PRESS RELEASE
9 April 2025

A&O Shearman Strengthens U.S. Energy And Energy Transition Offering With Two Strategic Partner Hires

AO
A&O Shearman

Contributor

A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world. A firm that advises at the forefront of the forces changing the current of global business and that is unrivalled in its global strength. Our clients benefit from the collective experience of teams who work with many of the world’s most influential companies and institutions, and have a history of precedent-setting innovations. Together our lawyers advise more than a third of NYSE-listed businesses, a fifth of the NASDAQ and a notable proportion of the London Stock Exchange, the Euronext, Euronext Paris and the Tokyo and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.
A&O Shearman announces today the addition of partners Paul Astolfi and Katy McNeil to its Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure practice in the U.S.
United States

A&O Shearman announces today the addition of partners Paul Astolfi and Katy McNeil to its Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure practice in the U.S.

Paul is a market-leading advisor to institutional investors, banks, and other debt providers in a myriad of energy transition matters, notably renewables. He has decades of experience specializing in finance, mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations with greenfield and brownfield projects, multi-tiered financing structures, and cross-border transactions. Paul has expertise in renewable energy companies and projects, gas-fired peakers, power plants, qualified facilities, hedged merchant wind and solar facilities, contracted solar facilities, energy projects, and project bond financings. Paul is based in Dallas, Texas, where A&O Shearman maintains a robust full-service practice, and also spends significant amounts of time in the Chicago market.

Katy’s practice focuses on domestic renewable energy, in addition to solar asset-backed securities and structured finance in the solar commercial and industrial space. She has experience advising financial institutions, institutional investors, and developers across a range of transactions including project finance, acquisition and divestitures of infrastructure and energy assets, tax credit monetization, and workout agreements. Katy is based in Chicago, a critical U.S. business center, where A&O Shearman will be launching a presence commencing with these hires subject to requisite approvals.

“The addition of Paul and Katy is a major step forward for our market-leading energy and alternative energy practice and overall U.S. growth plans, and we are thrilled to be bolstering our capability in the Texas and Chicago markets as well,” said Adam Hakki, co-chair of the global Executive Committee and Board, and U.S. chair.

Kent Rowey, global co-head of A&O Shearman’s Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure (ENRI) practice, said: “Energy transition is a central component to our global and U.S. ENRI strategy. We are fortunate to have Paul and Katy join our team and lead our efforts in this critically important sector. They are market leaders, and their addition enhances our energy offering in the U.S. and globally. We’re looking forward to welcoming them to the team.” 

“We are delighted to join A&O Shearman’s sophisticated and full-service Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure practice,” said partners Paul Astolfi and Katy McNeil. “We eagerly anticipate collaborating with the exceptional teams and clients, both within the region and globally.”

With these hires, A&O Shearman has expanded core practice areas with 14 partner hires since the completion of the A&O Shearman merger on May 1, 2024. The addition of Paul and Katy brings the total number of partner hires in the U.S. to five.

Paul and Katy join from Mayer Brown.

Contributor

A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world. A firm that advises at the forefront of the forces changing the current of global business and that is unrivalled in its global strength. Our clients benefit from the collective experience of teams who work with many of the world’s most influential companies and institutions, and have a history of precedent-setting innovations. Together our lawyers advise more than a third of NYSE-listed businesses, a fifth of the NASDAQ and a notable proportion of the London Stock Exchange, the Euronext, Euronext Paris and the Tokyo and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.

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