Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ)

About

Andrew Satten was named the Chief Administrative Law Judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in January 2024. Initially appointed as an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in 2019, he also previously served as FERC’s Deputy Chief ALJ and Acting Chief ALJ.

Judge Satten first joined FERC’s Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) in 2012. Prior to his ALJ appointment, he had been serving as OALJ’s Supervisory Attorney-Adviser, a role in which he managed OALJ’s staff of attorney-advisers, law clerks, energy industry analysts, and legal interns. Since 2014 he has been a member of the part-time faculty at The George Washington University Law School, teaching a course on energy and environmental law scholarship as a Professorial Lecturer in Law. Judge Satten also was selected to and completed FERC’s Leadership Development Program, FERC’s premier initiative for developing the agency’s future leaders.  Prior to his tenure at FERC, Judge Satten’s legal experience included positions with the American Wind Energy Association, the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington, D.C. law firm, the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office of the General Counsel at The George Washington University, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Judge Satten graduated from The George Washington University Law School, where he served as the Senior Managing Editor of The George Washington Journal of Energy and Environmental Law. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a proud graduate of Annandale High School in Virginia. 

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Suite: 11F-7

 About

Judge Renee Terry was appointed as the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in April 2024.  Judge Terry was initially appointed as an Administrative Law Judge at FERC in October 2021.

Judge Terry has a long career in the energy sector.  She joined FERC’s Office of Administrative Litigation in 2005.  Judge Terry initially served as a Trial Attorney and then served as a Supervisory Trial Attorney.  Earlier in her career, Judge Terry served as a Hearing Officer for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of Public Utilities on energy and telecommunications issues.  In addition, Judge Terry held a variety of positions in the telecommunications industry serving as an Attorney-Advisor for the Federal Communications Commission and in the private sector at e.spire Communications, Director of Regulatory Affairs and Xspedius Communications, Director of Regulatory Affairs & Corporate Counsel.

Judge Terry is a member of the bar of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

Judge Terry is a graduate of Northwestern University (B.A.) and Howard University School of Law (J.D). 

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Suite: 11F-23

About

Judge Patricia M. French was appointed as an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by Chairman Kevin J. McIntyre in September 2018.

Prior to this appointment, Judge French served as an Administrative Law Judge with the U.S. Social Security Administration in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Before becoming an ALJ, Judge French served as an attorney in private practice specializing in energy law. Judge French also held positions as Chief Compliance Officer, Assistant General Counsel and Lead Counsel for major energy firms. Earlier in her career, Judge French served as Assistant Attorney General for the State of Rhode Island specializing in issues related to state-regulated utilities, electric and gas rate matters and telecommunications competition. She also served as a Hearing Officer for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of Public Utilities on energy issues.

Judge French is a member of the bar of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Utah. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia and First Circuits and the U.S. District Courts of New Hampshire and Utah.

Judge French is a graduate of Wells College (Bachelor of Arts degree. with honors) and the Boston University School of Law (J.D., with honors).

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Suite: 11F-37

About

Judge Jeremy Hessler was sworn in as a FERC Administrative Law Judge in March 2022. Prior to receiving this appointment, he served as a Supervisory Attorney in the Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ). 

Judge Hessler began his legal career as a law clerk in OALJ. Following this clerkship, he became an Honors Attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice, where he defended federal agencies in civil environmental litigation in federal district court. He then returned to FERC where he served as an Attorney Advisor in the Office of General Counsel.

Judge Hessler received a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California, Riverside, a Masters of Arts degree from the University College Dublin, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Prior to attending college, he served in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in the 82d Airborne Division.

Judge Hessler is a member of the California Bar, and is admitted to practice in federal courts.

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Suite: 11F-09

About

Judge Patricia E. Hurt was appointed a FERC Administrative Law Judge by Chairman Norman C. Bay on May 18, 2016. Prior to this appointment, Judge Hurt was an Administrative Law Judge with the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review at the Social Security Administration, presiding first in Michigan and later Virginia.

She began her career in energy working in the market planning and the rates and regulatory affairs departments for a major gas utility. After obtaining her law degree, Judge Hurt served as an attorney advisor in the Office of Administrative Law Judges at the Commission before moving into the energy practice of a top ten multinational law firm, where she represented utilities, rural electric cooperatives, industry associations, and independent power producers in a variety of regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters.

Judge Hurt returned to government service in 2005, serving as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, first in the Civil Rights Division and later the Civil Division. She was called back to FERC in 2007, when she became an attorney advisor to former Commissioner Philip D. Moeller. She later moved into the Office of Administrative Litigation (OAL) as a trial attorney. While in OAL, Judge Hurt performed a 2010 detail as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, prosecuting misdemeanor crimes in the District of Columbia.

Judge Hurt is admitted to practice before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, and is a member of the Bars of Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Judge Hurt is a graduate of George Mason University (B.S. 1988), Wake Forest University (M.B.A. 1990), and the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America (J.D. 1999).

She has had extensive training in negotiation and mediation, both during her schooling and post-graduate, including attending Harvard University programs on negotiation and mediation in 2008 and 2009.

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Telephone: 202-502-8528
Suite: 11F-25

About

Judge Joel deJesus was appointed as an Administrative Law Judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by Chairman Richard Glick on May 10, 2021.

Judge deJesus has practiced energy law his entire legal career since 1990. He joined FERC in 2017, serving as a trial attorney within FERC’s Office of Administrative Litigation. Prior to joining the Commission, Judge deJesus served as an associate, counsel and partner at various law firms. He also served as director of compliance enforcement for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, assistant general counsel for a large electric and gas utility and vice president for regulatory affairs at a startup broadband telecommunications company.

Judge deJesus earned his Bachelor of Arts in Government with distinction in all subjects from Cornell University in 1987, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1990.

