Is this the most lucrative job in law?
Firms across the country are hiring these lawyers in record numbers, and paying high sums for top quality talent.
An explosion of green energy reforms has sparked a race between top law firms to poach exceptional lawyers, with salaries set to jump by nearly 10 per cent and dozens of Australian practices indicating their need for quality talent.
The Australian’s Legal Partnership Survey has revealed firms across the country are hiring energy lawyers in record numbers, and paying high sums for top quality talent who are across a growing number of environmental and energy matters and taking on mammoth caseloads.
Firms including Lander & Rogers, Herbert Smith Freehills, Gilbert + Tobin, K&L Gates, Ashurst, Allens, King & Wood Mallesons, Johnson Winter Slatter, Hamilton Locke, Hall & Wilcox, DLA Piper, Baker McKenzie, Gadens, Norton Rose Fulbright and White & Case indicated they would seek to hire more energy transition lawyers over the next 6-12 months because of high demand.
Gilbert + Tobin energy law partner Lixian Liang said “100 per cent” of her time was spent on renewables projects, after dramatic changes to energy technology and a growing push towards green power in the past 15 years.
“Gas and coal-fired power stations, they’ve been around for a while, they put out a steady rate and flow of power, whereas renewable energy, it’s new technology,” she said. “(It was) wind and solar for a while there, but batteries in particular now, hydrogen … the technology moves on and the risks around performance change with that as well.”
DLA Piper energy law partner Chris Mitchell said often the “renewables side” of energy law took up the most air time but other sectors were being “heavily impacted by the energy transition”.
“When you think about energy and energy transition, we think about renewable energy, but things like fossil fuel projects are impacted by energy transition. The impact is obviously quite different from other sectors,” he said.
“That will be looking at the decreasing focus on demand for coal, of course, as we transition to renewable energy. What that means for that sub-sector is what do we do about decommissioning ESG responsibilities and transitioning to projects that maybe focus on transitional gas as we move to renewable energy.
“There’s a whole body of work for your traditional oil and gas lawyers around decommissioning projects, moving to transition of those projects to more sustainable sources.”
It comes as the heads of energy companies join the Australian Energy Market Operator in warning that energy will be tight from next year as traditional supplies run low.
Anthony Albanese and Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Sunday pushed their plan for a renewable energy future with a proposal to build a battery project at Collie in southwest Western Australia, which the Prime Minister said would provide “enough power for literally hundreds of thousands of homes”.
The industrial town is also where the Coalition plans to build a small modular reactor by 2050 as part of its blueprint to build nuclear power plants at up to seven sites across the nation.
DLA Piper managing partner Amber Matthews said expertise in energy transition was “highly valued in this market now and will continue to be in the coming years as Australia transitions to more renewable energy sources”.
“We advise on more renewable energy deals than any other firm globally, so our overall bench-strength on renewables is second to none. The pipeline for renewable work continues to grow, and includes a number of recent appointments to large cross-border renewables projects and investments,” she said.
Government expenditure on renewables projects have seen salaries for energy lawyers skyrocket by 7-9 per cent, Eaton Strategy + Search partner Najeeb Nawab said.
“It is one of the areas where we are seeing roles in the market, and there is clearly a demand in that particular area,” he said. “There are a lot of roles going, renewable energies are still hot and the government are pumping a lot of money into these type of projects.”
Lander & Rogers chief executive partner Genevieve Collins said the firm had seen a huge spike in demand for energy transition work. “Energy transition and ESG generally have become a growth area for our firm as clients bid for transmission infrastructure projects across Australia, seeking strategic legal and commercial advice across renewable energy infrastructure and relevant regulatory frameworks,” she said.
White & Case partner Joanne Draper told The Australian that the international firm was helping Australian clients develop offshore wind farms, having acted in several deals in the Asia Pacific.
“Our Australian offices are focused on energy transition, critical minerals and infrastructure, therefore the past six months have been busy for our teams across M&A, project development and financing in those sectors,” she said.
“Ambitious lawyers continue to be attracted to our global platform and client base in the energy transition and infrastructure sectors. For White & Case, being able to bring our global expertise to Australian and Asia-Pacific clients and export our Australian expertise globally remains an exciting prospect”
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