Law firm Sidley Austin brought on board Tara Higgins and Noreen Phelan as partners and Chris Hutchison as a senior associate. All three will work in the firm’s global Energy and Infrastructure practice.
Higgins will be based in Sidley’s New York office, while Phelan and Hutchison will be based in the Washington, D.C. office.
All three join from Orrick, where Higgins was co-head of the global Power practice and Phelan was a partner in the Energy and Infrastructure practice.
The new hires will expand the firm’s global energy platform, comprised of more than 140 energy professionals in more than 15 offices worldwide.
“We are excited to add Tara, Noreen and Chris to the Sidley Energy and Infrastructure team,” said Cliff Vrielink, global leader of Sidley’s Energy and Infrastructure practice. “Their extensive experience and reputation in the renewable energy and conventional power industries further bolsters our ability to help clients in these complex, capital intensive industries. Tara, Noreen and Chris are well-known for helping clients execute market-leading transactions.”
In 2018, this group of lawyers closed three of the largest M&A deals in the U.S. renewables market, as well as a number of other M&A transactions and financings for hydroelectric and conventional power assets.
Higgins is consistently recognized both nationally and globally as a leading energy lawyer. Her diverse range of experience focuses on the development, financing, acquisition, disposition and restructuring of energy projects, both in the U.S. and multiple foreign jurisdictions. Her clients include private equity and strategic investors, lenders, developers and governmental entities.
Phelan has extensive experience representing energy clients in complex equity and debt financings, project acquisitions and divestitures, mergers, joint ventures and other investment arrangements. She counsels private equity and strategic investors, lenders, governmental entities and major developers in connection with wind, solar, hydroelectric, biomass and other alternative energy projects and conventional power generation facilities in all stages of their life cycle.
