Mr Luka Lightfoot > Baker McKenzie > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Baker McKenzie LLP provides a versatile offering to lenders and a growing roster of corporates across the full scope of debt finance products, including those governed under New York and UK law, which ensures it is well positioned to handle big-ticket syndicated corporate lending work and event-driven financings. Nick O’Grady regularly advises large banking syndicates on cross-border acquisition finance and corporate lending transactions and excels in structuring deals in a manner which melds both English and New York law style covenants and documentation. The team also handles emerging markets work, including within Africa, with Luka Lightfoot particularly skilled at advising banks and export credit agencies on providing financing to corporate borrowers and sovereigns across an array of trade and project finance mandates. Former team head Nick Tostivin departed for Pinsent Masons LLP in March 2024.

The trade finance team at Baker McKenzie is ‘always accessible and understands the commercial issues‘. The firm combines expertise in traditional trade financing options with experience in highly structured deals, and frequently acts for financial institutions, corporates, and government entities in financings in the EMEA and CIS Regions, as well as Latin America. Much of its work focuses on commodities, oil and gas, and infrastructure projects, in which the London group handles multi-sourced export financings, including those backed by DFIs and export credit agencies. Practice head  Luka Lightfoot, who focuses heavily on cross-border export and project finance, and structured trade finance, is ‘technically sound and a great negotiator‘. He leads the practice with structured finance specialist Jeremy Levy. Lightfoot recently acted for a global financial institution on a deal in Tanzania backed by UK Export Finance. Nick Tostivin joined Pinsent Masons LLP.

Possessing a ‘great team composed of various experts’, Baker McKenzie LLP is recognised for its regulatory, development and commercial capabilities. Richard Blunt heads up the Energy, Mining and Infrastructure practice, which works with a host of international clients. Mike Webster has a wealth of experience advising project managers and sponsors on concession, procurement and EPC matters, and a growing body of work relating to gigaprojects in the Middle East. Andrew Hedges is praised for his ‘enviable energy industry knowledge’,  predominately focusing on clean energy and energy transition instructions. Philip Thomson has most recently advised on large-scale oil and gas and carbon capture projects, while Luka Lightfoot‘s financial acumen makes him key to a host of matters. Rhiannon Williams is also recommended.

Baker McKenzie has a deep bench of talent across multiple practice areas, and its London emerging markets group works hand-in-hand with teams across the firm’s vast international network, which includes offices in Asia, Europe, CIS, the Middle East, and Latin America. The firm has a long-established presence in four of the five BRICS countries, and nine of the ten largest developing economies. Trade, export and commodity financings are a mainstay of its work, with Luka Lightfoot one of the market’s leading advisers to financial institutions, multilaterals, commodity traders, exporters, producers, and corporate borrowers. The capital markets practice, in which Megan Schellinger is a standout partner, frequently acts for emerging markets issuers, while the energy, mining and finance group, which includes key partner Philip Thomson, often takes the lead on large-scale projects. Banking specialist Sarah Smith is advising a DFI as lender on a loan/repurchase programme established to improve the liquidity of sovereign bonds issued by African nations. Nick Tostivin departed the firm in April 2024.