Project Finance

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

My practice centers on transactional work of all kinds in the energy sector, with a particular focus on renewables, energy transition, and other federally incentivized development. I advise clients on structuring, financing, and executing deals across the spectrum: tax equity, joint ventures, M&A, project finance, preferred equity, and structured credit. Because these deals often involve multiple moving parts (e.g., tax credits, regulatory incentives, power purchase agreements, interconnections, offtake, environmental attributes, and supply chain and contractor risk), the role requires being both deeply strategic and operationally pragmatic. In many ways, my job is to translate business objectives into legal structures that manage risk while enabling value creation.

What types of clients do you represent?

I represent a broad range of clients: private equity and infrastructure sponsors, tax equity investors and syndicators, lenders and institutional capital providers, and energy developers. My clients include global investment firms, energy companies, project platforms, and emerging tech companies in the clean energy space. As the energy transition sector continues to evolve, I have found myself working increasingly with clients such as recycling and advanced manufacturing firms, EV/infrastructure developers, and other adjacent businesses pursuing federally incentivized infrastructure investment.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

My practice is driven by the asset classes I focus on rather than a single legal discipline, allowing me to work seamlessly across both financing and corporate matters. A typical trans-action is highly structured with multiple parts of the capital stack that must interact and support the development and operation of an energy or infrastructure asset.

Some recent transactions include Calibrant Energy (a Macquarie Asset Management portfolio company) in its acquisition of a carve-out of Enel X North America’s distributed energy storage business with more than 700 MWh of distributed projects in late-stage development; RBC Community Investments in invest-tax-credit equity financing of over $500 million for a Green River Energy Center project being developed by rPlus Energies, a 400-MWac solar photovoltaic facility and 400-MW/1,600-MWh battery energy storage facility located in Emery County, Utah; a consortium headed by APG Asset Management N.V., on behalf of the largest Dutch pension fund ABP and Australian Retirement Trust, in the acquisition of Riverstone Holdings’ equity stake in Pattern Energy Group LP; EQT Partners in mezzanine debt financing to refinance the mezzanine and subordinate debt obligations of its portfolio company Cypress Creek Renewables; Macquarie Asset Management in a $325 million investment in Atlas Agro Holding AG, a developer of industrial-scale plants for fertilizer sourced from green hydrogen; Lombard Odier Asset Management in a structured debt financing of Tillman Networks’ telecommunications infrastructure development business; Apollo Global Management Inc. on convertible equity portfolio financing of $816 million with NextEra Energy Partners for a 2.5-GW renewable energy portfolio consisting of 13 utility-scale wind and solar assets and integrated battery storage of approximately 115 MW spanning U.S. power markets; DE Shaw Renewable Investments in the acquisition, development, tax equity, and project financing of the High-lands solar project; and Global Infrastructure Partners in its acquisition of 50% of TotalEnergies’ majority ownership position in SunPower Corporation.

How did you choose this practice area?

I’m fascinated by the intersection of law, finance, and sustainability, and this field offers all three in equal measure. I have a master’s degree in urban planning that I received alongside my law degree, and I’ve always been interested in how policy impacts the real world. Early in my career, I was drawn to project finance and infrastructure, and as renewables matured and the energy transition agenda accelerated, I saw the opportunity to focus fully on this space. The pace of innovation; constant policy developments, especially around tax credits and clean energy incentives; operational complexity; and scale of capital involved all made the work particularly compelling to me. I enjoy helping clients achieve real-world impact through com-plex transactions that this practice area allows me to do.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Every day in my practice looks different, which is a big part of why I find the work particularly engaging and exciting. A given day might involve strategy calls with a client on an M&A trans-action, underwriting and diligence analysis on a tax equity investment or project financing, analyzing new regulatory guidance on tax credits or federal loan programs, or walking through different options and upside/downside protection in a workout. Much of my time is spent coordinating with various colleagues at Sidley to ensure our clients are getting the best advice on every part of the strategy, then synthesizing all of the different work streams into commercial action that helps them achieve the best outcomes. My days are intensely transactional, highly collaborative, and often driven by tight deadlines and shifting deal parameters.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

