Ashurst Perkins Coie

Ashurst is an Anglo-Australian firm specialising in global energy and infrastructure projects. In the year ending April 2024, the firm achieved £961 million in revenue, a 9% increase in growth from 2023, with energy and resources as the standout performer contributing 23% to this growth. Strong performance was achieved across all regions, but the most significant growth was recorded in the UK, the US, and the Middle East. Looking ahead to its 2027 strategy, Ashurst has high growth ambitions in the US market, particularly for its global markets and projects teams. The firm also plans to boost profitability by expanding its legal innovation arm, including Ashurst Advance, the “advanced delivery” unit which comes up with technological and project management solutions to improve the efficiency of legal work, and its risk consulting business. Ashurst’s Band 1 rankings in both project finance and development by Legal 500 highlight its leadership in the market. In London, Ashurst’s key differentiator is its ability to represent a broad mix of stakeholders, including the UK government, being the only Silver Circle firm on their legal panel. Of the Magic Circle firms, only Slaughter & May is featured. This prestigious engagement sees Ashurst take centre stage in energy transition projects in the UK. It recently advised the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on two of the UK’s first carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) projects, establishing the overarching legal structures to suit the CCUS business models and the work programme to enable deployment of the projects in the coming decade. These high-profile engagements not only strengthen Ashurst’s governmental connections but also position it as a crucial link between public investment and private sector innovation. In the private sphere, Ashurst continues to branch out from its traditional banking client network to collaborate with private sponsors and major corporates who are crowding into energy and digital infrastructures. For example, the London team represented Antin Infrastructure Partners, a EUR 30 billion private equity manager, on its joint venture with Scandinavian Enviro Systems and Michelin to develop the world’s first large-scale tire recycling group. Sharing similar expertise and client portfolios with its infrastructure practice, Ashurst’s real estate practice also stands out as a market leader. The firm has advised clients across the value chain of real estate, including investment (i.e. representing buyers and sellers in real estate acquisition transactions), development (planning, joint ventures, structuring, and financing), and corporate occupation, achieving a Band 1 ranking in the Legal 500 2025 for each of the said sub-categories. Vestas Investment Management is a long-standing client, whom the team recently advised on the £150 million corporate sale of 125 Shaftesbury Avenue, a prominent 180,000 sq ft retail and office property in London’s West End. Not uncommon among Magic Circle and Silver Circle firms, Ashurst is well-versed in capital market and investment grade debt finance, representing mainly traditional bank lenders in low-risk loans to well established and mainly listed companies. However, leveraging its debt finance expertise and a keen grasp of emerging technologies, in 2023, Ashurst supported Goldman Sachs on the launch of its ground-breaking Digital Assets Platform. The launch was followed with the issuance of a €100 million digital bond for the European Investment Bank on Goldman Sachs’ private blockchain. The use of the blockchain brought significant advantages, such as immediate settlement and reduced issuance costs (as there is less need for humans to check and approve each market transaction), making smaller-ticket bond issuance and trading more feasible. This pioneering work earned Ashurst the Banking and Finance Team of the Year award at The British Legal Awards 2023. While Ashurst is not particularly known for dispute resolution in London, the firm has been rapidly expanding this practice. In 2023, disputes contributed 19% of the firm’s UK revenue, reflecting a 60% growth over the past five years. To fuel this growth, Ashurst has made significant lateral hires, including Philip Chong from DLA Piper (who specialises in energy and infrastructure international arbitration), Anna Morfey from Hausfeld (competition litigation), Judith Seddon from Dechert (white-collar investigations), and Philip Linton, former head of EMEA Litigation and Contentious Regulatory at Goldman Sachs (financial services litigation). Notably, the addition of Anna Morfey has strengthened Ashurst’s position in the growing class action space in London. In 2023, the firm handled its first class action at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, defending Lloyds Banking Group against claims that consumers were charged higher interest rates due to anti-competitive agreements between motor finance providers and car dealers.