HWG LLP
  • Reset Filters

Partner

Colleen A. Sechrest

Contact

+1 202 730 1308

PDF
Colleen A. Sechrest

Practices

Education

University of Chicago Law School, J.D., with honors

Stanford University, M.A.

University of California, Irvine, B.A.

Admissions

District of Columbia

California

Illinois

Recognitions

Best Lawyers, Communications Law

Colleen Sechrest advises tech and telecom companies on regulatory issues involved with commercial agreements.

On the regulatory side, Colleen represents wireline, wireless, broadband and subsea cable clients before state, federal and foreign regulatory agencies in connection with licensing and post-licensing regulatory compliance. She has served as regulatory counsel in connection with mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances and debt and equity offerings, assisting clients with securing regulatory approvals when required, including approvals from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and, with respect to FCC-regulated business, the Team Telecom agencies. Colleen provides regulatory guidance on a wide variety of issues, including foreign ownership restrictions, national security and law enforcement obligations, privacy regulations, disabilities access and universal service reporting and contributions.

On the commercial and corporate side, Colleen negotiates and drafts a variety of complex commercial services agreements, stock purchase agreements, asset agreements, infrastructure agreements, technology development agreements and licensing agreements. In the subsea space, these agreements involve construction and maintenance agreements, provisioning of cable capacity and backhaul dark fiber, cable landing facility agreements, and landing party agreements. In addition, Colleen assists clients with a wide variety of general business needs, including business formation and dissolution, real property transactions, and shareholder agreements.

Representations before the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) and Team Telecom Agencies (the U.S. Departments of Justice, Defense, and Homeland Security) to obtain licenses and national security approvals include:

  • TPG Telecom in its merger with Vodafone Australia;
  • Antin Infrastructure Partners in its acquisitions of FirstLight;
  • Amper and Bluesky in the sale of South Pacific telecom group Bluesky to Fiji incumbent ATH;
  • Facebook for the Hong Kong-Americas and Bay-to-Bay Express submarine cable systems;
  • Aqua Comms, Facebook and Bulk Infrastructure for the Havfrue submarine cable system;
  • Deep Blue, to obtain a license and national security approval for its pan-Caribbean submarine cable system; and
  • RTI for its Japan-Guam JGA North submarine cable system.

Colleen has also represented clients, such as the North American Submarine Cable Association, in regulatory proceedings to limit the impact of the Jones Act and other cabotage restrictions.

Representative commercial transactions include:

  • RTI in negotiating and drafting cable landing station and fronthaul agreements; and
  • Telxius Cable América S.A. in negotiating and drafting construction and maintenance agreements, capacity leases, IRUs, and collocation agreements.

Prior to her legal career, Colleen served as a foreign policy aide to California Senator Alan Cranston.

Read More+

Education

University of Chicago Law School, J.D., with honors

Stanford University, M.A.

University of California, Irvine, B.A.

Recognitions

Best Lawyers, Communications Law

In the News

Related News

See All News