Janay Thomas Email & Phone Number

San Francisco Bay Area

In my current position, I have spent the last four and half years at BRIGHTMARK, a startup company that reimagines waste by converting plastics and organics into new products and renewable natural gas. I have partnered with 200 employees and 28 US-leased locations as In-House Counsel since 2022. As a legal advisor and business consultant, I am constantly changing hats as I support both the unpredictable daily occurrences and maintain normal operations in HR, special legal situations, consulting agreements, finance, banking, and lending. I manage all aspects of real property matters for the RNG portfolio, including site control, title review and cleanup, as well as drafting and the review of leases and easements and land/siting selection strategy, including alternatives. In more specifics, I author, analyze, and approve contracts for RNG and plastics renewal project development and execution, project finance, EPC, asset management, feedstock agreements and operations. I also analyze the pros and cons of leasing and purchasing real property and negotiate engineering procurement and construction contracts in EPC construction management. I secure real estate and chattel subordinations and UCC releases, partnering with farm lender banks. In a variety of matters, I interface and lead outside counsel and local SME relationships in 10 states for every project in FL, IN, NY, MI, OH, CA, IO, WI, & SD, scoping and managing local counsel work, ensuring regulations and compliance. In addition, I facilitate project financing, including due diligence responses and data room management of deal documents while answering daily questions from investors. Notably, I guide cross-functionally through risk-based analysis of legal issues for 11 departments: HR, Origination, Development, Tech Services, AP, Finance, Procurement, Engineering, Marketing, and International. Finally, I conduct due diligence for acquisitions and financing.

San Francisco Bay Area

As Contracts Manager, I negotiated contracts and ensured execution and understanding of documents, communicating what matters most. I also acted as the SharePoint administrator in charge of the document repository for access to contracts. Of note, I facilitated a joint venture with Chevron, making closing a reality of three tranche 22 R&G projects of $300M+, coordinating due diligence and the data room. In addition, I drafted, red-lined, and negotiated leases, feedstock supply agreements, letters of intent, NDAs, purchase and sales agreements, master services agreements, work orders and change orders. I implemented document management, contract approval, and project delivery best practices. Last but not least, I negotiated, contracted, and coordinated the CLM and SharePoint document management system.

San Francisco, California

Here, I was tasked with closing real estate, managing contracts, and the SharePoint database. I supported solar build projects, sourced land, and provided solar panels as turnkey operating projects in AR, CA, CO, NV, NM, and UT. In this, I guaranteed real estate property closings, secured escrow closings, recorded deeds, and transferred property for facilities of 400+ megawatts. I manually paid property taxes for hundreds of properties nationwide, learning the nuances of jurisdictions. This required an extensive investment of my time and brain power and I secured relationships across the United States to ensure the job was completely done to meet requirements. I also led a team, supervising two reports for document management remediation efforts.

San Francisco, California

At Pattern Energy, I executed EPC agreements and other contracts for utility-scale wind project development and facilities operations located in US, EU, LatAM, Japan and Canada. My main mission was to establish procedures and policies to comply with the SCC, reviewing, interpreting, and completing agreements in partnership with the Assistant General Counsel and C Suite. I also troubleshot for all lines of the business, including vendor terms and conditions and NDAs to ensure compliance with internal policies and governing laws.

Jpmorgan Chase Bank, Corporate Investment Banking

My skills have been utilized, grown, and broadened across various entities from startups to one of the Big 4, JPMorgan Chase. In this position, I carefully reviewed documents and redlined highly complex, negotiated financial lending agreements and commercial contracts, providing support to both the client and vendor management teams. In an effort in continuous improvement, I executed a massive data review of retroactive compliance with federal banking laws. I also provided data review and quality control for U.S. Federal Reserve remuneration requests. Finally, I analyzed corporate business agreements for non-standard language, discrepancies, inaccuracies, and compliance with federal banking laws, providing quality control.

Chicago, Il

Completed field & legal research to better understand the needs of pro se litigants in security deposit retrieval and judgment collection cases. Designed & produced automated legal information guide for statewide use on www.IllinoisLegalAid.org. Learned basic use of HotDocs software and plain language writing techniques

Fellowship, Clean Energy

Juris Doctorate, International And Comparative Law

Activities and Societies: • Kent Justice Foundation, 1L Section Representative, 2009 • Student Bar Association, Finance Committee Board.

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), International Studies And History

Activities and Societies: Bonner Scholars Program Full Scholarship Centre College Writing Center Consultant, August 2007- May 2009.

High School Diploma