James Schmidt joined Trinity in 2019, having worked for 25 years at Hunton & Williams, a major US-based international law firm, most recently as Counsel with its Energy and Infrastructure Team and as a sole practitioner in his own law firm, Megawatt Law.

James has worked extensively on various forms of project financed public and private investments in electric, telecoms, coal, oil and gas, transport, and water projects in the US, Europe, Asia, Pacific island states, and Africa, and has participated in infrastructure policy and market development work designed to attract private investments around the world. In the electric sector, James has worked with Governments and utilities, and with developers, investors, and their lenders, in generation (including most forms of renewable generation and energy storage projects), transmission, and distribution projects encompassing greenfield, brownfield, privatizations, and public private partnerships.

James is also an expert in establishing policy and legal frameworks for commercializing and reforming state-owned or state-controlled electric and other infrastructure sectors, and works with Ministries, utilities, donor representatives, and other stakeholders. These policy and legal framework initiatives support Government objectives to protect domestic consumers, both businesses and citizens, while achieving new policy objectives such as attracting new investments – including in renewables — broadening sector ownership, improving operating parameters, and meeting more stringent environmental standards. James served as lead attorney for energy and regulatory reform matters in the Legal Department of the World Bank between 1996 and 1998.

James is a frequent speaker on energy, infrastructure, and other public service sectors, including developing and financing cross-border and multi-jurisdictional infrastructure investments, developing institutional capacities of new regulatory agencies in licensing and tariff-setting activities, and on legal and policy issues related to market design, sector restructuring, and commercialization of state-owned utilities.

James is a co-author of a recent World Bank published study on Resource Financed Infrastructure, which presents new opportunities for structuring public-private partnerships in resource rich countries that require essential economic and social investments.