Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) is delighted to announce that highly respected senior project finance lawyer Julian Nichol has joined the firm’s Projects Group as a Partner in London. He was previously Global Co-Head of Akin Gump’s Energy Group and before that European Head of Power and Global Co-Head of Oil and Gas at Bracewell.
Having begun his career at Clifford Chance, Julian has 25 years’ projects experience, especially in the emerging markets of sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa and Latin America. He primarily assists sponsor-side clients on the development, financing, acquisition and disposal of power, upstream oil and gas, waste-to-energy and infrastructure projects.
Julian is regularly recognised as a leading lawyer in his field by top legal directories Legal 500 and IFLR1000, with the former highlighting in 2020 that “he stands out because of the depth and breadth of his experience in energy projects, covering the whole life-cycle from development, through construction to operation and sale…always combining his extensive legal knowledge and commercial experience to deliver practical, realistic, and workable solutions”. The same year, IFLR1000 noted that “Julian Nichol is a brilliant lawyer with a great understanding of the African renewable energy sector”.
London-based Global Energy Sector Co-Head Henry Stewart commented: “To have such a senior projects lawyer as Julian join us is a fantastic development for our global energy practice. His strong focus on emerging markets represents the ideal counterpoint to our mature European and Asia Pacific project finance practice, as his expertise in conventional power and waste-to-energy does to our existing strengths in solar and offshore and onshore wind. I’m absolutely delighted to welcome him to WFW”.
Julian added: “WFW’s highly regarded and deep bench of specialist project contract, project finance and EPC lawyers, as well as experts in all the key service lines needed to support large-scale energy projects, makes the firm a superb platform from which I can better service my existing clients and further expand my practice. I’m also very excited at the opportunity to help build up WFW’s emerging markets projects capability with all my new colleagues across the firm’s international network”.
