James Pay > Clifford Chance LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Clifford Chance LLP fields a strong London-based mining and metals offering, which is well-versed in advising on large-scale cross-border M&A and financing transactions across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The group is well-supported by the regulatory, investigations and financial crime team to provide comprehensive compliance support, as well as possessing significant mining arbitration experience. As part of a global practice group, the team is jointly headed up by three practitioners; project finance partner James Pay, who is based in London, and focuses on sophisticated metals offtake, joint ventures, and logistics contracts in connection with M&A and mining finance transactions, as well as co-heads Simon Greenberg and Nicolas Cookson, based out of the Paris and Düsseldorf offices, respectively. Global co-head of international arbitration Audley Sheppard KC handles contentious matters in the space, whilst Sachin Trikha focuses on large scale international commercial arbitration matters.

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.