International law firm Reed Smith today announced the appointment of Peter Zaman and Nick Rock to its partnership. Peter and Nick will join the firm from Clifford Chance and Dewey & LeBoeuf respectively.
Peter was previously head of Clifford Chance’s Environmental & Climatic Trading Group. As well as being the recognised market leader in climate change, carbon trading and finance, Peter specialises in all aspects of physically and financially settled energy and commodity derivatives, structured products and commodity risk mitigants. He provides trading and structuring advice to investment banks, funds, energy companies/utilities, oil majors, industrials, airlines, international development organisations and multilateral trading facilities.
Energy and commodity markets continue to evolve very rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic as regulatory changes force energy products and commodities to be traded and treated much more like financial products. This is impacting all market participants – be they investment banks, energy companies or trading houses. It is this evolution which has seen Reed Smith build out its energy trading and commodity derivatives practice in recent years (with the arrival of specialists John Varholy, Siân Fellows, Brett Hillis and, most recently, Chris Borg) to match its already strong physical commodities practice. Peter’s arrival further strengthens the firm’s offering in the area both to financial institution and non-financial institution market participants.
Nick is recognised as a leading practitioner in environmental law in the broadest sense, particularly in the energy sector and in emerging markets. He provides advice to clients both in relation to transactions/projects and in dispute situations. In the energy sector, Nick’s experience spans oil, gas and power and renewables and cleantech. He advises on the acquisition and development, disposal and/or decommissioning of energy-related infrastructure, including of brownfield sites in the UK and elsewhere. He also specialises in energy regulation (particularly guiding clients on environmental risk mitigation – including climate change aspects - and through permit and consent requirements) and his clients include energy companies and utilities, oil majors, chemical companies and developers. Nick’s arrival will further enhance the firm’s energy and infrastructure projects team and its corporate/M&A capability in the sector.
Kyri Evagora, Co-Chair of Reed Smith’s Energy and Natural Resources Group, commented:
“The arrival of Peter and Nick continues our drive to attract acknowledged specialist talent to our team to ensure we are able to provide the support our clients require in the rapidly evolving energy and natural resources sector.
“It’s an exciting time for us as we welcome more new team members. In Peter we’ve gained a market leader in climate change and in energy and commodity derivatives. Nick’s broad environmental expertise is a further important piece in our energy and infrastructure practice. Both equip us well to support our clients through an increasingly risk and regulatory- focussed landscape.”
Peter and Nick’s appointments mark ten new partners to join the firm’s global Energy & Natural Resources Group in the last two years.
ENDS
Note to Editors:
About Reed Smith’s Energy & Natural Resources Group
Reed Smith’s Energy & Natural Resources Group is multidisciplinary, combining regulatory, transactional and litigation disciplines. Its members are located in all of Reed Smith's offices in the UK, the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, providing an exceptional global platform for businesses engaged in the extraction, production, distribution or financing of energy and natural resources projects, products and services anywhere in the world.
About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is a global law firm, with 23 offices and more than 1,600 lawyers in offices across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States.
For further information please visit www.reedsmith.com or contact Jeyda Star (PR Manager EME) on +44 (0)20 3116 2571.