The most impactful classes I took in law school were seminars. Any courses taught by a practicing transactional lawyer or are otherwise grounded in real-world practice will give you the clearest sense of what work will feel like in a commercial environment. If you want to pursue a practice in finance, Secured Transactions is a critical course and will be part of your daily life. I also find that general Corporations Law is really helpful, as is gaining at least a basic understanding of tax even if you don’t plan to specialize. Outside of the academic environment, I have two pieces of advice. First, you need to understand the business environment in which your clients operate. In an energy practice, learning how the energy markets and the electrical grid function will take you far, as will having a basic understanding of the basic vocabulary of these markets. Second, in any finance or corporate practice, you should stay current on legal and commercial environment changes. Take a real interest in your client’s business and engage with the media that they are following to learn how to look around corners and anticipate their concerns.

One great yardstick for developing your skills is making sure you understand what your counterparts on the client side are responsible for and helping them to be successful. This might mean learning how a financial model works, assessing risk, gathering internal information for a regulatory filing, or developing a strategic approach. My other core piece of advice is that attention to detail, the ability to manage multiple moving parts, and strong drafting abilities are table stakes for being an excellent lawyer, but you will stand out if you learn how to deliver clear, effective, and actionable advice.

What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?

The biggest challenge is working through the complexity and rapid change inherent in this sector. Regulatory regimes, supply chain and interconnection risk, changes in tax equity and governmental incentive policy, credit markets, and ESG/ transition mandates all shift with market and policy forces. Structuring a deal that aligns incentives across sponsors, investors, lenders, contractors, and offtakers while managing evolving risk (technical, regulatory, tax, and environmental) is demanding. Especially for large portfolios or cross-border transactions, coordinating multiple stakeholders and jurisdictions increases the challenge. This same complexity is also what keeps the work compelling.

What misconceptions exist about your practice area?

One misconception is that energy and infrastructure transactions can be easily done by generalist corporate or financing associates. In reality, energy and infrastructure assets are highly regulated and subject to a wide range of policy and tax consequences, physical constraints, supply chain and technology risk, and many other unique factors that require deep specialization to identify, understand, and manage. These deals are uniquely complex and require seasoned lawyers who can pull in a variety of different specialist perspectives, filter the critical from the preferred, and help commercial clients make risk-adjusted decisions. Some assume a lawyer’s work is purely technical, but at the highest levels, the job also requires commercial instincts, business savvy, and creativity to structure transactions that actually succeed in the market.

How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?

I see several key trends: greater scale and sophistication in renewables and storage, increased investor appetite for nuclear and renewed interest in baseload generation, increasing interest in circular-economy technologies as supply chains become increasingly regulated and constrained, and increasing regulatory and tax policy complexity. At the same time, the rise of AI and the growth in data center demand may point to an infrastructure boom, driven fundamentally by global competition to produce the lowest-cost energy capable of powering this revolution. Shifts in supply chain resilience, localization of manufacturing, and cross-border investment flows will drive structuring demands. For legal practitioners in this space, staying ahead of policy, tax, and regulatory shifts will be a differentiator.

What are some typical career paths for lawyers in this practice area?

Lawyers often start as associates in energy, project finance, or infrastructure groups then move into roles focusing on certain types of transactions. It’s great to be a generalist as you develop as a lawyer, but you also need some anchor practices that allow you to be recognized as someone who clients or colleagues turn to for specific transactions.

Outside the law firm, some lawyers transition to in-house roles at sponsors, investment firms, or infrastructure platforms. Others move into governmental or regulatory roles (energy commissions, DOE, etc.) because of the strong policy interface. Within law firms, progression to counsel or partner is typical for those who develop a deep transactional and client-relationship track record.

Beyond law practice, many go into advisory, consulting, or board roles in the energy and infrastructure sectors. The cross-disciplinary nature of the work opens many doors.

