Watson Farley & Williams

Managing Partner: Lindsey Keeble

Senior Partner: George Paleokrassas

Number of partners: 175+

Number of other fee-earners: 650+

Total Staff: 1100+

Contacts

Aviation: Jim Bell, Charles Viggers

Energy: Malte Jordan, Henry Stewart

Infrastructure: Florian Kutzbach, Jose Maria Anarte

Maritime: George Macheras, George Paleokrassas

Mining and Commodities: Jan Mellmann, Sumeet Malhotra

Oil & Gas: Chris Kilburn

The Firm 

Watson Farley & Williams is a sector specialist international law firm in the energy, transport and infrastructure sectors with a presence in major financial centres in Europe, Asia and the USA. The firm has offices in Athens, Bangkok, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanoi, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

Principal Areas of Work 

Watson Farley & Williams specialises in the energy, transport and infrastructure sectors, providing integrated expertise and commercially focussed advice across a broad range of corporate, finance, dispute resolution, real estate, tax, as well as employment and regulatory matters.

Aviation 

Watson Farley & Williams’ aviation practice acts for banks, export credit agencies, arrangers, investors, manufacturers, operators, airlines and leasing companies on a wide variety of investments and transactions. The multi-disciplinary team provides comprehensive advice on finance and leasing, corporate and commercial matters, regulatory issues, tax and dispute resolution.

Energy 

Watson Farley & Williams’ dedicated energy lawyers advise on domestic and cross-border financings, project development, M&A and disputes. The firm is a market leader in the renewable energy sector and has advised on almost every fuel category – from conventional power, including coal-and-gas-fired power plants, to renewables, such as onshore and offshore wind, solar, biomass, waste to energy – as well as delivering effective advice in the transmission, distribution and supply subsectors. The firm has more than 25 years of experience advising financial institutions, institutional investors, energy companies, developers, governments and contractors.

Infrastructure 

Watson Farley & Williams acts for a broad range of participants across transport-relevant infrastructures ranging from airports, ports and terminals, rail and roads bridges and tunnels and energy-relevant projects ranging from transmission and storage, water and waste management, social infrastructure to emerging sub-sectors such as smart and digital infrastructure.

The firm works across the full range of legal services ranging from finance, corporate, real estate and regulatory to tax, employment, construction and disputes bringing its lawyers together across disciplines to provide holistic advice covering these multi-faceted projects. The team has advised on a number of cutting-edge, high-profile transactions including new ‘first of kind’ financings in digital and social infrastructure.

Maritime 

Watson Farley & Williams is a heavyweight in the maritime legal sector. The firm has been serving clients in the maritime industry for 40 years and has long been recognised as its preeminent legal advisor, with the largest dedicated maritime legal practice of any law firm in the world. The team operates across the 19 office WFW international network, which includes offices in the world’s major ship finance centres. The team offers integrated advice on all aspects of domestic and international transactions, including newbuilding and second-hand acquisitions, domestic and cross-border finance, structured financing, sale and leasebacks, credit enhancement structures, offshore matters, commercial contracts, sale and purchase, workouts, restructuring and insolvency. As the industry has looked for other sources of capital in challenging market conditions, the firm has used its considerable depth of experience to act on a growing number of financings backed by export credit agencies and private equity.

Mining and Commodities 

Watson Farley & Williams has more than 20 years of experience advising on exploration and production, financing, servicing and trading in minerals and commodities, including oil and gas and soft commodities. This includes M&A and investment structures and transactions, equity finance, project, structured and export finance, operational and trading contracts and disputes. The firm has long-standing relationships with a diverse range of clients throughout the supply chain and has significant experience in the sector’s investment hotspots, including Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Oil & Gas 

Watson Farley & Williams’ dedicated oil & gas lawyers deliver commercially expedient, premium legal advice to an international client base involved in the extraction, processing, distribution, trading and financing of oil & gas worldwide. Working in all the major hydrocarbon-producing areas of the world, the firm's oil & gas lawyers work as an integrated team on complex and multi-jurisdictional projects, transactions and disputes across the entire oil and gas value chain.

Delivering a full service to oil and gas entities - its partner-led teams advise on corporate, finance, projects, tax, dispute resolution, employment and regulatory law, to ensure a complete service at every stage of a matter.