Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has expanded its energy capabilities in Singapore with the latest hire of new partner Michael Tardif from A&O Shearman, where he practised as a partner in Jakarta.
“Michael is deeply respected by the market’s leading players and adds strong financing experience to our platform. His experience working in not only renewables but also in traditional fossil fuel transactions connects with our market-leading renewables practice and emerging practice in newer energy transition technologies,” said partner Giji John, who is based in Orrick’s Singapore office and serves on the firm’s management committee.
Ari Bessendorf, who has worked closely with Tardif since 2018, will also be joining the US firm as a partner in Singapore in September. Bessendorf, who specialises in cross-border project development and finance for power, renewables and utilities, previously practised as a senior associate at A&O Shearman in Jakarta.
The addition of Tardif and Bessendorf mean Orrick will now have seven energy and infrastructure lawyers in the Lion City.
Tardif began his legal career as an associate at Coudert Brothers in 2003 and became a partner at Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman) in 2017 after practising as a counsel at the firm for three years.
The now Singapore-based energy lawyer has many years of experience representing sponsors and lenders, including Indonesia’s state-owned energy company PT Pertamina (Persero) and the Asian Development Bank, in financing transactions. He also advises on transactions involving the conventional power, renewable energy, infrastructure and mining sectors across Asia, Australia and the US.
Tardif told Asia Business Law Journal that a lot of new players had been coming into the Asean markets in recent years, including regional banks from Singapore. Other Asean countries are increasingly lending into those markets along with infrastructure funds and private capital funding secondary market transactions and participating in greenfield projects. He added that part of the move to Orrick was getting onto a platform that was positioned well to capitalise on all of these trends.
“Data centres are springing up everywhere and obviously Orrick has a very strong practice globally supporting those sorts of projects, but those data centres need green power and that is where Orrick’s energy and infra practice comes in,” said Tardif.
