Jurgens van Zyl Joins Stites & Harbison’s Environmental Practice in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Stites & Harbison, PLLC welcomes Jurgens van Zyl to the Lexington, Ky., office. He joins the firm as an attorney in the Environmental, Energy & Sustainability Service Group.

Van Zyl’s practice focuses on environmental litigation, public utility law as well as regulatory counseling, permitting and compliance matters. He advises clients in the energy industry, including regularly representing utility clients before the Kentucky Public Service Commission.

Prior to joining Stites & Harbison, van Zyl served as a staff attorney for the Kentucky Public Service Commission for nearly four years. While there, he regularly represented the Commission in a variety of administrative proceedings involving complex rate cases, applications for Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity and long-term utility supply and demand planning. He also advised on state and federal environmental regulations and helped lead a team to investigate nuclear energy issues such as siting, construction, operation of nuclear generation and storage of spent fuel in Kentucky. Before the Kentucky Public Service Commission, van Zyl was an associate for a Huntington, W.Va., law firm. Prior to that, he was a staff attorney for Justice Laurance B. VanMeter of the Kentucky Supreme Court. Van Zyl earned his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 2020.

Outside of the firm, van Zyl enjoys spending time with his wife, two kids and two dogs.

Van Zyl is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in Kentucky.