Gregory (Greg) W. Lavigne, Jr., is a partner in Sidley’s energy, transportation, and infrastructure group, where he advises energy investors, lenders, and sponsors on complex financing and M&A transactions, including project finance, tax equity, private equity, joint venture, M&A, and structured finance trans-actions. Greg’s clients are global, but his work is primarily focused on U.S. domestic projects. He has a long track record in traditional renewables and energy transition investments, with a strong background in solar, onshore and offshore wind, and battery storage assets. He also has extensive experience in transactions around liquified natural gas terminals and pipelines, combined-cycle gas turbine financings, green hydrogen and ammonia, EV and recycling infrastructure, geothermal projects, and other energy technologies. Greg’s practice thrives at the nexus of innovation, regulation, and finance as he helps clients structure transactions that drive sustainable outcomes while navigating evolving tax, regulatory, and market risk.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

I represent clients who want to build large infrastructure projects. At its core, I primarily help developers, sponsors, and investors negotiate with engineers, suppliers, and contractors to design and construct these projects. My focus is on energy- and AI-related industries, which consist of the largest spenders on capital projects by far.

At White & Case, we have a broad projects practice, which includes a number of partners who represent these same clients in raising capital (equity and debt) to pay for projects. I work closely with these lawyers on an integrated projects team to negotiate all the other project documents, as well as the equity and debt transactions. On any given day, I might be helping a client finance a development agreement for a data center or navigating the complexity of evolving a new technology (such as carbon capture) from the pilot to commercial grade stage.

What types of clients do you represent?

White & Case is a global law firm. Many of our clients operate across borders, and while my practice is primarily focused on the Americas, I represent clients from all over the world. Lately, clients in the Asia-Pacific region have shown increased interest in deploying capital into the United States, especially following the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and Bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021.

In addition, our U.S. presence is now well over 1,000 lawyers, so many of our clients are U.S. companies focused on energy and AI. We spend a lot of time helping clients who are building solar generation, battery storage, and gas generation projects. Other clients are looking to enter the renewable fuels business utilizing hydrogen or ammonia as the base feedstock. Our team was intimately involved in the first wave of U.S. liquified nature gas (LNG) export projects and has seen significant resurgence in U.S. LNG activity over the past 12 months.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

We like to build things. I trained as a civil engineer in college, and many of our team members are former contractors or engineers. So, if a client wants to build something, we’re all in. Since capital spend is so high in the energy and technology space, we focus there, but we have hundreds of projects going at any given time; they range from commercial office build-outs to mixed-use developments and world-scale ship-ping terminals.

We are lawyers, but we’re also dealmakers. We are hired to get a contract signed so the project can be built and operations can commence to generate cash. The finish line isn’t contract signing or financial close, its operations, and our job is to always keep the bigger picture in mind.

How did you choose this practice area?

I’d like to say it was intentional. It wasn’t. I’m a first-generation lawyer. When I was in college, I told people I wanted to go to law school. They said that engineers often become patent lawyers. As well-meaning as the advice was, it wasn’t the best guidance since there’s not a ton of innovation (and therefore few patents) in the civil engineering space. I often say the Romans did most of their innovating in construction.

Somewhere in the middle of law school, I realized I really liked capital formation, so I focused on going to New York and joining a private equity practice. It was 2008. No one was hired and certainly not someone with a civil engineering background who made a mid-law school pivot.

When a year out of law school, I ended up taking an insurance defense position in Mississippi. A couple years later, I got my first recruiter call for a job in Houston for “EPC work.” I had to look the term up: It means “engineering, procurement, and construction.” Two weeks later, I started at a new firm, doing something I didn’t even know existed until then. I’ve been doing it ever since.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

I started at White & Case just over seven years ago. I was hired to build the U.S. construction practice, something I was already doing at my previous firm. It was just me at first. A couple of months later, I hired my first associate for the team. He’s now a partner in the group, and we’ve now grown to five partners in Houston, Chicago, and New York, along with a bunch of associates. I spend most of my day coordinating with partners across the projects practice and the larger firm. I help recruit other partners to our platform, train associates, and connect with clients. My goal is to offer a differentiated experience for our clients, a truly one-stop projects practice with a fully integrated team to handle the most complex projects in the world.

