Minneapolis, June 8 - Minneapolis-based Avisen Legal has joined the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association (MN Bio-Fuels) as a vendor member.

Avisen Legal is comprised of 11 lawyers and three administrative team members with a focus on serving clients committed to environmental sustainability and value-added agriculture. 

“We are pleased to welcome Avisen Legal as our latest vendor member. Their lawyers have worked closely with the ethanol industry for decades,” said Tim Rudnicki, executive director of MN Bio-Fuels.

Todd Taylor (pictured left), who heads the Impact Counsel team at Avisen Legal, said lawyers at the firm have worked on ethanol projects in Minnesota and other parts of the US as well as in Mexico, the Caribbean, Germany, Poland, South Korea and Thailand.

In Minnesota specifically, he said they worked on the financing and formation of the DENCO ethanol plant in Morris in 1997. 

Since then, Taylor said Avisen Legal’s lawyers have continued to work with ethanol producers in Minnesota and the Midwest as well as producers in California, Oregon, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

“In total, we have worked on projects with a production capacity well over a billion gallons. In addition, we have worked on renewable gasoline, renewable diesel, renewable natural gas and hydrogen projects connected to existing ethanol plants or as separate projects,” Taylor said.

On Impact Counsel, he said the team operates at the crossroads of impact investing and legal counsel.

“Minnesota is our home state and where we did our first biofuels deal. We owe it to our state to help promote the use of sustainable biofuels and the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association is leading the charge to educate the public and policy-makers about the benefits of sustainable biofuels,” Taylor added.