International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP has appointed Gavin MacLaren and Mark Plenderleith as partners to boost its energy, natural resources and infrastructure capability in Asia.

Gavin MacLaren, a partner from Australian law firm Allens Arthur Robinson, brings a wealth of experience across a range of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and project development work, with a specific focus on the energy and natural resources sector. He has spent several years living and working in South East Asia and will support clients throughout the region. 

Mark Plenderleith, a partner from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, will be based in Tokyo, where he has worked since 2006. He will work closely with the firm’s Tokyo partners, in particular supporting our Japanese clients in their overseas investments, as well as augmenting the firm’s broader Asian energy and infrastructure project finance capability. 

Both partners’ practices will complement each other and create an even more powerful offering for energy, natural resources and infrastructure clients in the region. 

Freshfields’ Asia managing partner Robert Ashworth said: ‘These two appointments, in addition to the new partners elected recently in the region, indicate how important the Asia markets are to the firm. Specifically, Gavin and Mark will increase the strength and depth of our specialist capabilities in the energy, natural resources and infrastructure sectors in the Asian region and substantially boost our client offering in what is a fast growing market’. 

Laurie McFadden, global co-head of the firm’s energy and natural resources sector group added: ‘High levels of energy and natural resources activity in the Asian region and the projected continued growth in Asian needs for energy and other natural resources sourced on a global basis is driving demand for our services in the region’. 

‘Growing our offering in these areas will help us better support our clients and establish an ever more solid platform as the international law firm of choice for clients in the region.’ concluded Ashworth. 

Gavin and Mark will join the twenty new partners who have been recently elected to the firm’s partnership, four of whom will be based in China. Altogether these appointments bring the number of newly elected partners in Asia since October 2011 to seven, making this the highest number of partners elected in Asia in any one year. With these appointments, the firm’s Asia practice will comprise 35 partners.