Some days I’m locked in a room with a contractor focused on reaching a deal. Other days, I’m traveling to a conference in New York or heading to Tokyo for a client road show with other partners. Then, there are days when I’m catching up on billing, invoicing, and collections. Some days are incredibly exciting; some involve the nuts and bolts of running a large, growing practice.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

Our lawyers are much more than lawyers. We can translate among legal stakeholders, engineers, and senior executives. When we talk to other lawyers, we might be focused on the enforceability of an indemnity provision. When we talk to an engineer—who doesn’t care about indemnity—we know they’re thinking about whether the scope of work is clear to avoid future disputes. When we talk to senior executives, we understand that they want to make sure the price, schedule, and performance of the facility is well-understood and that the risks are well-managed.

You need to have good interpersonal skills, a solid understanding of business fundamentals, and a willingness to learn technology. Currently, new lawyers are in the perfect position to excel because everything is changing and new. The energy transition has created new risks, new revenue streams, and a collision of business models among stakeholders. We’re all constantly learning, and the best lawyers simply roll up their sleeves and dive in. If you have a challenger mentality, you’ll be best positioned to succeed.

What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?

Our job is to have deep expertise in construction and, at the same time, navigate through the complexity of financing, M&A, tax, intellectual property, trade, sanctions, environmental, and many other verticals. While we might be focused on the construction contracts, our clients are focused on achieving operations and minimizing risks for the entire project. We need to know enough about these other areas so that we know when to consult with our colleagues in other fields. That’s hard when you also need to constantly stay on the cutting edge of risk allocations in the market, case law movement in various jurisdictions, and other construction-focused considerations.

In summary, you really have to lean in and be constantly learning. You can never think that you’ve mastered something, or someone will pass you by, and then clients start to look to them for advice instead.

What do you like best about your practice area?

When all the negotiations are done and the cash is put up to build the project, I love to go on-site and see the ground moving. I still have a hard hat and steel-toe boots, and I always look for opportunities to use them. I’ve been to groundbreaking ceremonies and toured the operating facilities of many clients’ assets. My job allows me to stay mentally engaged every single day, but occasionally I get to connect with the dirt again and think about how all the effort led to the massive projects being built. We’re a small part of the overall effort, but we love to help push it along!

What is unique about your practice area at your firm?

Five years ago, I knew almost nothing about carbon capture or the differences between green and blue hydrogen. Now, I’m an expert. This is true in a number of fields; it’s the nature of our practice: We are at the cutting edge because we are building it.

In my view, White & Case has the largest group of construction deal lawyers in the United States, and we are a small part of a much larger energy practice with well over 1,000 lawyers around the world. Our breadth has us connected to many (if not most) of the energy projects in the world. These lawyers are on the forefront of the AI movement, whether developing data centers or the power to run these facilities. It’s exciting to be involved in so many world-class opportunities.

How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?

Clients are looking for solutions. The world is getting more complex. Whether because of trade friction or technology revolutions, conventional advice is no longer sufficient. White & Case offers an integrated solution set for clients, but it requires significant work on our part to stay connected across practices and regions. Life is busy, and it’s not always easy to catch up with your partner in Melbourne. A matter gets busy, and the lessons learned aren’t always conveyed to larger teams to ensure that representations are made incrementally more efficient.

AI has the promise of allowing us to connect the dots systematically and more efficiently. Early legal support tools have struggled to provide day-to-day benefits. Recently, however, we’ve started to see applications that really move the needle, and I expect step-change improvements. White & Case is actively investing in a number of platforms, and practices like ours are seeking to maximize technology for our clients’ benefit. In our strong view, if you’re not doing this, you’ll be left behind.

David Strickland is a core member of the White & Case’s global construction industry group, where he leads the firm’s construction initiatives focused on the United States and Canada. The team has successfully completed more than $300 billion in projects throughout the United States and Canada.

David has extensive experience across the table from virtually every major contractor in the United States and Canada, and he leverages his market knowledge to provide quick resolution to even the toughest issues. While most of his clients are focused on large, bet-the-company projects, David relies on his project experience to assist startup companies looking to deploy new technologies in the energy space.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

I’m a partner in the firm’s energy, natural resources, and infrastructure practice and a member of the Latin America group. I regularly advise on a variety of domestic and international project development and limited recourse, corporate, and acquisition financing transactions in the energy, infrastructure, and natural resources sectors. My clients include commercial, multilateral, and development banks and investors and sponsors from around the globe.  

