Mayer Brown accelerates strategic growth of project finance offering across EMEA, APAC with four new partners

London – Mayer Brown today announced the appointments of Andrew Pendleton, Justen Fleming, Andrew Gibb, and Fiona Gulliford as partners, marking a major strategic expansion of the firm’s English‑law project finance capabilities within its Global Energy practice. Their arrival will represent a cornerstone investment in dramatically scaling the firm’s ability to advise on mega‑scale energy and infrastructure financings across EMEA, APAC, and other high‑growth emerging markets.

Building on Mayer Brown’s deep existing strengths in commercial, development, finance, regulatory, and transactional energy work, the addition of these four senior practitioners will significantly enhance the firm’s sponsor‑side, investor-side and lender‑side capacity, positioning the practice as a top‑tier global destination for complex, multi‑source project financings.

The group will join across London, Tokyo, and Singapore, bringing nearly a century of combined experience advising on the financing and development of large, technically complex, and often first‑of‑kind projects globally across sectors including LNG, upstream, midstream, downstream, power (renewable and thermal), mining, and new energies.

Andrew Pendleton, Justen, and Andrew Gibb join from Milbank LLP; Fiona joins from Trinity International LLP, having previously worked in Milbank’s projects team.

Andrew Pendleton will lead Mayer Brown’s English‑law project finance practice across EMEA and APAC, operating within the firm’s Global Energy team. Known as one of the world’s leading project finance lawyers, he has advised on multiple global deals of the year, including Ambatovy, Yemen LNG, PrefChem (RAPID/Marigold), Papua LNG, Sadara, PetroRabigh, Lightning, and Oyu Tolgoi.

Justen brings world-class commercial and structuring experience, working hand-in-hand with Andrew Pendleton across the oil and gas value chain and energy transition space. Andrew Gibb, as one of the most experienced energy project development and finance lawyers in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia, will lead in that space, and work closely with Fiona Gulliford, one of the most experienced and active energy finance practitioners across emerging markets.

Andrew Pendleton, Justen, and Fiona will be jointly based across EMEA (London) and Asia (Tokyo and Singapore) to ensure seamless cross‑regional coverage for clients and integrated delivery across time zones. Andrew Gibb will be based in Singapore.

“The arrival of Andrew, Justen, Andrew, and Fiona marks a transformational milestone in our Energy practice,” said Nick Kouvaritakis, partner in Mayer Brown's Singapore office and the firm’s global co-head of Energy and global head of LNG. “Their top‑tier project finance expertise dramatically expands our ability to support the most complex energy and infrastructure financings globally. This investment reflects a clear strategic priority for the firm, and we expect continued, significant growth in this area as we further develop a world‑class project finance platform. We are thrilled to welcome this exceptional group of practitioners to Mayer Brown.”

Commenting on the move, Andrew Pendleton said: “Mayer Brown’s global footprint and longstanding strength across the energy value chain make it a compelling platform for a premier English‑law project finance practice. The firm’s strong commercial and development capabilities provide a powerful foundation for scaling a market‑leading financing offering across EMEA and APAC. We are delighted to be part of this next phase of strategic growth.”

Fiona Gulliford added: “Mayer Brown’s international reach and sector depth offer an exceptional environment for the kind of complex, cross‑border projects I am passionate about. Rejoining former colleagues and contributing to a cohesive, ambitious, and globally integrated team presents a hugely exciting opportunity.”

With these hires, Mayer Brown will significantly expand its ability to support clients across the full lifecycle of energy and infrastructure projects, from early-stage development and commercial structuring to multilateral, ECA‑backed and commercial-bank financings, restructurings, and refinancing mandates.

This strategic investment will build on existing project finance capabilities and supports the firm’s ongoing global expansion of its Energy & Infrastructure offering, following recent partner hires including Anne Wicks (Dubai, August 2023), Massimo Amoruso (London, March 2024), Alexandre Arlota (Brazil, January 2025), Michael Kim (Singapore, January 2025), Chad Richards (Washington DC, February 2025), Priya Shah (Dubai, April 2025), Elina Coss (New York and London, September 2025), Trevor Shelton (Los Angeles, September 2025), and Steven Wilson (London, November 2025).