As the world exited the isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic, Janet Jamieson and her husband “were ready for an adventure.”
Jamieson had been a general counsel and senior counsel at three conventionally fired power plants for more than two decades. Then, she received a call from a legal recruiter with an opportunity that, she says, “fit the bill in a number of ways.”
OCI Enterprise’s emphasis on renewable energy and related manufacturing attracted Jamieson right away.
“Renewable technology, especially solar, and its cousin, battery energy storage systems, are incredible technologies that have much to offer in terms of enhancing grid stability as well as, of course, in terms of protecting the environment and limiting harmful emissions, which is important to me,” she told The Texas Lawbook.
Two years into her job as OCI’s general counsel, the new administration and Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, which introduced sweeping changes that directly affected OCI’s businesses.
“The legislation adjusted tax credits for renewable projects, added restrictions on foreign investment and created new compliance obligations,” said Jessica Adkins, a partner at Sidley Austin. “These changes came at a time when energy companies were already contending with global trade restrictions and supply chain pressures.”
“Janet played a central role in ensuring OCI not only complied with the new requirements but also used them as an opportunity to strengthen the company’s market position,” Adkins said. “She has also advised OCI’s Korean parent company on U.S. investment structures, guided cross-border transactions through tightened foreign investment framework and developed strategies to mitigate the impact of tariffs on polysilicon-related products.”
“Her ability to see both the legal and commercial implications of these changes has enabled OCI to continue closing high-value transactions while positioning itself as a leader in clean energy,” said Adkins, who nominated Jamieson for the 2025 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department (two to five lawyers).
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Lawbook agree with Adkins and are honoring Jamieson with the award this Thursday, Nov. 6.
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Jamieson expounds on how the role of in-house counsel has changed over her three decades working in legal departments.
“Janet has been able to guide the company with a steady hand through significant changes in the industry, the economy and OCI’s projects,” said Andrew Wong, a partner at ArentFox Schiff. “When she first started, she hit the ground running and quickly understood the various existing legal challenges and issues that OCI faced. She was able to lead her team and the business as it dealt with many of these issues, and as the company explored and transitioned into new projects and areas.”
“Despite a lean team, she has been instrumental in sustaining OCI’s success and increasing OCI’s presence in the industry and the area,” Wong said.
Mario Samos, a senior managing associate at Sidley Austin in Houston, said Jamieson “has strengthened OCI’s ability to execute deals with speed and confidence.”
“One of Janet’s important achievements has been improving the company’s transaction processes, including by assessing and refining the forms of agreements used across deals and the processes used to review and negotiate transactions,” Samos said. “This work has given OCI the flexibility to take advantage of commercial opportunities quickly while still maintaining clear frameworks for addressing issues that might arise in a transaction.”
“Beyond process, Janet’s success has been in how she has shaped the relationship between the legal and commercial teams,” Samos said. “She has built a culture of partnership and mutual understanding. In the transactions in which we have worked on together, she has successfully been able to ensure that the legal function does not just advise on risks but also actively drives business success.”
The accomplishments of Jamieson and her team of three other lawyers in 2024 and 2025 seem to accumulate monthly. They include:
· Navigated and structured transactions under new foreign investment rules;
· Mitigated trade restrictions and tariffs and developed strategies to address ongoing antidumping and countervailing duties and polysilicon related tariffs, safeguarding OCI’s renewable energy and manufacturing businesses;
· Closed more than 1 gigawatts of solar project sales in Texas;
· Advanced energy storage and power agreements and negotiated a long-term agreement with CPS Energy for services from OCI Energy’s Alamo City battery project, strengthening San Antonio’s grid resilience;
· Strengthened domestic solar manufacturing and supported Mission Solar Energy’s 2024 nationwide launch of a tariff-free, domestically sourced, utility-scale product line that aligns with new sourcing rules, enhancing America’s renewable supply chain; and
· Counseled OCI Alabama’s state-of-the-art chemical facility and provided legal oversight on operational, environmental and regulatory issues critical to the company’s advanced sodium percarbonate manufacturing operations.
“There is no consistent routine from one day to the next,” Jamieson said. “Every day is different. Executive leadership spends a fair amount of time discussing the strategic direction of all our U.S. subsidiaries — one of which is a developer of utility scale solar farms, another of which is a chemical manufacturer, and the third of which is in the solar module business.”
Jamieson said she works on financings, engages in transaction structuring discussions, provides input on major agreements, provides guidance on HR-related matters, manages contract disputes and interacts with OCI’s Asian-based affiliates on trade or regulatory matters.
“My time tends to be very taken up by others during the day, so I often use evenings or the mornings to catch up on drafting and reviewing documents,” she said. “I also take time each day to catch up on general and industry news, particularly given the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill and changing tariff and trade-case environment.”
Jamieson grew up in Colorado Springs and enjoyed hiking and skiing with her parents and older brother. Her mother was an elementary school teacher, and her father owned a small construction company.
“I had always been interested in the law, given my affinity for logic and language, not to mention that, when my brother and I were kids, he would often jokingly tell me when we argued that I’d make a good lawyer someday,” she said.
Jamieson earned her undergraduate degree at Ripon College in Wisconsin in 1987 and then a master’s degree in 1989 at Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey.
“I found myself somewhat adrift as to where my new path would lead,” she said. “On a whim, really, I applied for a job to be — of all things — a natural gas marketer for a company in Denver. My customers were quite diverse and all in New Mexico, ranging from farmers to large hotels to hospitals. The famers were my favorite. It was my first exposure to negotiating contracts, which I enjoyed. Later, that company was acquired by an affiliate of then-LG&E Energy Marketing.”
The idea of law school resurfaced in the early 1990s, and she was admitted to the University of Colorado School of Law.
