Morgan Lewis announced today that Mathew Kidwell, an energy transactions attorney with more than 18 years of experience in oil and gas mergers and acquisitions project development and finance, has joined the firm’s Business and Finance Practice, resident in London. His arrival continues the growth of the firm’s Energy Transactions Practice in the UK and the firm’s broader international expansion in Europe and Asia.
“We are excited to continue our international expansion and to deepen our capabilities and services in the continually evolving energy sector,” said Francis M. Milone, Chair of Morgan Lewis. “Mathew’s arrival serves as a critical building block in Morgan Lewis’s goal to provide market-leading legal services to clients in London, a city which serves as a key global hub for the energy industry.”
Mr. Kidwell, who was previously a partner at another Am Law 100 firm, has handled a broad array of major projects including oil and gas exploration and production, including deepwater operations and enhanced oil recovery; processing and refining; pipelines and transportation; liquefied natural gas (LNG); and petrochemicals. He has also provided adept legal counsel on acquisitions and divestitures in the oil and gas sector. Mr. Kidwell previously spent eight years in the Middle East working on energy projects and has represented independent oil companies, national oil companies and governments, banks, project sponsors and developers, contractors and service providers on acquisitions, divestitures, and project development matters spanning the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe and Latin America.
“Mathew’s broad-based upstream oil and gas focus adds another substantial component to our full service energy practice in London, which we expect to be a continued focus for growth,” noted Energy Transactions Practice Leader David F. Asmus. “The introduction of Mathew’s wide base of knowledge and experience will further expand and diversify the Energy Transactions Practice’s global client base,” he said.
Christopher Harrison, Co-Managing Partner of Morgan Lewis’s London office added, “Mathew’s geographic focus on the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, complements the international practices of the London office’s other Energy Transactions partners, Martin Stewart-Smith and Olivier Chambord,” He added, “We are thrilled to witness the continued growth of this practice in London shortly after the arrival of Martin and Olivier in late 2011 and mid-2012, respectively.”
Mr. Kidwell joins a Business and Finance team that spans the United States, Europe, and Asia, with more than 300 transactional lawyers who focus on a wide variety of areas, including finance, bankruptcy and restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and capital markets. Morgan Lewis is a leading provider of legal services in the global energy industry, with extensive experience advising on some of the world’s most complex and significant energy transactions. The firm’s attorneys are well versed in national and cross-border transactions, as well as a wide range of energy and energy-related industry sectors. They have considerable experience managing and negotiating complex transactions in electric power; upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas; LNG; gas transportation; power transmission; and renewable energy projects.