What types of clients do you represent?

I represent developers of energy infrastructure and mining projects. In Latin America, we represent lenders in many types of corporate financings for companies in the region. We also represent governmental or multiple governmental entities that generally finance energy infrastructure and mining projects.  

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

At present, we’re representing the DOE in a proposed financing for the potentially biggest lithium project in the world. The financing is for the processing plant that will produce battery-grade lithium for electric vehicles using the lithium mined at the same project site. Having a U.S.-based lithium-processing plant with a huge source of lithium and the capacity to produce battery-grade lithium for electric vehicles are strategic goals of the U.S. government. I’m also working on corporate financing for a bank that is lending to a major telecom company in Latin America. It’s important to emphasize that when I’m working directly with one of my clients in Latin America, we are often working in both Spanish and English. 

Additionally, we just signed a financing in which we’re representing a fund based in Guatemala that is building a private toll road in that country. Quite recently, we signed the financing documents to build that toll road, and in that transaction, all of the communication was in Spanish.  

How did you choose this practice area?

My career path was more direct than that of many lawyers. When I was an undergrad, I very much wanted to work in international development and, specifically, at the World Bank. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make that happen at the entry level after graduation. As a result, I pivoted and worked in education in a high-needs school, then went to law school, and I found the path to do this work. Since I was angling towards working in international development since my undergrad career, when I discovered that I could work in this field at a major law firm, I was very focused on connecting with the right firms to make that a reality. I researched all the firms with the strongest track record in international project finance and took classes in this area when I was in law school. To me, what’s most important isn’t so much what your day-to-day work is going to be, as it will vary, but rather in what area you want to make a career. It’s more about the industries or the actual underlying businesses that you’re representing, what they do, and whether that’s going to keep you interested for a long time. I knew that I was interested in this work, and so I really focused on trying to make that happen. 

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Today, for instance, I got into the office at about 8:30 a.m. and reviewed a proposal for a new matter in the power sector in the United States. Then I had a weekly call with a corporate finance client to go over managing all of their corporate finance facilities. Then I had another call to discuss a new potential client in Chile. Then I reviewed some documents in relation to our Guatemalan project and a project in Chile, where we’re doing some work for a transmission line financing. In short, I do a wide variety of things, which keeps it very interesting. 

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

I think if they are interested in this practice area, then taking particular courses relating to it can help, which would be international development financing, sustainable financing, and/or Secured Transactions classes because  transactions in this practice are nearly all secured financings in the end. Just the same way as you would secure financing or a mortgage for your house, we do the same thing but for a solar power plant, for example, on a larger scale and with more complexity. Bankruptcy is another good course as our secured transaction financing documents are generally designed to protect lenders when a company cannot pay its debt. If you’re not one 100% sure what you want to do, and even if you are, I think the key thing is to be focused on creating your own passion for what you’re doing.

What do you like best about your practice area? 

I love the international aspect of my practice and working on projects that are helping to develop Latin America—it’s a region I feel very connected to and that I visit all the time for work and for leisure. Also, we are working on the most sophisticated transactions in the region. We’re at the cutting edge in terms of legal documentation; we also get to see the cutting edge in terms of technology. Right now is an incredible time to be working in project development and finance because of the energy transition and the entire world shifting away from fossil fuels and towards renewable resources. It is particularly interesting to be part of that movement and to play a critical role in it. 

What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?  

For a junior lawyer, I would say that one thing about our particular focus is that there’s a steep learning curve in the first few years because there is so much information and so much sector knowledge that you just won’t have. You’re trying to learn all the legal language, in English and in Spanish perhaps, then you’re trying to learn all the sector and industry language in the energy and mining sectors, etc., and on top of all that, you’re trying to do good, high-quality, error-free work. As a very junior lawyer, you’re going to be doing things like just getting the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted, but that builds the basis for your general understanding of the practice. Once you’ve mastered the basics, such as getting signature pages correct, getting a certificate correct, drafting resolutions for companies to enter into transactions, you’re able to move to the next level, and in effect, you’re building a pyramid where you’re continuously adding platforms until you get to the point that you’re able to understand the whole transaction. 

