Jennifer L. Johnson, Stoel Rives LLP

As an attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions at Stoel Rives LLP, Jennifer Johnson focuses on renewable energy, one of the fastest-growing economic sectors. 

“I enjoy the work I do because it not only helps my clients, but it helps the environment and has a greater purpose,” she said.

Johnson “loves” working with different parts of the renewable energy business, from environmental and permitting colleagues to those who handle tax and sale of power from solar installations. Some developers find sites, receive permits, contract with utilities to buy the power and have an interconnection agreement before selling it to another developer to complete the work.

After working on a deal in 2019 for a solar client that finished the project in 2023, “I got aerial pictures of a huge solar facility in California surrounded by desert and sunshine,” she said. “That was a fun one.”

When Johnson began working in the renewable energy industry, “it felt like learning a new foreign language.” She credits mentors and other experts at Stoel Rives for helping her “get over the learning curve” and find a career “that indirectly helps the environment.”

Johnson represents major national and global renewable energy owners, operators, developers, and investors with large utility-scale projects. She’s also handled community solar gardens and solar in school districts in Minnesota and other states.

A former teacher in France and French translator, Johnson has mentored many associates, especially non-native speakers, and is a coach in the Minneapolis and other Stoel Rives offices. She also chairs the Coaching & Mentoring Committee in the Minneapolis office.

Johnson has volunteered for several organizations outside the firm and served on Mahtomedi’s environmental commission. She enjoys working with the nonprofit LegalCORPS, which provides business advice to startups. “It gives small businesses that couldn’t afford legal representation the opportunity to ask questions and get legal support,” she said.