Episode 017 - Jeffrey A. Moerdler - Data Center Industry Attorney Perspectives

This week on the I Love Data Centers podcast: Data Center Industry Attorney Perspectives, I interview Jeffery A. Moerdler. My favorite interviews are ones where I get to scratch my itch for more industry knowledge and this was most definitely the case with this interview. Jeffrey A. Moerdler, Real Estate Partner at Mintz Levin and former Commissioner at Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has spent decades working and drafting data center and telecommunications related contracts representing both the buyer and seller. He is also the founder of the IMN Forum on Data Centers and Cloud Services, which just recently had their 8th annual fall event in Chicago. Our conversation covers the legal and business implications of a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), the ins and outs of data center service and lease contracts, data privacy laws, cyber security and a variety of related topics. There is a mountain of valuable information and insight within this episode! Enjoy! Episode 17 Show Notes 1:11 Interview starts 2:01 Where are you located right now? 3:48 Growing up in New York, how did you become familiar with technology? 8:08 How did you become educated about data centers? 10:01 How and why Jeffrey started the IMN Data Center Forum 14:48 How have the topics during the related data center conferences evolved over the years? 23:41 Data Center server “huggers” 26:40 What has kept Jeffrey from directly working for a brokerage firm 31:09 The most common mistakes Jeffery has seen people make in the data center industry 36:19 Important concepts people in the industry need to grasp 41:30 Conversation re: liability for building owners 44:01 Why data center owners and operators prefer the REIT structure 45:20 Why does a REIT provide access to a lower cost of capital? 46:42 The cons of the REIT structure 52:18 Data privacy laws 57:33 InfraGard 1:07:20 Legality of data shared between countries 1:13:23 Why AWS and Azure will not eliminate the need for data centers 1:19:45 Jeffrey’s first time in a data center 1:25:09 What is the most fascinating thing you’ve learned in your profession in the past 3 days? 1:30:19 What is some advice you would give to someone new to the industry? 1:35:00 How to get in touch with Jeffrey Links mentioned in this episode InfraGard: https://www.infragard.org/ Jeffery on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreymoerdler/