The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.
Javad Asghari is a partner in the energy and infrastructure practice in Simpson Thacher’s Los Angeles office, where he focuses on the development, financing, acquisition, and disposal of energy and infrastructure projects. His practice focuses on energy transition.
Sonia Lopez is a senior associate in the energy and infrastructure practice in the New York office at Simpson Thacher. She regularly works on complex financings such as project financings and acquisition financings as well as M&A across various energy and infrastructure sectors.
Describe your practice area and what it entails.
Javad: In Simpson Thacher’s energy and infrastructure practice, we advise clients on the full life cycle of a project, whether it’s developing, constructing, financing, investing in, or selling a project.
Over the past few years, we have been particularly busy working on renewable energy projects, including solar, wind, green hydrogen, and renewable natural gas projects, as well as data center projects to fuel the AI revolution.
What types of clients do you represent?
Sonia: The firm has a broad range of clients with a strong concentration on large private equity funds like BlackRock, KKR and Blackstone, and private credit funds. We also work consistently with traditional banks like JPMorgan and Citibank. Some of the partners I work with concentrate more on private equity sponsors, while others focus on private credit funds and traditional banking institutions. As an associate, the diversity of our clientele gives me broad exposure to different lawyers and work streams, providing great skill-development opportunities and a fuller sense of the various energy and infrastructure sectors.
What types of cases/deals do you work on?
Javad: While many of the greenfield projects we’ve handled recently have involved renewable energy or data centers, we advise clients on all kinds of projects. One of the more novel projects that Sonia and I recently closed was the development and financing for a project in California that recycles the metals and plastics from cars that have reached their end of their lives—cars that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill.
Sonia: That’s right, and to Javad’s earlier point, our work is broad in scope. We recently advised on developing and building transmission infrastructure bringing offshore wind energy projects off the coast of New Jersey to the grid, including advising on joint venture arrangements. There is enormous variety in the types of deals our group handles, but the common thread is that they are all in the energy and infrastructure space.
How did you choose this practice area?
Sonia: I did a lot of background research on different transactional practice areas to determine what sounded most interesting to me and what felt like the best fit. I landed on project finance for several reasons: everything from how relevant energy and infrastructure will always be for society (i.e., greater advancement opportunities!) to appreciating the tangible nature of the assets in our industry. I can go and see—and have seen!—a project that I worked on. And we are always learning about the newest, most cutting-edge energy-related technologies, so our work stays interesting and novel. Each day brings new ideas and challenges.
What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?
Javad: The days are wonderfully variable. Last week, I was in Houston negotiating a tricky transaction. Today, I spent most of my day reviewing my associate’s (excellent!) first draft of an offtake arrangement to support the financing of a sustainable aviation fuel project. Later in the week, I will deliver a presentation at our client’s headquarters concerning market trends for a new transaction structure. I find the variety stimulating.
What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?
Javad: Taking basic corporate finance classes will give you a head start on the terminology. But the best learning comes by showing up to work with intellectual curiosity and an eagerness to learn.
Sonia: You will learn most skills on the job, but I think it’s incredibly beneficial when associates come to us having had some exposure to what’s going on in the energy market. You can do this simply by reading the news or listening to podcasts; there’s a lot of information available that can help you stay informed. Some knowledge on how infrastructure and energy projects work is also useful—for example, solar projects, wind farms, or even conventional power projects. Taking secured transactions in law school is a good idea, as is taking any project finance or project development class your school may offer. To be clear, though, none of this is required; it just doesn’t hurt to do some extra reading ahead of time.
What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?
Sonia: I think for juniors the most challenging part of project finance is twofold: first, becoming familiar with the terminology and learning about the project as well as the financing itself and, second, learning to manage the large volume of documents involved in any given project finance transaction. Our transactions involve a wider range of documents than a normal financing deal, particularly when the project is being built, and the junior’s job is to help track everything, stay organized, and move things forward. It can feel a bit intimidating at first, especially because juniors are often unfamiliar with many of the terms we’re using. But if they stick to it and try their best, they will become masters of the process and will gain a deep understanding of the transaction. It’s about trusting the process—it gets easier!
What misconceptions exist about your practice area?
Javad: That project finance is too specialized or niche. At Simpson Thacher, the energy and infrastructure practice is an industry group; this means you will have the opportunity to work on all sorts of transactions within the energy and infrastructure space—not just project finance. Moreover, the skills you’ll learn as an associate on a project finance transaction at Simpson Thacher are highly transferable to other types of deals that we work on, including our deals in the M&A space, construction contracts, and contracts to commercialize the output of a project. Project financings make up just one piece of the puzzle in the life of a project. You will be a better legal advisor to the firm’s clients and provide superior service when you understand the entire life cycle of a project, and Simpson Thacher’s energy and infrastructure practice offers those valuable opportunities.
What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?
Sonia: We try not to have a one-size-fits-all approach to assigning tasks; instead, we think carefully about “stretch” opportunities to ensure that associates are continuing to develop into world-class attorneys. Juniors in project finance deals become skilled at moving deals forward early in their careers, which is a crucial skill for young lawyers across the full range of the firm’s corporate work. Because there are so many documents involved in a project finance transaction, junior lawyers get the chance to take on more responsibility earlier in their careers and to own a work stream. The junior’s job on a project finance deal typically includes managing any documents that come in, leading checklists calls, fielding questions from all the parties (i.e., the client, opposing counsel, consultants, specialists and local counsel), and taking the first cut at drafts of documents.
How important is it for project finance lawyers to keep abreast of and develop strategies regarding economic trends and market cycles, and how can junior attorneys develop these skills?
Javad: The urgency of energy transition means that the regulatory regime and technological changes are evolving quickly. The most effective attorneys I practice with and am across from focus on those advances and are thinking hard about how to help their clients navigate an ever-shifting landscape and communicating those ideas and changes clearly to the client. When you are staffed on a deal as a junior attorney, try to understand the commercial drivers of the transaction and spend more time contextualizing the transaction than you may strictly need to complete the specific task at hand. That incremental knowledge will give you a much fuller understanding of our work and add tremendous value over time.