset management issues related to portfolio of domestic and international power projects, including gas-fired, nuclear and hydro, and negotiation of agreements for installation and testing of various micro-turbines and other distributed generation technologies.