Ashurst’s EMEA energy and infrastructure M&A head is set to join Vinson & Elkins, with news of the exit coming as the Anglo-Australian firm prepares to merge with Perkins Coie this summer.
Michael Burns, who is described as a ‘rainmaker’ by one former partner, will be departing after around 13 years at Ashurst.
He joined Ashurst as a partner in 2013, and is a Legal 500 leading partner for oil and gas in London, where the firm is ranked in tier 1.
He began his career at legacy Allen & Overy, and has developed specialist expertise advising strategics and private capital sponsors on matters relating to energy transition, digital projects including data centres, and transportation.
Mandates Burns has worked on include advising GIC on its strategic investment alongside Carlyle in Eneus Energy, to support the development of a 14GW+ pipeline of green hydrogen and green ammonia projects, and advising on multiple matters for Brookfield, including its acquisitions of East-West Pipeline, valued at $1.87bn in 2019, and Wireless Infrastructure Group.
At Ashurst, Burns is part of the firm’s specialist oil and gas team, which advises across all stages of the oil and gas life cycle, from financing and M&A to disputes and regulatory matters.
Energy and infrastructure is one of the three core pillars that Ashurst Perkins Coie will focus on when the merger goes live later this year after the deal was successfully voted through last month.
News of the hire comes after V&E’s head of London transactions, Ben Higson, told Legal Business last month that the firm wanted to expand further in the City.
The firm recently hired tax partner Ed Moberly to its transactions practice from Kirkland & Ellis in London as part of these plans, with Higson stating that the firm wanted to capitalise on its investment with additional hires.
‘In London, we’re in growth mode,’ he said. ‘There are two aspects to that. One is identifying where the growth areas are and the second is finding the right people to populate these areas.’
The Texas firm has also been expanding elsewhere, adding Melissa Raciti-Knapp from Freshfields in February as a project finance partner and launching a Brussels office with the hire of competition partner May Lyn Yuen from Hogan Lovells in March.
Since Ashurst’s intention to merge with Perkins Coie was announced in November there have been a number of departures from the firm. Capital markets partners Simon Bullock and Stuart Rubin moved to Baker McKenzie, while structured finance partner Tom Picton moved to Paul Hastings, and PE partner Markjan van Schaardenburgh left for DLA Piper earlier this month.
However, the firm has also added to its corporate and private capital team, hiring a three-partner team from Goodwin in March.
