Shearman & Sterling announces Appointment of Mona Dajani and Jorge Medina as partners

Shearman & Sterling announces Appointment of Mona Dajani and Jorge Medina as partners

They served as co-leads of the renewables and infrastructure practice at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

Global law firm Shearman & Sterling has appointed prominent global energy lawyer Mona Dajani and tax equity lawyer Jorge Medina as partners in the project development & finance (PDF) practice.

Based in New York, Dajani will serve as the global head of renewables, co-head of global energy & infrastructure (projects), and head of the hydrogen and ammonia practice (Americas).

On the other hand, based in the Bay Area, Medina will serve as head of the renewables (Americas).

Dajani and Medina were earlier working as co-leads of the renewables and infrastructure practice at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

The duo advises clients in the energy, sustainability, and infrastructure sectors, including on complex M&A/dispositions, project development, financings, joint ventures, restructuring, tax equity and tax credit financings involving energy and related infrastructure facilities in the US and across the world.

They have led some of the largest renewable energy and infrastructure transactions. Their practice has been at the cutting edge of the energy transition, leading recent trailblazing transactions in wind, solar, storage, hydrogen, electric vehicle infrastructure, biofuels, and renewable natural gas, and launched and led the first dedicated hydrogen transactions practice.

David Beveridge, the senior partner at Shearman & Sterling said, " Dajani and Medina's appointment is part of our strategy to meet the growing needs of clients to build out PDF, energy and infrastructure offering in the Americas and strengthen our presence in the US power, energy transition and energy innovations sectors with top market-leading practitioners. Their arrival adds depth to our existing team and perfectly complements our ambitions for the practice both in the US and globally. It continues our growth momentum and demonstrates the execution of our long-term strategy, focused on our core practices in key geographies, aligning with market opportunities."

Meanwhile, Cynthia Urda Kassis, the global PDF practice group leader at the firm remarked, "Dajani and Medina are exceptional and industry-leading lawyers with an incredible wealth of experience and reputation in the market. Both are extraordinarily entrepreneurial and have a strong track record advising on leading edge transactions in the energy and infrastructure space, at a time when activity in the sector is poised to increase significantly."

Dajani stated, "This is a time of huge opportunities and challenges in the energy and infrastructure space and more than ever so in the energy and sustainability markets. Clients will require the highest levels of expertise from their legal advisers if they are to successfully navigate the current landscape. Shearman & Sterling's globally recognized finance and PDF practices will allow us to expand our business at a crucial time when the recent legislative developments in the US mean that the energy and infrastructure sectors will only grow in importance over the coming years. We look forward to growing, contributing to, and collaborating with the firm's existing team to provide our clients with an enhanced service offering on a global basis."

Medina added, "The global energy market has picked up considerably since the beginning of 2021. This trend is expected to continue with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, particularly in the context of energy transition and energy innovation. Similarly, significant recent M&A activity in the clean energy and power sectors is expected to continue. Shearman & Sterling has a very robust global platform from which to grow our practice and we look forward to servicing both existing and new clients."

Dajani is a well-known expert in the development and financing of energy storage, solar, wind, hydrogen, ammonia, mobility, data centers, electric vehicles, carbon capture and sequestration, renewable natural gas, biofuels, net-zero technology and other energy transition projects. She has significant experience in syndicated loan and debt capital markets transactions, sustainable finance, ESG, data centers, water and transportation projects, and arranging capital for new and established energy and infrastructure companies.

Medina has represented a wide variety of commercial and public institutions, private equity and strategic investors, sponsors, utilities, financial institutions, underwriters, energy and clean technology companies, investment banks and multilateral agencies in transactions throughout the US and globally. In 2022, he was appointed for a three-year term as a US Department of Energy Ambassador for C3E. A Construction Lawyers Society Fellow, he is a member of the National Board of Directors for the American Council of Renewable Energy (ACORE), and one of the most influential lawyers in the global wind energy sector.

Medina's practice focuses on federal tax policy and controversial issues involving renewable energy, energy storage, electric vehicles and electric vehicle infrastructure, hydrogen, carbon capture and sequestration, renewable natural gas, biofuels and other energy transition assets. He has extensive experience structuring cutting-edge tax-driven transactions, including many first-of-its-kind transactions in the energy space. He has led over 100 tax equity and tax credit financing transactions, representing both sponsors and tax equity investors.