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Our energy, mining and infrastructure sectors are world leading and a differentiator for our firm – and growth in our energy practice is central to our global ambitions. As a leading global energy law firm we act for the world’s foremost energy companies on their first-in-market and biggest, most complex projects.
Our more than 700 strong team includes over 100 partners globally – get to know our newest energy sector partners in this Q&A series.
Q&A with...
Sung-Hyuk Kwon
What do you love about working in/with the Energy sector?
From an M&A perspective, it’s an exceptionally dynamic space — combining complex assets, long investment horizons and significant private capital participation. What makes it particularly compelling is that you’re not just executing transactions; you’re helping shape the infrastructure and technologies that underpin long-term economic growth and energy security.
I also find the sector interesting because it has evolved beyond a purely ESG-driven narrative. Today, investment is increasingly being driven by hard demand fundamentals, creating sustained activity across generation, storage, transmission and digital infrastructure.
That combination of strategic relevance, complexity and sustained deal activity is what makes the sector so engaging.
What trend/s are you watching closely?
One of the key trends I’m watching is the increasing convergence between energy and digital infrastructure.
While decarbonisation remains a core driver, the market is now increasingly shaped by structural demand growth. The expansion of AI, cloud computing, data centres and broader electrification is accelerating global power demand at a pace that existing grids were not designed to support.
At the same time, grids, permitting regimes and supply chains remain constrained. As a result, projects are becoming larger, more complex and more capital intensive, with development, financing and operational considerations needing to be addressed in a far more integrated way.
This is also reshaping the deal landscape. Transactions increasingly sit at the intersection of energy, infrastructure, technology and private capital, requiring more sophisticated structuring, longer investment horizons and a broader regulatory and commercial lens.
In my view, the interplay between AI-driven demand, electrification and large-scale investment is one of the defining forces currently reshaping the sector.
Bailee Walker
What do you love about working in/with the Energy sector?
The energy transition is one of the most significant structural shifts of our time, and the legal and commercial frameworks underpinning the sector are being rebuilt alongside it — there are genuinely novel problems without established answers. That constant process of working through uncharted territory, at a scale where the outcomes actually matter, is what makes it compelling for me.
What trend/s are you watching closely?
The accelerating pace of electrification and the rise of consumer energy resources are fundamentally reshaping who participates in energy markets and on what terms. Layered on top of that is the rapid growth of AI and data centre infrastructure, which is creating significant new pressures on grids that were not designed for them. How regulatory frameworks evolve to meet these shifts is something that I am following. The change and complexity that this creates can present real risk, but also genuine opportunity for clients who engage with it.
Ian Mack
What do you love about working in/with the Energy sector?
I enjoy the variety of the challenges the work brings, the geo-political complexities that exist in the sector and how they influence planning cases, and the importance/societal contribution of the projects we work on.
What trend/s are you watching closely?
From a planning perspective – the UK political uncertainty, combined with the on-going grid connection reform and move towards strategic network planning, presents a challenging development/investment position for projects at the moment and means seeking flexibility in the project consent is more important than ever.
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