Energy and environment

Kirkland secures ESG hire from HSF

HSF’s head of ESG for the UK, EMEA and US regions has left the firm after 12 years, joining Kirkland & Ellis as a partner. Rebecca Perlman qualified into corporate with HSF in 2014, making partner in 2022. She had been promoted to co-head of HSF’s sustainable and impact investment team in 2017, becoming its […]

Website emissions

Revealed: The most polluting law firm websites

Hogan Lovells, Clyde & Co and Clifford Chance have the most environmentally polluting websites among UK law firms, data provided to The Lawyer has found. According to data from Website Carbon and compiled by TBD Marketing, Hogan Lovells is at the bottom of the list with its website generating 1,728.52 kg of CO2 per year. […]

Energy trio move across to DLA Piper

Hiring from Paul Hastings and Brown Rudnick, DLA Piper has expanded its energy and infrastructure group with three new partners. Paul Hastings duo Steven Bryan and Derwin Jenkinson join DLA Piper advising on corporate, and finance, projects and restructuring matters, respectively. They are joined by Brown Rudnick corporate partner Paul Doris, who arrives at the […]

EY energy duo set to join Hunton Andrews Kurth

Two energy partners from EY Law are set to join a US firm’s London office. The Lawyer understands that Charles Morrison and Dimitri Papaefstatiou are leaving for Hunton Andrews Kurth after three years at the Big Four firm. Morrison was a solicitor for 15 years at DLA Piper before joining EY Law as partner in […]

Economy flight plane

Freshfields tells its lawyers to fly economy

Lawyers at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will have to opt for lower-class travel options, according to the firm’s revised travel policy implemented in 2023. The move comes as part of the magic circle firm’s commitment to a 37 per cent reduction in business travel carbon emissions by 2027. The revised policy emphasises the need for efficiency […]

Sydney Australia

Pogust Goodhead launches Aussie office in mining giant’s “backyard”

Pogust Goodhead has launched an office in Sydney with a warning to Australian corporations that the firm is “ready to hold them to account”. The claimant law firm, which specialises in social and environmental mass claims, has hired Sydney litigation boutique Crichton & Co’s two partners, Amie Crichton and Joshua Carton. It is also looking […]

Smiths to Sonnedix: GC Mel Rowlands’ new role in renewables

Longtime in-houser Mel Rowlands had a knock-out year in 2023, making a juxtaposing career change last July. The former group general counsel of Smiths Group, a 170-year-old diversified industrial conglomerate with 20,000 employees, made the move to 15-years young Sonnedix, a renewable energy producer. Rowlands couldn’t have joined the sustainable power sector at a better […]

Net zero

National Grid launches tender for multimillion-pound net zero panel

British utility company National Grid has kicked off a major tender for legal services as it looks to create a dedicated net zero panel worth £250m. Law firms appointed to the roster will support National Grid with its business ambitions and net zero projects for the next eight years. The panel spots have been separated […]

Kirin Kalsi, Eon

Eon scraps sole provider model with refreshed three-firm panel

Energy supplier Eon has awarded three panel spots this year in its first tender process since 2018. DLA Piper and Shakespeare Martineau are the two firms to have won places alongside longstanding incumbent Pinsent Masons. The trio are collaborating under a comprehensive five-year agreement that kicked off in January 2024. According to Eon, they will […]

Bonus for reduced travel

Shoosmiths slashes plane emissions with staff incentives

Shoosmiths has significantly cut its business travel-related emissions, after introducing several carbon-saving initiatives across the firm. The firm reported that it has cut emissions related to air travel by 56 per cent between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial periods, while rail and road travel have seen a 15 per cent and a 9 per cent […]