Clare Burgess > Clifford Chance LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Clifford Chance LLP has ‘excellent partners with depth of knowledge and experience‘ and clients remark that the firm has ‘a strong team of associates and some very good trainees coming through‘. Matthew Fairclough  is head of the firm’s global financial markets practice, in which houses the debt capital markets group, and his practice typifies the partner team as it encompasses advice to issuers and underwriters on new issuance, debt programmes, convertible and exchangeable bonds, corporate hybrid capital and regulatory capital trades, and liability management. Andrew Coats specialises in advising financial institutions. Simon Sinclair assisted Hellenic Bank Public Company Limited with its €100m EMT programme. Global head of capital markets Michael Dakin has extensive experience advising private equity sponsors, and Paul Deakins assists issuers and underwriters with a broad range of deals. Deborah Zandstra, who leads the firm’s sovereign debt advisory practice, is advising Sri Lanka in its bid for an Extended Fund Facility from the IMF and a restructuring of its debt. Kate Vyvyan advised the arranger and dealer on the establishment of the AXA Logistics Europe Fund €2bn EMTN programme. Clare Burgess handles  infrastructure, renewables and sustainability-related transactions including project bonds and private placements. Jill Concannon joined from White & Case LLP to add more experience in international securities offerings. US capital markets partner Johannes Juette recently moved to London from the Singapore office.

The power team at Clifford Chance LLP, noted as being ‘a pleasure to work with’, has a strong reputation for its capabilities in the full scope of complex power work, at both domestic and international levels. The team has a particular presence in the African market, which is Jeremy Connick‘s area of specialism. Partners include the firm’s global head of renewables and wind power expert James Pay , alongside global co-head of power Nicholas Hughes and global head of nuclear power John Wilkins, who is described as being ‘particularly effective in the energy sector’. A key example of the nature and scale of the team’s workload is its advising AXA IM Alts and Crédit Agricole Assurances on the acquisition of a 50% stake in the 1.3 GW Hornsea Two offshore wind farm in the UK. ‘Incredible leader and lawyer’ Clare Burgess heads up the Energy & Infrastructure team in London and has a particular focus on green finance initiatives, namely being work involving green bonds, green loans and current regulatory and legislative initiatives in this area.

A ‘very strong team that covers almost any issue’, Clifford Chance LLP continues to be a dominant force in the infrastructure market, with a strong bench of advisers that have extensive experience in multi-source financings, cross-border projects, and operational and development issues on large-scale projects. The group is active on some of the largest infrastructure projects in the UK, including overseeing Network Rail’s telecommunications rollout. An impressive stream of international mandates has seen the team advise bank lenders on African projects such as major road constructions in Kenya and maritime infrastructure developments in Nigeria, while a number of financial institutions regularly turn to the firm for projects in the Middle East. Group head Michael Pearson is ‘very well positioned in the market’ and has handled a number of significant PPP projects in Europe, with mandates including transport, healthcare and military projects. Clare Burgess‘ practice is largely concentrated on project financing and portfolio financings, while Praveen Jagadish   – who was promoted to partner last year – focuses on the financing and development of greenfield projects, regularly within the renewables and nuclear energy sectors. Both Alain Dodds and Caireen McCluskey have had impressive runs supporting a broad range of the group’s matters, garnering strong experience in PPP and PFI projects. The firm hired oil & gas specialist Craig Nethercott from Latham & Watkins in autumn 2023.