Baker McKenzie hires leading European Commission Adviser to grow European Energy Law Practice
1st October 2018
Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie has continued to grow its European energy and competition policy law practices with the appointment of leading energy and competition law expert, Christopher Jones. He joins the Firm's Brussels office as a Principal on 1 October 2018.
Christopher was Deputy Director for Energy following a career spanning more than 30 years at the European Commission. He was previously Deputy Head of the Cabinet for the Energy Commissioner and spent 18 years designing and implementing Europe's energy policy.
Christopher is also an expert on competition policy having spent 11 years in the European Commission’s DG Competition where he occupied key positions in the Cabinet of the Energy Commissioner dealing with mergers and antitrust, and as personal Policy Assistant to two Directors General.
He is a part-time Professor of Energy Law and Policy at the European University and is the editor and co-author of a number of books on energy and competition law issues, including the ‘Competition Law Handbook’, ‘The Internal Energy Market’ and Competition Law and Energy Markets.’
Commenting, Fiona Carlin, Baker McKenzie EMEA+ Chief Executive, said: "With Europe currently undergoing an unprecedented scale of energy transition, Christopher's arrival at Baker McKenzie couldn't be more timely. His breadth of knowledge and industry-leading expertise will prove invaluable to clients and prospective clients as they seek to navigate the increasingly complex energy landscape, which could be further complicated by Brexit. In particular, Christopher will play a key role in further growing our leading European energy law practice and we look forward to welcoming him to the Firm."
Christopher Jones added: "I'm extremely excited to be working at Baker McKenzie in a client-facing, advisory role. Energy continues to dominate Europe's policy agenda with a slew of changes – mainly focused on decarbonisation - due to take effect over the coming years. It's hard to overstate how significant the resulting impact on electricity and gas markets will be, as well as the challenges and opportunities this will present for energy companies. I'm looking forward to working with Baker McKenzie's global client base as they seek to navigate these changes."
In 2015, Europe committed to largely decarbonising its energy system by 2050 under the Paris Agreement. In June 2018, the EU agreed to increase the share of renewables in its energy system to 32% by 2030. Later this year the European Commission will announce its low carbon emissions strategy to 2050.
For more information, please read the press release.
