Jeremy Kalin
Attorney At Law
jkalin@avisenlegal.com
612-875-2546
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“My life ethic is to be of service to others. Practicing law provides a great platform for helping others find their path through successful entrepreneurship, including for-profit enterprises, non-profits or social ventures. My life work is mobilizing capital for the public good – from deep sustainability to social enterprise to public investment. I love helping cool people build cool stuff, though I doubt I have ever been cool myself.”
Bar Admissions
- Minnesota
- District of Columbia
As the son and grandson of small business owners and as a “recovering” former politician, I believe that private enterprise can help solve some of the big challenges we face in our world. That we are all better served when for-profit, nonprofit and public institutions all pull on the rope together.
The Impact Counsel practice is the perfect intersection of my passions: mobilizing capital for the public good, advancing deep sustainability and leveraging private and public resources: my practice really is where impact investment and enterprises meet legal counsel.
For me, impact work includes both deep sustainability and social enterprise.
I’ve been particularly focused on expanding access to solar and related clean energy financing. My clients include solar developers with a particular focus on community benefits, impact investors trying to access the renewable energy market (doing good and doing well at the same time), landowners and building owners contemplating solar projects, and policy makers and economic developers needing help in spurring the market.
I lead Avisen’s work on behalf of public and private clients seeking to leverage the many new tools in the Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation, particularly for solar, geothermal, energy efficiency, and other related tax credits and deductions – including the first-ever refundable Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for these kinds of projects.
I was fortunate to be asked by President Obama to Chair a White House task force on clean energy and climate policy and investment, and served as CEO of a clean energy financing business I founded after I retired from the Minnesota House of Representatives at the ripe old age of 35. I’ve helped build multiple billion-dollar investment tools from scratch and been directly involved in more than $302 million of mostly small- and medium-sized renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean water projects.
I love advising clients seeking impact through their business, non-profit or governmental enterprises around questions of entity structure; values-driven investing; regulatory compliance and long-term sustainability. Sometimes that means taking on a “sticky wicket” and sometimes it means getting to dream together. I pinch myself that I get to be a part of the team helping solve problems and making a vision come to life, as an advisor who also happens to be a lawyer.
For me, this work is closely aligned to my prior work as an elected official: being of service, finding resources and listening to people’s needs. I especially love working with partners and clients without regard to political persuasion or perspective. The problems we face demand that we work together and mobilize all the resources possible. My experience is and expertise is just one such resource.
I live in South Minneapolis with my wife and our middle-school-aged twins. We are close enough to walk our kids to school, to Scouts and to our synagogue, too. I feed my mental health by gardening, competing in triathlons and making functional pottery. Like most lawyers, my undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics; in my 20s I made my living as a studio potter, selling my functional artwork all over the country.
“I consistently find Jeremy to be an individual of the highest character and passionate about serving others. He is incredibly bright and quick to consider alternatives necessary to drive solutions.” – Greg Heinemann, Co-Founder Adrenaline Enterprises
“One of Jeremy’s strengths has been matching new markets areas with financing opportunities. He has proven himself to be a strong leader to navigate the internal politics of complicated partnerships, going step-by-step with a persistent eye on the larger goal: to bring Credit Union capital to new markets for clean energy.” – Mara Humphrey, VP of Government Affairs and Member Services, Minnesota Credit Union Network
“I have spent my career working with some of the country’s greatest leaders. I can say that Jeremy has an incredibly rare mix of skills that allow him to work in a team- oriented environment, connect with the people he is serving and working for and ultimately delivering results.” – Nick Rathod, Deputy Director of White House Intergovernmental Affairs and Special Assistant to President Barack Obama
“Jeremy is an innovator, a “do-er” and a listener. He sees the big picture, as well as the details. During my time working with Jeremy he has been thoughtful, deeply engaged, and respectful of the needs of our City and residents. Jeremy’s ability to evaluate and develop different financing structures has been invaluable to me, and to the Baltimore Shines initiative. His knowledge of financing, and connections to finance and economic development professionals across the country have helped us tremendously. He has used his experience as a legislator to help us navigate the passage of a bill dedicated to funding of the Baltimore Shines guarantee fund – which with a Republican Governor, and Democratic Legislature can be tricky. Jeremy worked through this with ease and was able to strategize with us on the best approaches to ensure passage.” – Alice Kennedy, Deputy Commissioner, Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development
“Jeremy has organized a funding system for the oft forgotten area of small to medium sized organization funding for Green Energy projects.” – Jay Jacobson, President, Commercial Environmental Services LLC
“If you’ve ever wanted to meet one of those public figures who has a genuine interest in meeting and improving the lives of his constituents, this is the one. He wears out shoes walking his house district, has a strong, principled commitment to improving the lives of Chisago County citizens, and has a great sense of humor to boot.” – John Farrell
- William Mitchell College of Law
- University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning
- University of Minnesota
- Founding Chair, CLEAN White House Task Force on climate and clean energy
- Senior Advisor, National Caucus of Environmental Legislators
- Senior Advisor, GOVERNING Institute
- Chair, Safety and Security Committee, Shir Tikvah synagogue
- Treasurer, The Violence Project Research Center to end mass shootings
- Director, Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis
- Past Director, James J. Hill Library
- Fellow, British American Project
- Paying Solar Incentives Direct to Nonprofits — Episode 213 of Local Energy Rules Podcast
- Low-Income Solar Financing – Mobilizing Private Capital for the Public Good
- Electricity Regulation 101 – The Regulatory Compact
- Clean Energy Leaders – Comparing Paths to 100%
- Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers (GAIL)
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