How do you see this practice area evolving in the future? 

I think that what is happening in project development and finance is that there’s old school project finance, which is where you have a special purpose company that receives a loan from one or more banks and has very strict covenants about what it can and cannot do. And everything is sort of structured and programmed about what that company can do because all its financing is based on it not having any existing value. It’s a brand new company made just for this purpose and depends on the strength of the contract that the company has to sell its product—whether it’s energy, metals, etc. What’s happening across the industry right now is that this old school structure is becoming less common, and there are so many different permutations as to what constitutes project finance. The sources of the funding might be private equity firms, commercial banks, or development banks. In the mining industry, we have a variety of sources of funding such as metals companies that make upfront payments for future deliveries of metal, and that’s a different type of financing because you’re forwarding your payments to the company so they can develop the mine, and then, you’ll get paid back for years via actual deliveries of the metal. I think that in the mining industry there’s more variety in these types of funding sources, and that’s becoming more commonplace across the energy and infrastructure sectors as well.  

What kinds of experience can summer associates gain at this practice area at your firm? 

We give the summer associates a variety of research projects. They assist us by writing articles and doing other things that we refer to as thought leadership, where we are working on our own knowledge and promoting it externally to the market about the industries that we work in and the things that we’re seeing and doing. We also try to have them sit in on a lot of client calls and team meetings because learning the practice of the law is an apprenticeship. It’s not as if someone is going to sit down and tell you how do to everything. That’s not how it works, but rather, you’re going to be around practitioners, and you’ll pick most of it up on your own. It’s an effort to create balance: trying to teach them the detailed tasks but at the same time making sure that they don’t lose sight of what we’re doing in the big picture. This is also why I am a proponent of the hybrid office and actually being together in person a few days a week. Much of our work can be done remotely, but the key learning experiences are more likely to happen when we are gathered together.

Robert O’Leary is a partner in the energy, natural resources, and infrastructure practice. 

Robert regularly advises on a variety of domestic and international limited recourse, corporate, and acquisition financings, as well as project development matters, in the energy, infrastructure, and natural resources sectors.

His clients include commercial, multilateral, and development banks and investors and sponsors from around the globe. He is fluent in Spanish and is a member of our Latin America practice group, specializing in transactions in the region. Robert takes pride in assisting his clients with their more complex and first-in-kind transactions.

Additionally, Robert maintains an active pro bono practice, assisting with immigration matters, including a recent defensive asylum victory. He also sits on the firm’s Recruiting Committee and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

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.

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.

Omar: Our Project Development & Finance practice advises industry participants across the full spectrum of the energy sector, including renewable energy, energy transition, conventional power generation, oil and gas. We represent parties on financings of and investments in energy projects, as well as on the revenue contracts, construction contracts, and other project documents that underlie these projects.

Kelly: The lawyers in our practice bring technical sophistication, industry knowledge, commercial focus, and global coverage to our representation of investors, lenders, and sponsors in nearly every energy and infrastructure sector and geography. We regularly execute more than 100 project financings worth billions of dollars in the aggregate every year, including many transactions that have been honored as “deals of the year” in markets around the globe.

What types of clients do you represent?

Kelly: My practice includes representing investors, lenders, and sponsors in all phases of constructing and operating renewable energy projects and infrastructure assets.

Omar: I also advise lenders, investors, and sponsors on financings and other transactions involving energy projects. Working for each of the different types of parties involved in these matters provides us with an understanding of what is important to each party, which allows us to help parties find commercial solutions that work for everyone.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

Kelly: Some of my recent work includes financing (a) the first large-scale offshore wind project financed in the U.S. to date; (b) the largest single-site wind project financed in the U.S. to date; (c) the largest standalone battery project financed in the U.S. to date; and (d) the largest solar and storage project financed in the U.S. to date.

How did you choose this practice area?

Kelly: I wanted to work in a “green space” without knowing exactly what that would mean. In law school, I discovered project finance, where I could build a transactional practice substantially focused on renewable energy, which felt right—I could do well while doing good.

