DLA Piper announced today that a leading four-partner finance and infrastructure group has joined the firm in New York.
The group, which joins DLA Piper from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, includes Joseph Tato, the former chair of the firm’s Global Project Finance and Infrastructure Practice Group and its Africa Practice Group, Jonathan Siegfried, Andrianne Payson, and Robert Alessi, the former managing partner of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s Albany office and global co-chair of the firm’s Environmental Litigation Practice Group. Tato and Payson join DLA Piper’s Corporate and Finance practice, and Siegfried and Alessi join the Litigation practice.
“We are very excited to welcome one of the country’s leading finance and infrastructure practices to the firm,” said Roger Meltzer, global chair of DLA Piper’s Corporate and Finance practice. “This team’s collective experience will strengthen our Corporate and Finance and Litigation practices, as well as our Project Finance and Infrastructure sector practice, and enhance our ability to assist industry clients on major transactions and other important matters while materially advancing our global expansion strategy into key financial centers and emerging markets.”
The group represents commercial banks, bilateral and multilateral financial institutions, project sponsors, infrastructure funds and other equity investors, utilities, financial advisors, underwriters, contractors and governments in the development, financing, construction, operation and acquisition of a wide range of capital intensive projects and facilities throughout the world. These projects and facilities have included power plants, transmission lines, oil and gas fields, re-gasification facilities, refineries, petrochemical plants, steel mills, mining facilities, ethanol and biodiesel plants, telecommunication networks, airports, ports, toll roads, water supply and wastewater systems, hazardous waste facilities, social infrastructure, industrial plants and other infrastructure projects.
About the Lawyers:
Joseph Tato regularly represents independent power producers, equity investors, project sponsors, financial institutions, and governments in the development and financing of power, oil and gas, LNG, water and wastewater, telecommunications, waste management and other infrastructure projects in the US, Africa, Latin America and Europe. He also represents sponsors and financial institutions in restructurings and workouts in the energy and infrastructure areas. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law and his B.A. from Columbia College.
Jonathan Siegfried’s practice involves commercial litigation and international arbitration with an emphasis in corporate law. He has represented US and non-US companies in federal and state court litigation and arbitrations under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce, UNCITRAL and the American Arbitration Association, as well as sovereigns and parastatals in Africa. These matters have involved contract disputes, the enforcement of letters of credit, asset recovery, international bankruptcy, accounting and valuation disputes, securities transactions, trademark and copyright disputes, construction litigation and arbitration, and real estate transactions. Siegfried also serves as a neutral on the Commercial and Large Complex Case Panels of the American Arbitration Association. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his B.A. from Yale University.
Andrianne Payson has worked with energy industry clients, including utilities, project developers and investors, on a variety of transactions in the US and Africa. Her experience includes acquisitions and sales of energy assets, utility mergers, and infrastructure development projects in the power generation and transmission sectors. Payson was previously an auditor in the energy group at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. She is a Certified Public Accountant and received a J.D. from Cornell Law School and graduated from the Baccalaureate Program at the City University of New York.
Robert Alessi represents Fortune 500 companies, governmental entities and cultural institutions, and often appears on behalf of clients in federal and state courts and in administrative tribunals where he has successfully tried and argued numerous matters. He has led major project developments before federal, state and local agencies, and has handled a wide variety of commercial matters as part of his general civil litigation practice. He received his J.D. from Albany Law School and his B.S. from the Albany College of Pharmacy.
