Global law firm Shearman & Sterling today announces the appointments of prominent global energy lawyer Mona Dajani and tax equity lawyer Jorge Medina as partners in the Project Development & Finance (PDF) practice, based in New York and the Bay Area, respectively. Mona will serve as Global Head of Renewables, Co-Head of Global Energy & Infrastructure (Projects), and Head of the Hydrogen and Ammonia Practice (Americas), and Jorge will serve as Head of Renewables (Americas). Mona and Jorge join Shearman & Sterling from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
Mona and Jorge are two of the foremost energy and infrastructure transaction lawyers, advising clients in the energy, sustainability, and infrastructure sectors including on complex mergers and acquisitions/dispositions, project development, financings, joint ventures, restructuring, tax equity and tax credit financings involving energy and related infrastructure facilities in the US and around the world. They served as co-leads of the renewables and infrastructure practice at their previous firm.
Mona is a renowned expert in the development and financing of energy storage, solar, wind, hydrogen, ammonia, mobility, data centers, electric vehicles, carbon capture and sequestration, renewable natural gas, biofuels, net-zero technology and other energy transition projects. She has significant experience in syndicated loan and debt capital markets transactions, sustainable finance, ESG, data centers, water and transportation projects, and arranging capital for new and established energy and infrastructure companies. Mona has represented a wide variety of commercial and public institutions, private equity and strategic investors, sponsors, utilities, financial institutions, underwriters, energy and clean technology companies, investment banks and multilateral agencies in transactions throughout the US and globally. Mona has repeatedly been recognized as a leading lawyer by Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners, among other publications. In November of 2022, she was appointed for a three-year term as a U.S. Department of Energy Ambassador for C3E. Mona is also a Construction Lawyers Society Fellow, a member of the national Board of Directors for the American Council of Renewable Energy (ACORE), and one of the “most influential lawyers in the global wind energy sector”, according to industry intelligence provider A Word About Wind.
Jorge is an elite energy tax lawyer in the U.S. His practice focuses on federal tax policy and controversy issues involving renewable energy, energy storage, electric vehicles and electric vehicle infrastructure, hydrogen, carbon capture and sequestration, renewable natural gas, biofuels and other energy transition assets. Jorge has extensive experience structuring cutting edge tax-driven transactions, including many first of their kind transactions in the energy space. He has led over 100 tax equity and tax credit financing transactions, representing both sponsors and tax equity investors.
“Mona and Jorge’s appointment is part of our strategy to meet the growing needs of our clients to build out our PDF, energy and infrastructure offering in the Americas and strengthen our presence in the U.S. power, energy transition and energy innovations sectors with top market leading practitioners,” said David Beveridge, Senior Partner at Shearman & Sterling. “Their arrival adds depth to our existing team and perfectly complements our ambitions for the practice both in the U.S. and globally. Mona and Jorge’s addition continues our strong growth momentum and demonstrates the continued execution of our long-term strategy, focused on growing our core practices in key geographies, aligning with market opportunities.”
“We are delighted to be welcoming Mona and Jorge to the partnership. They are exceptional and industry leading lawyers with an incredible wealth of experience and reputation in the market,” said Cynthia Urda Kassis, Global PDF Practice Group Leader at Shearman & Sterling. “Both are extraordinarily entrepreneurial and have a strong track record advising on leading edge transactions in the energy and infrastructure space, at a time when activity in the sector is poised to increase significantly. I am confident that their arrival will help us to take full advantage of the many opportunities we are seeing in the market.”
“This is a time of huge opportunities and challenges in the energy and infrastructure space and more than ever so in the energy and sustainability markets. Clients will require the highest levels of expertise from their legal advisers if they are to successfully navigate the current landscape,” said Mona Dajani. “Shearman & Sterling’s globally recognized Finance and PDF practices will allow us to expand our business at a crucial time when the recent legislative developments in the US mean that the energy and infrastructure sectors will only grow in importance over the coming years. We look forward to growing, contributing to and collaborating with the firm’s existing team to provide our clients with an enhanced service offering on a global basis.”
“The global energy market has picked up considerably since the beginning of 2021 and this trend is expected to continue with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, particularly in the context of the energy transition and energy innovation,” said Jorge Medina. “Similarly, significant recent M&A activity in the clean energy and power sectors is expected to continue. Shearman & Sterling has a very robust global platform from which to grow our practice and we look forward to servicing both existing and new clients.”
Mona and Jorge have led some of the largest renewable energy and infrastructure transactions. Their practice has been at the cutting edge of the energy transition, leading recent trailblazing transactions in wind, solar, storage, hydrogen, electric vehicle infrastructure, biofuels, and renewable natural gas, and launched and led the first dedicated hydrogen transactions practice.
