LOUIS WARCHOT, former Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Association of American Railroads (AAR), is a member of Sidley’s Transportation practice, which is recognized by U.S. News and Chambers USA as one of the nation’s top-tier practices.

Lou is a veteran public policy advocate. During his almost two decades at AAR, Lou was involved in the development of legislative and regulatory policy and standard setting measures for the freight rail industry. Lou represented the rail industry in judicial and administrative proceedings, drafted and prepared presentations on legislative proposals for industry initiatives and advocated industry positions in public forums.

Lou is a skilled advisor for clients with controversies before federal regulatory agencies. He represented the rail industry on safety and economic regulation issues before the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Communications Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Surface Transportation Board, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration. His experience at AAR included:

Major economic regulation proceedings before the Surface Transportation Board involving revenue adequacy, cost of capital and competitive access, as well as other proceedings involving rate regulation, abandonments, interchange commitments, the transport of hazardous materials and the common carrier obligation
Matters before the Federal Railroad Administration, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration, Federal Communications Commission and Environmental Protection Agency involving the safety and operations of the railroads including Positive Train Control, rail tank car standards and crude oil transport requirements

Prior to joining AAR, Lou served as counsel and ultimately Associate General Counsel for the Southern Pacific Transportation Company. All told, Lou has four decades of experience advising on economic regulation, safety and operations, environmental regulation, antitrust and federal preemption issues, as well as on corporate governance, compliance, finance and commercial matters.

Lou served as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, Judge Advocate General’s Corps.