Thomas (Tom) Magee advises investor-owned electric utilities, electric cooperatives, and municipalities on regulatory, transactional, and litigation issues regarding pole attachments, utility telecommunications, utility broadband, and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensing of private wireless telecommunications services.

Tom has drafted and negotiated hundreds of pole attachment, joint use, and conduit access agreements for his utility clients, and resolved countless pole attachment disputes affecting make-ready costs, safety violations, unauthorized attachments, annual rental rates, and other terms and conditions of access. Electric utility pole owners, including investor-owned utilities, electric cooperatives, and municipal utilities, retain Tom to provide regulatory advice, negotiate agreements, calculate rental rates, resolve disputes, and litigate before federal and state courts, the FCC, and state public service commissions. In addition, Tom advocates vigorously for utility clients in state and federal pole attachment rulemaking and legislative proceedings.

Tom is a frequent speaker on pole attachment and joint use issues at utility conferences nationwide, including those sponsored by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), Utilities Technology Council (UTC), Western Energy Institute (WEI), Southeastern Electric Exchange (SEE), and many others.

In addition to his work at the firm, Tom provides pro bono legal assistance to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Legal Counsel for the Elderly program.

Representative Matters

• Negotiated and drafted hundreds of joint use, pole attachment, and conduit access agreements; drafted the Sample Pole Attachment Agreement used by NRECA's members nationwide
• Litigated numerous joint use and pole attachment complaint proceedings at the FCC, before state public service commissions, and in federal and state courts
• Represented influential investor-owned utility coalitions in every FCC pole attachment rulemaking proceeding in the past twenty years
• Advocated vigorously for statewide electric cooperative association clients and investor-owned utility clients in various state pole attachment rulemaking proceedings
• Represented statewide electric cooperative association clients and investor-owned utility clients to shape various federal and state pole attachment legislation
• Counseled electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities on broadband service matters, including strategic planning, contract development, broadband funding, regulatory compliance, and infrastructure attachments and access, including dark fiber leasing
• Counseled utilities and other critical infrastructure companies on a variety of FCC radiofrequency matters, including spectrum acquisition, smart grid issues, radiofrequency rebanding, radiofrequency interference, FCC equipment authorizations, and FCC Enforcement Bureau proceedings
• Negotiated transmission tower leases and local tower siting disputes

Memberships

• Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA)
• Electric Cooperative Bar Association (ECBA)