Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) is pleased to announce it has promoted seven lawyers to counsel. They are:
Haeran Chung – Dispute Resolution, Sydney
Haeran specialises in commercial litigation and international arbitration, regularly advising on energy and natural resource matters alongside aviation, technology, private equity and contentious regulatory actions. She has conducted arbitrations under the ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, ACICA, UNCITRAL and ICSID rules.
Melissa Hoh – Assets & Structured Finance, Singapore
Melissa specialises in asset finance, particularly in the maritime sector. Experienced in complex cross-border financings – whether by way of loans or finance leases – for a range of vessel types, she also advises clients on other high-value shipping transactions, including operating leases and sale and purchase agreements. She has also been involved in ECA-backed facilities and has expertise in restructuring financing and leasing transactions.
Marilena Kossyfa – Assets & Structured Finance, Athens
Specialising in ship finance, Marilena advises banks and financial institutions, private equity funds and ship owners on the financing of newbuilding and second‑hand vessels. Her experience includes restructurings and loan portfolio transfers. She also has significant expertise in the financing of superyachts.
Manuel Rustler – Tax, Frankfurt
Manuel specialises in tax matters including tax due diligence, structuring/tax planning, negotiation and contractual implementation relating to M&A transactions, joint ventures, restructuring, real estate investments and finance with a particular focus on the energy and infrastructure sectors. He also has extensive experience across the transport sector, notably maritime and rail, as well as within private equity.
Giuseppe Salsarulo – Dispute Resolution, Rome
Giuseppe has extensive experience advising clients on commercial, corporate and insolvency disputes in the infrastructure, aviation and energy sectors, including mediation, arbitration and judicial proceedings. He regularly represents clients before Italy’s specialist business tribunals, independent authorities and national and international arbitration chambers.
Milan Sikyurek – Dispute Resolution, Paris
Milan advises French and international companies, banks and financial institutions and their management on business matters, corporate law and liability disputes settled before judicial and arbitral courts, including alternatives such as mediation. Her practice also focusses on the energy and transport sectors, where she has advised clients on contractual liability litigation disputes.
Héctor Suárez – Corporate and M&A, Madrid
Héctor specialises in advising clients in the energy and infrastructure sectors on M&A, joint venture and private equity transactions as well as on contractual matters. He acts for a wide range of energy developers, producers and investors. Héctor has a particular focus on renewable energy, biogas, green hydrogen, data centre and BESS projects and the negotiation of their key project and offtake contracts. He has a leading role in the firm’s power purchase agreements (PPAs) work and oversees PPA training both internally and externally.
Managing Partner Lindsey Keeble commented: “The promotion of these seven lawyers to counsel is a clear reflection of our strategy to build a strong, sustainable pipeline of talent across our global platform. These individuals exemplify the next generation of leaders within the firm and their progression strengthens our ability to support clients with insight, continuity and long‑term perspective as their businesses evolve”.
