Stephenson Harwood expands international energy transition practice with team hire

Law firm Stephenson Harwood has strengthened its international energy transition practice with the addition of a new team. Nick Dingemans and John Zadkovich join the firm as partners, while Lena Ow will be an associate. The trio were previously at Penningtons Manches Cooper.

Nick Dingemans is a corporate and M&A lawyer with extensive experience in cross-border acquisitions, disposals, restructurings, joint ventures, and project development. His practice focuses on the energy transition, including renewables, low emission fuels, and cleantech.

John Zadkovich brings nearly 20 years of experience as a disputes lawyer with a focus on international arbitration, litigation, and investigations. His areas of expertise cover the energy transition, banking and finance, as well as technology and cleantech.

Nick and John both have extensive experience advising clients across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

"The new team brings a wealth of experience that will be invaluable to our clients," said Tom Platts, head of M&A, Southeast Asia, Stephenson Harwood. "Their deep understanding of the energy transition and decarbonisation sector, combined with their strong client relationships, will enhance our service offering and drive strategic growth in Southeast Asia. In particular, Nick's decarbonisation experience adds real depth to the existing capabilities of our M&A practice."

"The addition of Nick and John to the office underscores our commitment to providing top-tier legal services in the region," said Daryll Ng, Singapore office managing partner, Stephenson Harwood. "Since identifying decarbonisation as a key strategic priority of the firm, we have been actively pursuing senior hires in this space. It's unusual to be able to bring on board a team of such experienced and highly-regarded lawyers, and their existing track record working together, and the natural synergies between their contentious and non-contentious practices, is exciting for the firm at this time."

"Our decarbonisation practice extends across our international network, with dedicated experts in London, Paris, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong," said Jonathan Cripps, head of decarbonisation, Stephenson Harwood. "Nick and John have exactly the skillset we need to take our offering to the next level, and their experience working across Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia brings a new depth to our practice. With Singapore's push to be at the fore of sustainability – notably through the Singapore Green Plan 2030 – now is the ideal time to be adding bench strength in the region."

Decarbonisation – of which energy transition is a core facet – is one of five areas of strategic focus for Stephenson Harwood. The international decarbonisation team supports clients across the full energy transition spectrum, including in relation to the commercial and technical issues underpinning offshore and onshore wind, solar, biomass, energy-from-waste, batteries, biofuels, hydrogen, nuclear, marine power and cleantech projects.