DLA Piper has hired a trio of energy-focused partners from Paul Hastings and Brown Rudnick in London.  

M&A partner Steven Bryan has joined having left Paul Hastings late last year, while finance partner Derwin Jenkinson has joined directly from the US firm. Paul Doris, who advises on M&A, private equity and private capital transactions, will join from Brown Rudnick early next month.  

Benjamin Parameswaran, global co-chair of DLA Piper’s corporate group, said: “These new appointments will add important bench strength to the corporate and finance projects restructuring practice groups as well as our infrastructure and energy sector offerings. Steven and Paul are both market-leading partners with huge experience in these sectors.”

Bryan advises investment funds and corporate sponsors on private and public M&A, both in the UK and cross border. His experience working in energy and infrastructure includes power and utilities, digital infrastructure, midstream energy, transportation and social infrastructure.  

Bryan led Paul Hastings’ energy, natural resources and infrastructure group in London before leaving last October, according to his LinkedIn profile. He joined the firm in 2019 from Hogan Lovells, where he led the infrastructure team.

Jenkinson has advised on high-profile matters across the same energy and infrastructure sectors and at all levels of the capital structure, covering acquisition and term debt (both bank and institutional credit), project finance, capital markets and structured finance as well as restructurings/special situations.

He joined Paul Hastings in 2020 having been a partner at Ashurst, and earlier practised at Clifford Chance.  

Meantime Doris has moved to DLA Piper after just over a year at Brown Rudnick, before which he was a partner at Dentons and Orrick. He advises on UK and international M&A, private equity and private capital transactions and has developed particular experience of renewable energy transactions, which DLA Piper said aligned well with its focus on ESG initiatives and strategy.  

Colin Wilson, global co-chair of DLA Piper’s FPR group, added: “Derwin has a fantastic track record built around infra financing transactions which chimes perfectly with DLA Piper’s own focus in this area. The three joining us further builds on our existing offering in these key sectors and we are excited about them contributing to the firm’s continuing success.”

DLA Piper also bolstered its energy offering in Seoul earlier this month with the hire of finance expert Brian Youn as a partner from Milbank, where he was a counsel.  

Other recent energy-focused hires for the firm include partner Lindsay McLeod, who specialises in renewable energy transactions and joined in Seattle last summer from Amazon, and partner Jack Brumpton, who rejoined the firm in Brisbane in February from renewable energy company Sun Cable, where he was senior counsel.  

Clifford Chance also added to its energy offering recently with partners from a US rival, hiring project financing duo Craig Nethercott and Chirag Sanghrajka from Latham & Watkins last September in London and Dubai respectively.