Herbert Smith Freehills

This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project

Herbert Smith Freehills is an international law firm co-headquartered in London and with offices in more than 16 countries.

It has a longstanding relationship with nuclear giant EDF Energy and close links to energy companies such as Centrica and BP.

Brexit lobbying

Part of the Powerbase Brexit Portal.

Herbert Smith Freehills says it is advising a 'variety of private and public sector clients across a wide range of sectors to meet the challenges and opportunities of Brexit'.

Brexit partners

Herbert Smith Freehills counts three firms as 'Brexit partners'.

• Hanbury Strategy: it says it has brought in the UK lobbying firm, Hanbury Strategy to provide it with policy advice in connection with the impact of Brexit on their clients businesses'.
• Global Counsel as Brexit partners, which is the 'strategic advisory firm' founded by Lord Peter Mandelson, who is a former European Trade Commissioner. HSF says it has been working with Mandelson's firm to provide its European and Australian clients with a 'holistic perspective on Brexit'.
• Boston Consulting Group

Brexit team

• Eric White, in December 2016, White joined Herbert Smith Freehills' International Trade and European Union law practice as a consultant, 'to help clients understand the implications of Brexit for their businesses and to plan'. White was previously a member of the European Commission's Legal Service between 1985 and 2016, where he led the Trade Policy and WTO team.
• Paul Butcher Brexit director

People

• Former UK climate and energy secretary Ed Davey's older brother, Henry Davey, is a corporate partner and energy expert at Herbert Smith.
• Julie Vaughan, senior associate, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP; has advised Cuadrilla Resources on 'environmental permitting for shale gas exploration sites in Lancashire'
• Senior Herbert Smith associate Alastair Young left the company in early 2013 to join US energy law specialist Bracewell & Giuliani as a partner in its newly expanded London office.

Affiliations

The firm is a member of the Nuclear Industry Association lobby group. Its website declares it is ‘proud to be at the vanguard of next generation nuclear in the UK’.

Clients

These include:

Energy and nuclear

• EDF Energy
• Centrica
• BP
• Sumitomo Corporation and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO): advising alongside Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA) and the special purpose company Shuweihat Asia Power Company PJSC (SAPCO) on the US$1.5 billion financing of the 1.6 GW Shuweihat 3 power plant
• Sinopec: advising on its agreement to acquire a 49% stake in Canadian company Talisman Energy Inc's UK North Sea business for US$1.5 billion
• Visagino Atominė Elektrinė: advising on its plans to finance, construct, operate and decommission a new nuclear plant in Lithuania in joint venture with Estonian and Latvian utilities and a strategic investor
• Santos and GLNG: advising in relation to the development of the Gladstone LNG Project (including upstream coal seam gas fields, pipeline, LNG trains and port development)
• Energy Development Corporation: advising Energy Development Corporation in its acquisition of a 70% interest in Hot Rock Limited’s geothermal projects in South America: the Calerias and Longavi projects in Chile and the Quellaapacheta and Chocopata projects in Peru

Contact

The firm practices in the UK, in London, through Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC310989. It is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority of England and Wales.

Address:London

Exchange House

Primrose Street

London EC2A 2EG

Phone +44 20 7374 8000

Fax +44 20 7374 0888

Belfast

3 Cromac Quay

Ormeau Gasworks

Belfast BT7 2JD

Phone +44 28 9025 8200

Fax +44 28 9025 8201

Website:http://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/legal-and-regulatory/united-kingdom