Squire Patton Boggs has announced the appointment of construction partner James Duckworth, who has joined the firm from Nabarro in Sheffield.

Mr. Duckworth is a non-contentious construction and engineering lawyer specialising in the procurement of major infrastructure, industrial and commercial property projects.  Ranked in band 1 for construction in Sheffield by Chambers & Partners UK 2015, he has a particular focus on major energy and infrastructure projects and has advised on a number of high profile renewable energy projects, in particular in the wind, biomass, solar, carbon capture and energy-from-waste sectors, both in the UK and internationally. Mr. Duckworth recently acted for the developer of a 120 MW wind farm in Jordan, which was the first utility scale wind farm in the Middle East.  The project was awarded Middle East Renewables Deal of the Year 2013 by Project Finance magazine.

Trevor Ingle, UK Head of Energy & Natural Resources at Squire Patton Boggs, commented: “We are very pleased to welcome James to our expanding team.  Our firm has a long-established reputation for its work in the energy sector and James’strong UK and international credentials in renewable energy and his client base fit well with our existing practice.”

John Alderton, managing partner of Squire Patton Boggs in Leeds, commented: “James is an outstanding lawyer, well-known and respected, with heavyweight experience in the energy sector.  His arrival boosts our construction team in Leeds and our international energy and natural resources practice.”

Mr. Duckworth’s appointment follows that of infrastructure projects partner Robin Baillie, who joined the firm with a team of lawyers also from Nabarro in London at the end of last year.  Mr. Duckworth is also one of a number of senior appointments made by the firm in the energy and natural resources sector, with the addition of partner Ben Holland, who joined the firm in London from Covington & Burling, David Hardy, former head of planning for the Northern Region of Eversheds, partner Matthew Mulqueen who joined the firm from Bracewell and Guiliani and  Brendan Reilly, partner and former head of construction and infrastructure at Allion Legal, who joined the firm in Perth last year.