About Ashurst

Ashurst is a leading global law firm with a history spanning almost 200 years, and clear strategy for our future growth. Our in-depth understanding of our clients and commitment to providing exceptional standards of service have seen us become a trusted adviser to local and global corporates, financial institutions and governments in all areas of commercial law. To find out more please visit here.

In order to comply with regulatory and client requirements, Ashurst will undertake appropriate vetting of staff. When applicants accept a job offer, Ashurst, alongside a specialist provider, will undertake professional verification and background checks.  These checks are only undertaken with consent, and in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations.

Team overview:

With over 100 partners across Europe, the Middle East, North America, Australia and Asia, Ashurst is acknowledged as having one of the world's leading international resources and infrastructure practices and has a reputation for practical, cost-effective commercial advice.

Our energy and infrastructure team advise global corporates, financial institutions and governments operating in the sector on their most important and ground-breaking transactions. Our team is ranked Tier 1 by the most influential independent legal directories and is fully integrated with our disputes, tax, finance, competition, IP, IT, employment and pensions teams.

An opportunity exists for a suitable candidate to join our energy and infrastructure team, predominantly working on mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, joint ventures and project development in the oil and gas and renewables spaces.

The team handle transactions with both domestic and international content including large, multi-jurisdictional deals and assist with structuring transactions to accommodate different international regulatory requirements.

The team is ambitious to build on the extremely successful practice that already exists by adding team members with the same passion and drive for the industry as them.

Job overview:

We are looking for a qualified corporate lawyer with experience in M&A in the oil and gas sector that is keen to focus on M&A in the oil and gas and broader energy and infrastructure sectors. Renewables experience would also be a plus but is not a pre-requisite.

Typical transaction responsibilities will include:

• negotiating sale and purchase agreements (asset/business and share) and ancillary transaction documentation;
• advising on joint venture and high value commercial agreements;
• supervising due diligence exercises; and
• playing a leading role in transaction management for regional and international oil and gas mergers and acquisitions and projects.

Essential skills and experience:

• Post qualification experience in M&A with a reputable international law firm.
• Experience advising international clients within the upstream oil and gas sector.
• Good organisational skills and experience in transaction management.
• Excellent academic track record.
• Enthusiasm for intellectually challenging work and to explore the energy transition.
• An enthusiastic team-player who can work collaboratively with colleagues at all levels.
• Willingness to learn new skills and expand technical knowledge beyond core transactional skills.
• Excellence in attention to detail, identifying inconsistencies that indicate problems with quality of work or misunderstanding of client's needs.

Recent Work:

• OMV on its acquisition of a 50% stake in Sapura Energy of Malaysia, with assets in Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia. The joint venture is valued at $1.6bn.
• OMV on its acquisition of Shell's entire upstream oil and gas business in New Zealand for $578m, which was named M&A transaction of the year in New Zealand.
• Brookfield (an infrastructure fund) on its acquisition of the East-West Pipeline in India from Reliance.
• Tullow Oil on its $900m sale of interests in upstream assets in Uganda to Total and CNOOC.
• JX Nippon on its sale of its interests in the Ninian field in the UK to Canadian Natural Resources.
• Diamond Generation (a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation) on its acquisition of a stake in the £2.6bn Moray Firth wind farm in the UK.
• Kansai Electric on its investment in the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm.

Career advancement:

An established Associate Career Path Framework is in place clearly defining expectations and outlining opportunities for promotion.

Secondment opportunities:

Opportunities often arise for associates to spend time on secondment in house with a key client of the firm. From time to time, secondment opportunities also come up within other Ashurst offices in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

Partner Profiles:

Michael Burns

Michael Burns is a partner in our corporate practice

Michael specialises in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and major project development with a focus on the energy sector (in particular oil and gas and power).

His clients include multinational corporates, financial institutions, governments and individuals. In the last 12 months, Michael has advised on significant mergers and acquisitions including a number of disposals in the North Sea, an acquisition in Egypt and an oil storage acquisition and joint venture.