Herbert Smith Freehills expands energy and infrastructure practice, hires two new partners

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has announced that it has made two strategic partner hires of Cassandra Wee and Amit Jois and an internal leadership appointment. The hires support HSF’s energy, infrastructure and private capital practices which continue to drive firm growth.

Cassandra and Amit will join the HSF Projects, Energy and Infrastructure practice led by Melbourne-based energy and infrastructure M&A partner, Nick Baker, who was appointed to Managing Partner this month. Nick will succeed Toby Anderson following his term as Managing Partner.

Based in Sydney, Cassandra joins the firm from Ashurst and brings deep expertise across power, gas and carbon (including projects, regulation and trading). Also based in Sydney, Amit joins from Johnson Winter Slattery with extensive M&A experience advising financial sponsors investing in the energy and infrastructure sectors.

“We continue to invest in the people and skills necessary to support clients on their energy transition work. The hires of Cassandra and Amit give us greater capability and depth to service complex matters for sponsors, investors and financiers,” Nick Baker said.

“We now have over 100 partners globally who operate in the Energy sector, and our energy transition work is a solid contributor to firm growth in our region, up 20% from the previous year.¹

“Our investment in our energy capability is clearly working and it is a sign of confidence that top talent like Cassandra and Amit are excited about joining our team,” Nick said.

“We look forward to welcoming Cassandra and Amit to our firm,” he added.

Cassandra’s expertise includes project structuring, development, offtake, transactions, and regulation and has worked in Asia and across Australia. She is known for her technical excellence on energy transactions, pragmatism and impressive leadership qualities.

Amit’s practice focuses on M&A for private capital and corporate clients in the energy and infrastructure sectors. A relationship partner for a number of major clients, he is known for his commercial acumen and solution-driven mindset.

The appointments follow the promotion of energy and infrastructure project specialists’ Laurelle Ko and Joseph Varghese to HSFs Projects, Energy & Infrastructure practice in April.

1. FY24 vs FY23