Corporate: Energy / Oil & Gas Associate 2-5PQE

Herbert Smith philosophy is that we offer energy lawyers who can do all transactions in the energy sector from project development to mergers and acquisitions. We firmly believe this is what the clients want; lawyers who are interested in and knowledgeable about the energy business and have committed their careers to the sector. You will be joining a global team which operates across all our offices as a single unit.

We are now looking for an Associate to join our team in London to work on cutting edge transactions in the energy sector globally with a view to secondment to one of our international offices in due course.

It is essential to point out that the preferred candidate must have a willingness to travel and / or be seconded to any of the firms' network of offices in Asia, the Middle East or elsewhere.

Key Deals
• BP on the disposal of its interests in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) Pipeline and the Tengiz Oil Field in Kazakhstan and Russia, held through the KPV and LUKARCO joint ventures to KazMunaiGaz and LUKOIL respectively for a aggregate consideration of US$1.85 billion
• BP on the sale of its West Java PSC interests to Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina for US$280 million
• Corlay Global SA, a joint venture run by the Nigerian based MRS Holdings Limited and Petroci Holding, the national oil company of Côte d'Ivoire, on the acquisition from Chevron of its fuel marketing business in various West African states
• Chevron on the civil proceedings which have arisen out of the explosion at the Buncefield Terminal on 11 December 2005, ensuring that Total, Chevron's JV partner, bears the ultimate liability
• CNOOC on a Project Development Agreement with BG Group for the sale of LNG from and investment in BG Group’s Queensland Curtis coal bed methane LNG Project in Australia
• Gazprom and Wintershall as sponsors of a €3 billion project financing to develop the Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field in Western Siberia
• Sinopec on the US$3.5 billion acquisition of OAO Udmurtneft from TNK-BP and the Sakhalin-Veninsky joint venture with Rosneft and also on the establishment of a JV with Saudi Aramco for upstream gas development in Saudi Arabia
• the receivers and administrators on the sale of Oilexco North Sea to Premier Oil for US$505 million
• the commercial banks and IFC on the $2 billion reserve based facility for Tullow Oil
• a successful bidder on its role as Operator under a second round Service Contract in Iraq
• Abastecimientos on the €215 million project financing of a multi-phased solar photovoltaic park project in Spain involving 200 borrowers and a private placement of bonds. Awarded European Solar Deal of the Year, Project Finance Magazine 2007
• ABN Amro and Rand Merchant Bank as providers of finance for a bid by AES for two peaking IPPs in South Africa
• EDF on the joint venture arrangements (with GDF Suez, Total, and other energy companies as partners), for the development and operation of France's second European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) nuclear power station at Penly in Normandy
• EDF on its £12.5 billion takeover of British Energy Group and on the subsequent £2.3 billion sale of a 20% interest in its British Energy business to Centrica
• HgCapital on its acquisition of a 50% interest in the Scout Moor wind farm from Peel Holdings
• Societatea Nationala Nucleareletrica (SNN) on the Investment Agreement signed with ENEL, CEZ, GdF, Suez, Iberdrola, RWE and ArcelorMittal for the development of units 3 and 4 of the Cernevoda Nuclear Power Plant in Romania
• Sumitomo Chemical on the development and financing of the US$1 billion independent water steam and power project for the Rabigh Petrochemical Complex in Saudi Arabia
• Visagino Atomine Elektrine on its plans to finance, construct and operate new nuclear plants in Lithuania in joint venture with Poland, Estonia, Latvia and other international utilities
• Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) on the £584 million recommended offer for Central African Mining & Exploration Company Plc (CAMEC), an AIM listed mining company which has a portfolio of businesses and operations in Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
• Lonmin one of the world's largest platinum producers, on its successful defence against the proposed US$10 billion hostile takeover offer from Xstrata
• MagMinerals as project counsel on its Kouilou greenfield potash project in the Republic of Congo. In addition to the core potash extraction and processing facilities, the project includes the provision of new energy supply infrastructure, the construction of major new rail and road facilities and a new mineral port
• Sumitomo Corporation on its investment and ongoing involvement in the Ambatovy nickel mining project in Madagascar. This project involves a challenging jurisdiction and complex offtake, shareholder, financing and guarantee arrangements

Accolades
"Herbert Smith LLP has historically excelled on the contentious and regulatory side, but its transactional energy offering is now one of the strongest in the City."
Legal 500, 2009

"Herbert Smith LLP remains outstanding for dispute resolution, regulatory and energy matters" Legal 500, 2009

"Mark Newbery's power practice is widely considered to be among the top offerings for nuclear energy expertise. He 'defines just what outside counsel should be about, but which is extremely hard to find'."
Chambers & Partners, 2010

Key responsibilities
• Expected to lead and negotiate transactions with limited supervision
• Responsible for drafting discrete pieces of legal advice for clients with minimal amendments
• Encouraged to adopt a client-facing role
• Supervise and develop Junior Associates and Trainees

Qualifications required
• 2-5 years PQE
• Excellent academics
• Energy experience acquired at a City or specialist firm
• Ability and drive to work on bespoke, big-ticket and complicated energy deals
• A keen interest in the energy sector
• A desire to work international and relocate as required

Work based competencies
We would expect the successful candidate to have a minimum of 2 years experience in private practice but would consider those with less experience providing they meet the required competencies

Technical
• Legal ability - detailed grasp of complex legal concepts, excellent drafting skills, ability to see issues from a commercial perspective and able to communicate complex legal advice to clients effectively
• Delivering excellent client service - excellent communications skills, driven to deliver to clients promptly, sets themselves challenging goals and resilient in achieving them


Client
• Finding and winning - able to build relationships with clients, identifies opportunities and networks effectively internally
• Practice/firm promotion - acts as an ambassador for the firm, writes technical articles for publication
• Developing and retaining - works to become a trusted advisor to the client, aware of client industry dynamics, works closely with the Business Development Team


People
• Leadership and management - acts as role model to others, provides coaching to those more junior than themselves
• Initiative and managing change - resilient in the face of multiple priorities, able to deliver difficult messages, takes ownership for resolving problems pro-actively
• Teamwork and communication - seeks out the views of others, assured and succinct in communication
• Impact and personal development - proactively requests feedback from others, able to deal with constructive criticism and takes ownership for self-development


Firm
• Financial performance - familiar with key drivers of firm performance
• Risk management and professional ethics - takes responsibility for personal and professional ethics, understanding of reputational risk and the regulatory framework, prepared to seek advice where appropriate
• Knowledge management - shares knowledge with others proactively, consults with senior technical experts where appropriate
• Firm contribution - high level of personal integrity, contributes to developing a diverse and innovative culture, prepared to go the extra mile

Behavioural competencies
• Ability to use initiative and be pro-active;
• Strong organisational skills and ability to prioritise;
• Excellent attention to detail;
• Enthusiastic, positive and committed team member;
• Ability to cope with conflicting demands and meet deadlines;
• Attention to detail with a high level of accuracy;
• Communicates effectively at all levels, both verbally and written;
• Promotes a collegiate environment, good team morale and a spirit of co-operation;
• Team player.