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Telephone: 202-502-8294
Suite: 11F-17

About

Judge Suzanne Krolikowski is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S. in Civil (Environmental) Engineering and B.S. in Humanities (Literature), 1988) and the University of North Carolina (M.A. in Ecology, 1992, and J.D., 1995). After law school, she clerked at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, first for the Honorable J. Calvitt Clark, Jr., and then as the court’s pro se law clerk under the Honorable Rebecca Beach Smith, Chief Judge.

After working for the judiciary, Judge Krolikowski served as an attorney-advisor for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of General Counsel, where she counseled agency clients and participated in defensive litigation in several areas, including pesticide, administrative, endangered species, and Indian law. She then served for nearly ten years as a senior counsel to U.S. EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board, where she worked on complex environmental penalty and permit appeals, several of which involved coal, natural gas, and/or solar power generation facilities. In addition, she participated in the Board’s Alternative Dispute Resolution program as a neutral mediator. Judge Krolikowski also served as an attorney-advisor at the Department of the Navy's Office of General Counsel, primarily in the areas of real estate and environmental law.

In June 2015, Judge Krolikowski was appointed as an Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration, serving in both Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and San Rafael, California. She became an Administrative Law Judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October 2016.

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Suite: 11F-31

About

Judge Andrea McBarnette was appointed a FERC Administrative Law Judge by Chairman Norman C. Bay on September 6, 2016. Prior to this appointment, Judge McBarnette served as an administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration in Baltimore, MD. Prior to that, she was an assistant U. S. Attorney for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals. Judge McBarnette has also worked in private practice where she litigated civil cases involving intellectual property, employment law and securities fraud.

Judge McBarnette is a 1997 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. She earned a bachelor of political science degree from Stanford University. She is a member of the Bars of New York and the District of Columbia.

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Suite: 11F-29

About

Judge Stephanie Nagel was appointed as an Administrative Law Judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by Chairman Kevin J. McIntyre in September 2018. Prior to this appointment, Judge Nagel served as an Administrative Law Judge with the Social Security Administration in Charlottesville, Virginia. Before becoming an ALJ, she served first as an attorney advisor in the Office of Administrative Law Judges at the United States International Trade Commission, and later as attorney advisor to a member of the Commission of that agency. During her years in private practice, Judge Nagel represented domestic and international clients in intellectual property and corporate litigation.

Judge Nagel holds a juris doctor degree, cum laude, from Tulane Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College. She is a member of the bars of Delaware (inactive) and the District of Columbia.

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Suite: 11F-27

About

Judge Matthew J. Vlissides, Jr. was appointed as an Administrative Law Judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by Chairman Richard Glick in March 2022.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Vlissides served in FERC’s Office of the General Counsel from 2010 to 2022 as an Attorney-Advisor and then as a Supervisory Attorney-Advisor in the Energy Markets Section.  Before joining FERC, Judge Vlissides was in private practice in Washington, D.C. representing clients in intellectual property disputes in federal court, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  Judge Vlissides began his legal career as an Attorney-Advisor in the USITC’s Office of the Administrative Law Judges.

Judge Vlissides is a graduate of the University of Virginia (B.A.), University of Chicago (M.A.) and George Washington University School of Law (J.D).  He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Commonwealth of Virginia (associate status).  He is also registered as a patent attorney with the USPTO.

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Suite: 11F-11

About

Judge Brandon Flick was appointed an Administrative Law Judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by Chairman Willie L. Phillips in November 2024. 

Prior to Judge Flick’s appointment, he was the Supervisory Attorney in the Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  In this role, he advised on legal and policy matters that confronted the judicial office and managed its staff of attorney-advisers, law clerks, and legal interns. Previously, Judge Flick was an attorney-adviser in FERC’s Office of the General Counsel where he advised on matters concerning PJM Interconnection LLC. He first joined FERC as an attorney-adviser and judicial clerk in OALJ. 

Judge Flick is concurrently a Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University Law School and an adjunct professor at the George Washington University School of Professional Studies, teaching courses on litigation, contracts, and legal scholarship for students interested in energy and environmental law.  A lecturer for the DC Bar’s paralegal CLE program, Judge Flick has also given multiple presentations on legal case management. 

Before FERC, Judge Flick was an Attorney Fellow for the George Washington University’s Office of the General Counsel, where he advised on various matters confronting the university, and before that, held various other legal and non-legal roles with the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt, and AmeriCorps.

Judge Flick earned his J.D. with honors from The George Washington University Law School where he was a research assistant to Professor Emily Hammond and helped update the professor’s popular energy law textbook: Energy, Economics, and the Environment.  A former college cornerback, Judge Flick received his B.A. summa cum laude from Case Western Reserve University, receiving multiple athletic and academic recognitions upon graduation. 

Judge Flick is from Butler, Pennsylvania, and is a proud graduate of Knoch High School in nearby Saxonburg. 

He is a member of the Pennsylvania and District of Columbia bars.

Suite: 11F-05

 About

Cheryl Feik Ryan was appointed an Administrative Law Judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by Chairman Willie L. Phillips in November 2024.

Over the course of her career, Judge Ryan has provided strategic counsel to regulated energy companies on litigation matters, business transactions, regulatory compliance matters, and federal policy trends. She practiced with a nationally recognized law firm for 24 years, first as an associate and then as a partner for 18 years. Prior to entering private practice, she served as an Attorney-Advisor in FERC’s Office of General Counsel. In 2014, she returned to the Commission, joining the Office of Administrative Litigation as a Trial Attorney.

In 1984, Judge Ryan earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Mount Holyoke College. She also received a Master of Arts in Economics and a Juris Doctor degree from Duke University in 1987.

She is a member of the New York State bar and the District of Columbia bar. 

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Suite: 11F-07