Omar: Before becoming a lawyer, I was an engineer. One aspect of project finance that captured my interest was the way the work revolves around enabling the construction of a tangible project. I also liked the way the documents are highly structured and well laid out—similar to the computer code I used to work on as an engineer.

What is a typical day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Omar: We spend a lot of time counseling clients on how best to structure their projects to achieve their goals and discussing financing documents with them to help them ensure that the legal terms reflect the commercial deal. We also spend a lot of time on calls and in meetings negotiating deal documents with our clients’ counterparties. On most days, we also devote time to drafting or reviewing drafts of documents. Finally, we often take the lead on coordinating deal process—running checklist calls and the like—to ensure that all of the parties are working together to close the deal in as efficient a manner as possible.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

Kelly: While I was fortunate to take a course specifically covering project finance in law school, I also discovered that the classes covering practical skills were particularly illuminating for the type of work we do—especially those focused on negotiation or finance concepts.

Omar: We spend a significant amount of time negotiating deals, so I would echo Kelly’s recommendation of negotiations classes. Accounting or “economics for lawyers” classes can also be very useful, as they provide transactional lawyers with the background to understand concepts that their clients focus on. Of course, for finance, courses on secured transactions or bankruptcy can be helpful, but they are definitely not a prerequisite.

What do you like best about your practice area?

Kelly: Many of the transactions we work on are the first of their kind—we guide our clients to novel solutions. The projects we work on ultimately provide communities with clean, domestically produced energy in industries that create jobs through construction and operation. Because of that, every day brings something different, and I like that challenge as opposed to “rinse-and-repeat” deals.

Omar: I always find it fun to pass a wind farm, solar project, or other power plant when driving and be able to say, “Latham played a part in building that.” It is also exciting to be at the forefront of developments in renewable energy and energy transition and to help clients participate in and take advantage of those developments.  

What is unique about your practice area at your firm?

Omar: Practicing project finance places you in the middle of a hub of specialties, including environmental, permitting, real estate, tax, and others. You get exposure to each of these areas and a lot of opportunities to interact with specialists from different offices around the firm.

Kelly: Because collaboration across practices plays such a key role in effectuating our project finance deals, we integrate with lawyers across the firm. We regularly get to know people outside of project finance and build up an expansive network with Latham experts in many practice areas.

What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?

Kelly: We tend to staff deals leanly, which provides junior lawyers meaningful drafting opportunities and client-facing responsibilities early on. The structure of our practice rewards those who are eager to dive in headfirst. Of course, we don’t throw junior lawyers off the deep end—we work with them to ensure they’ve developed the right skill set, and provide frequent trainings on the fundamentals to create a level playing field.

Omar: Additionally, our practice creates many early opportunities for junior lawyers to interact with clients. From the outset, junior lawyers take responsibility for deal checklists and lead coordination calls with large groups of parties, as well as work with clients on preparing 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?

Omar: Staying in the know of market developments plays an incredibly important role in our practice. A substantial portion of our work centers on the energy transition, renewables, and liquified natural gas, all of which are constantly changing due to economic trends, legislation, and geopolitics. We add a lot of value by advising our clients on how to adapt to and take advantage of these changes. 

Kelly: Helping clients understand changes in the law is a crucial aspect of our client engagements. We invest a lot of energy in preparing articles, notes, and thought leadership. We turn to our associates to help us develop that guidance, which provides additional opportunities to reinforce those skills and knowledge of the market.

Omar Nazif is a partner in the San Diego office of Latham & Watkins, where he serves as Local Chair of the Finance Department. Omar advises lenders and sponsors on debt and equity financings of power and other infrastructure projects, with a particular focus on the renewable energy and energy transition sectors.

Omar’s experience includes structuring and negotiating financing arrangements, project contracts, and joint ventures, as well as advising on mergers and acquisitions of energy projects.

Kelly Cataldo is a partner in the New York office of Latham & Watkins. She advises clients through all phases of the construction, financing, and investment in renewable energy and other infrastructure projects located in the U.S. and Latin America.

Kelly regularly advises lenders, sponsors, and investors on transactions involving financing, tax equity investments, cash equity investments, and other joint venture arrangements, with a focus on energy transition assets.