Pillsbury announced today that Robert Nelson, one of the foremost international energy and infrastructure lawyers in the world, has joined its San Francisco office as a partner in the Finance practice. Nelson brings a wealth of experience in cross-border energy and infrastructure transactions, foreign investment, and related disputes and workouts. He comes to the firm from Gibson Dunn.
“Global energy and infrastructure project development, finance, and related M&A work have been areas of key strategic growth for Pillsbury. Bob has represented some of the world’s largest and best-known companies in their most noteworthy energy and infrastructure projects, and his arrival brings us closer to our goal of becoming one of the top global law firms in these sectors,” said Mark Lessard, leader of Pillsbury’s Finance practice. “Leveraging our global footprint and internal resources, we know that Bob, with the support of our teams in the United States, Europe and Asia, will enhance our domestic and international project finance capabilities and help take Pillsbury to a new level of client service within the Energy, Infrastructure and Project sectors.”
With close to 40 years in the industry, Nelson has played a leading role in the development and financing of many of the world’s most significant and innovative energy projects, including many landmark projects that have won global or regional recognition. His wide-ranging expertise spans oil and gas/LNG; renewable, conventional, and nuclear power projects; mining and natural resources; and general infrastructure (including water and transportation, with a number of public-private partnership transactions). He has worked on over 80 power transactions alone—including gas-fired (including hybrid facilities), biofuels/biogas, biomass, cogeneration, energy storage, geothermal, hydro, nuclear, solar, waste-to-energy, and wind facilities worldwide—including representation of developers and lenders in over 20 utility-scale solar projects across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America. He has also guided a substantial number of strategic JVs and asset and company acquisitions and dispositions in the energy sector, with transaction values ranging up to $20 billion.
Nelson also has substantial experience in resolving large cross-border disputes. He has served as an advocate or arbitrator in over 40 international commercial arbitrations before the ICC, ICDR, ICSID, LCIA, and other governing bodies/rules related to shareholder and joint venture agreement disputes, construction and project agreement disputes, bilateral investment treaty and political risk insurance claims, intellectual property disputes, and other contractual claims. He played a significant role in procuring Cairn Energy’s recently-announced $1.2 billion bilateral investment treaty (BIT) award against India in relation to improper taxation of an oil and gas project there, and previously acted as chief counsel for Bechtel and GE in connection with their successful resolution of $6 billion in BIT claims against India.
Nelson has been named in Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Project Finance Lawyers since its inception, and has been lauded by Chambers Global, International Who’s Who of Project Finance Lawyers, and Best Lawyers in America. He is an appointed member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has also served on the Board of Directors and Finance Committee of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), as well as the joint U.S.-Indian task force on trade and investment matters. He also previously served as Chairman of the International Bar Association’s Project Finance Subcommittee.
“I have worked alongside the folks at Pillsbury for many years – indeed, since we first worked together on the world’s first-ever utility-scale solar power project in 1985, and then again more recently on the $20 billion Barakah nuclear power facility in Abu Dhabi, I have always been impressed by the firm and its lawyers,” Nelson said. “The firm’s long-standing history of excellence in energy, infrastructure and projects, together with its strong finance, tax, private equity, and construction teams, broad international footprint, and long-established position as a prominent leader in the renewables space, all fit exceptionally well with my practice. I’m really looking forward to joining this highly-talented and well-rounded team.”
Pillsbury’s Energy, Infrastructure and Projects team offers exemplary, integrated service across legal disciplines, advising on development, ï¬nance, acquisition and disposition, day-to-day operations, and restructuring of complex energy, infrastructure, telecommunications and industrial projects. Possessing wide-ranging legal knowledge across the power industry, from renewables (wind, solar, hydroelectric, biomass, biofuel, geothermal, energy storage) to gas-ï¬red and other thermal facilities to nuclear generation and transmission to oil and gas, mining and commodities and infrastructure, Pillsbury’s lawyers have worked on every aspect of complex projects in over 75 countries across six continents.
Source: www.pillsburylaw.com
