As Data Center Moratorium Fights Escalate, Law Firms Build Practices on Both Sides

A wave of local moratoriums and lawsuits over data center development is creating a new legal specialty, and law firms are positioning on both sides of it. Major firms including ArentFox Schiff, Davis Wright Tremaine, Jenner & Block, Norton Rose Fulbright, and Taft have all built or expanded dedicated data center practice groups in 2026, while a separate and newer trend has opposition groups and developers alike turning to litigation as moratoriums spread across dozens of jurisdictions.

ArentFox Schiff operates a group it calls Data Center Legal Solutions, led in part by Amy Antoniolli, the firm's Energy & Cleantech Industry Group co-leader, and has published state-by-state compliance guidance covering energy, water, zoning, and tax rules. Davis Wright Tremaine has released its own guide addressing the spread of moratoriums and AI infrastructure rules across US jurisdictions, advising both developers and local governments. Taft launched a dedicated Data Centers, Digital Infrastructure, and Powering AI group in February 2026, and Norton Rose Fulbright has said it built its group to bring together lawyers with experience across the full range of digital infrastructure work. At Bracewell, attorney Jared Berg described the scope of the work as covering “all elements of the value chain of the data center,” from real estate and construction contracts to power generation agreements.

The fastest-growing part of this legal market may be procedural litigation. According to Bloomberg Law, opponents in multiple states have shifted from challenging data centers on environmental or community-harm grounds to challenging the approval process itself. In Prince William County, Virginia, a court found officials failed to properly notify the public before a Board of Supervisors meeting that approved more than 1,500 acres for data center use; Blackstone's QTS and Compass Datacenters both abandoned the project that followed. In Wilmington, Ohio, a federal judge ruled that officials violated public meetings requirements in approving a proposed $4 billion Amazon Web Services complex and barred further action by the planning commission. Similar procedural challenges have succeeded or forced reversals in Festus, Missouri; Hill County, Texas; Stokes County, North Carolina; and Doña Ana County, New Mexico, where advocacy groups challenged a $165 billion Oracle and OpenAI campus known as Project Jupiter over closed-door sessions and withheld public records. One attorney told Bloomberg Law the approach reflects a deliberate strategic shift: “The law often favors the discretion of government officials, so picking apart the process is a stronger strategy.”

The pattern is playing out in real time in individual disputes. In Gibraltar, Michigan, developers Raeden Acquisitions and Cal Realty filed suit in August 2026 after the city enacted a one-year moratorium blocking their proposed 100 megawatt data center on a former steel plant site, seeking court approval of their site plan and damages. In Lowell, Massachusetts, the Conservation Law Foundation's environmental justice program is representing residents seeking a preliminary injunction against a data center operator's expansion plans, including additional diesel generators and cooling towers. And in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, attorney Jacob W. Steen of Larkin Hoffman sent city officials a letter on behalf of developer QLevr LLC warning of potential litigation if the city moved forward with a proposed moratorium, a preemptive tactic that did not stop the city council from approving a pause anyway.

For an industry accustomed to treating permitting as a formality, the legal bills are becoming a real line item. Developers are retaining specialized counsel earlier in the site selection process, and opposition groups are finding that procedural challenges succeed more often than substantive ones. As long as new moratoriums keep appearing, and 2026 has already produced dozens of them, both sides of this fight appear likely to keep hiring.