European law firm Fieldfisher has hired a five-strong team of senior lawyers as part of its strategic focus on the UK and European energy sector.
The team of five partners join from a combination of senior private practice and in-house positions, bringing a wealth of UK and international experience to the firm's flagship energy sector group.
Matthew Williams, who was appointed Co-Head of Energy at Fieldfisher in January, is joined by Elisabeth (Lis) Blunsdon, who was appointed as a partner in the energy regulatory team in March.
The firm also welcomes new partner Mark Nash, who brings broad experience of the energy infrastructure sector, having previously worked for Amey plc.
Matthew, Lis and Mark all join from Orrick.
Leading energy and commodities lawyer Rashpaul Bahia has joined the firm's financial markets and products team as a partner.
Rashpaul has most recently been advising Morgan Stanley and has extensive experience in energy and commodities trading and transactional matters. He was previously a partner at Reed Smith.
Experienced project development and commercial lawyer Hugo Lidbetter will join Fieldfisher's energy sector team in May from French energy utility, EDF, significantly boosting the firm's capabilities in energy infrastructure projects.
Hugo was deputy head of legal at EDF and company secretary of its upstream and generation divisions. He was previously in the project development team at Hogan Lovells.
Lis, Mark and Rashpaul are all based in London, while Matthew and Hugo will work across the firm’s London and Birmingham offices, extending the reach of the firm’s renewables practice into regional growth pockets in the UK.
The new team will work alongside Dominic Gurney-Champion, Fieldfisher's Co-Head of Energy in London and Daniel Marhewka, corporate energy partner in Munich specialising in renewables.
The new partners will also work with renewable energy specialists at Fieldfisher's newest office in Dublin, which officially became part of the firm on 1 May following the merger with Irish firm, McDowell Purcell.
With this new expanded team in place, Fieldfisher has strengthened its capabilities particularly in onshore and offshore wind, waste to energy, solar energy, energy storage, energy trading and power plant development – in Europe and across other key markets.
Commenting on the newly expanded team, Dominic Gurney-Champion, Co-Head of Energy at Fieldfisher, said:
"I am proud to welcome such a high calibre team of energy experts to the firm at a time when we are doubling down Fieldfisher's strategic focus on energy – and specifically renewables and power.
"They will join forces with our existing energy specialists around our European network to provide seamless, sector-specific capability to our clients."
Matthew Williams, Co-Head of Energy at Fieldfisher, added:
"I am delighted to be working with Dominic as we steer an ambitious and exciting new course for Fieldfisher's energy practice.
"We have built a team with excellent credentials across a number of growing areas in the energy sector and we look forward to expanding our presence further."
Daniel Marhewka, partner, corporate and energy at Fieldfisher commented:
"The wealth of experience joining with Matthew, Lis and the rest of the team strengthens our renewables offering across Europe, closes regional gaps and allows us to play in a different league, especially in the UK renewables industry.
"We are very well-equipped to tackle the many opportunities and challenges offered by the rapidly evolving renewable sector in Europe."
About Fieldfisher
Fieldfisher is a European law firm with market leading practices in many of the world's most dynamic sectors. We are an exciting, forward-thinking organisation with a particular focus on energy & natural resources, technology, finance & financial services, life sciences and media.
Fieldfisher's dedicated energy team advises companies, commodity trading houses, banks and investment funds on a wide range of matters. We have been active in the energy and natural resources sector for over 50 years and have a team more than 100 lawyers internationally.
Our network has more than 1,450 people working across 24 offices providing highly commercial advice based on an in-depth understanding of our clients' needs.
We operate across our offices in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Beijing, Belfast, Birmingham, Bologna, Brussels, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Turin, Venice and Silicon Valley.
Fieldfisher was named as a top 20 firm by the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards 2018.