Cole Hutchison

Cole Hutchison is an administrative and regulatory attorney who works on both litigation and transactional matters. He has extensive experience in administrative and commercial litigation, from the district court to the Texas Supreme Court level. Cole’s administrative litigation experience ranges from contested cases in front of various state agencies to the State Office of Administrative Hearings, and subsequent appeals to Texas state courts. His experience includes both working cases from the very beginning and taking over cases in various stages of litigation.

Among his commercial workload, he has represented clients in property tax lawsuits, including at trial. Cole excels in developing litigation strategy, including the use of expert opinions and reports, that positions a client for its goals at the district court level, any subsequent appeal and in future tax years.

Cole has also represented clients within the Texas energy market in ratemaking cases for electricity providers and other contested administrative dockets at the Public Utility Commission of Texas. That work includes water rate appeals and rulemaking proceedings. He has also provided guidance on applications for certificates of convenience and necessity as well as other regulatory compliance filings like retail electric provider certificates and emergency operations plans.

Cole previously served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Open Records and Administrative Law Divisions for the Office of the Attorney General of Texas. In those roles, he issued numerous open records letter rulings interpreting the Texas Public Information Act (PIA) and represented state agencies in suits for judicial review, PIA lawsuits, rule challenges and other litigation matters. Further, during his time at the Office of the Attorney General, he worked on various administrative investigations and advised Texas agencies on the enactment of legislative bills.