When she informed her employer, company leaders suggested that she take a leave of absence instead of resigning, which would allow her to work during holidays and summer breaks. She agreed.
“I hadn’t planned on staying in the energy industry when I was accepted to law school,” she said. “The company continued to offer me opportunities throughout law school, including transitioning me to legal-related work with their commercial and regulatory attorneys.”
When Jamieson graduated in 1996, LG&E hired her directly into its legal department to work with and support their senior attorneys in Dallas.
“It’s actually very unusual for companies to hire attorneys directly out of law school, but mine was a smooth transition, given my industry background and the fact the company had a large enough legal department so there were a number of senior attorneys to train me,” she said.
In 1999, Houston-based GenOn Energy, which is now part of NRG, hired Jamieson as its senior counsel handling complex power sales agreements, credit support agreements, tolling agreements and overseeing finance and compliance matters.
Austin-headquartered Topaz Power Management hired Jamieson in 2012 as its general counsel — a position she held for more than eight years.
Throughout the Covid pandemic, Jamieson worked as a freelance legal consultant, providing legal and advisory services to a handful of energy companies.
As the world reopened and returned to normal in 2022, Jamieson and her husband, who retired from a long career at Canadian National Railway, started thinking about the future.
“Neither of us had a specific vision [of] what that would look like,” she said.
Then came the call about OCI.
The emphasis on renewable energy was an attraction, Jamieson said, but so was the “fabulous group of diverse people” at OCI’s helm, which included leaders from Korea, South Africa, Turkey and Australia.
“Like a lot of attorneys practicing in the renewables sector, I began my energy career working with conventional-fired power generation facilities,” she said.
The move also provided Jamieson and her husband the opportunity for some lifestyle changes.
“When we moved to San Antonio, instead of living outside the city as we did in Austin, we ‘shook it up’ and chose a flat downtown near the river, where we frequently walk to restaurants or to get a coffee on weekends,” she said. “We’ve enjoyed being at the heart of San Antonio, its diversity and its celebrations, including Fiesta, which I’d never heard of before moving here but now look forward to each spring.”
The OCI position has come with challenges, such as the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But lawyers agree that she has successfully handled each one of them.
“The changes in renewables- and tax-related legislation have presented significant challenges for renewables and related manufacturing in the United States,” she said. “Also, I had never worked for a foreign-controlled company, and I was not versed in Asian/Korean law and culture. Suffice to say, there is a different tempo and business culture, which I’m still learning but enjoy.”
“One of the super fun things about being in-house is having the opportunity to work closely with the commercial folks — not just at the end to document a transaction — but rather to participate and assist in the structuring of that transaction from its early stages,” Jamieson said. “I appreciate the collaborative environment throughout the organization. Respectful communication is key in that it facilitates the exchange of ideas so they can be evaluated and built on. Part of that is we have to listen, truly listen to each another, to make sure we understand what is being communicated.”
“While from time to time we all mess up and get hurried and perhaps don’t listen as well as we could, everyone at least tries, which is big,” she said. “It may sound cliché, but I truly believe that we are stronger as a team than as individuals.”
Samos, who has worked with Jamieson on multiple transactions, said she “is mission-focused and strategic in the work she does.”
“Janet has an exceptional ability to see both the immediate transaction and the broader organizational goals it serves, including the impact on transactions across the organization as a whole,” he said. “She is also thoughtful about resource allocation, understanding when to draw on internal legal expertise and when to bring in external counsel to achieve the best result for a transaction.”
Wong agrees and said Jamieson “is flexible and adapts easily to a variety of situations.”
“Whether it is negotiating with an opposing party, dealing with difficult counterparties or working with her team or individuals throughout her organization, Janet is able to strike the right tone and work to address any situation or issue,” he said. “She is a great listener who values the opinions of everyone on her team as well as her outside consultants and is quick to give credit to others at every opportunity. Because of this, she is able to work seamlessly with lawyers, business-side and technical folks to arrive at the best decisions and solutions for the company.”
Jamieson refers to herself as an “accidental general counsel.”
“While I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the course of my career, little of it has been self-directed, but rather much has occurred just by being open to challenges and pursuing opportunities as they came my way,” she said. “I’ve never been title or role driven. What has always been most important to me is working with smart, respectful, ethical people while doing challenging, interesting work to the best of my ability.”
Fun Facts: Janet Jamieson
- Favorite book: I’m a big fan of British mysteries. Any Agatha Christie will do nicely.
- Favorite movie: Did You Heard About the Morgans? Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker are an estranged power couple living in New York. When they witness a murder, they have to go into an FBI witness protection program. They wind up in a small town in Wyoming, where they are looked after by the local sheriff (Sam Elliot) and his wife (Mary Steenburgen). What begins as a significant culture clash between the urban and rural folk ends with everyone looking out for and appreciating each other. It’s funny, it’s exciting and it’s compelling in its message that people can overcome their differences and come together.
- Favorite vacation: Every time we go to our house on the south shore of Nova Scotia — we go there three to four times a year. It is my favorite all-time vacation! A while ago my husband, who is Canadian, and I bought an old house there which was built in the 1880’s by a fishing captain.
- Favorite restaurant: Apart from all the fabulous tacos in San Antonio, the Salt Shaker in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, is my favorite restaurant. It’s a small restaurant, we know most of the folks who work there, and it has the best seafood chowder anywhere.
- Hero in life: My hero is my husband, Randy. Marrying him was, by far, the best decision of my life. Not only do I love him, but I “like” him. And we have a ton of fun together, whether spending time with our grown kids, renovating our house in Nova Scotia, rescuing animals (we’ve rescued and adopted another dog and a cat since we moved to San Antonio, bringing our total now to three dogs and a cat!), whatever the day brings.