Energy Industry Legal Consultants

For when you need a lawyer. Not a law firm

Stockdale is a consultancy that provides high-calibre lawyers to energy sector companies. We are small team of ex-City energy lawyers who work on a consultancy basis for companies operating throughout the energy chain.

How we can help you

We provide legal, regulatory and compliance support to energy companies.

Typical roles:

General Counsel / Virtual General Counsel
Project / Deal Specific Roles
General “in-house” role responsible for day to day work on e.g. a particular set of assets / region

Typical work:

A&D
Joint Ventures / Asset Management
Projects – Exploration / Development / Decommissioning
Commercial Contracts (negotiation, dispute management)
Supply Chain
Energy Trading and Product Sales
Compliance / Regulation
Managing external counsel where a major law firm / local law advice is required

Benefits

Everyone at Stockdale has chosen to work flexibly. This helps to minimise overheads and gives you the opportunity to use highly-qualified and talented lawyers who aren’t your employees and without having to pay traditional law firm rates.

Quality

Everyone at Stockdale is a highly qualified and experienced energy sector specialist lawyer. We have all worked in a City firm and have experience of working in house.

Value

Working flexibly and as consultants, we do not incur the overheads of the traditional law firms. Meaning you can work with top quality energy specialist lawyers at more competitive rates than can be offered by the law firms.

Choice

Stockdale Legal is not an SRA regulated entity. That allows us to work on a minimal overhead basis, including in respect of the cost of PI insurance, which is a material overhead for law firms. We offer work at competitive rates on a no liability basis; or alternatively work on an insured basis at an additional cost. Each client can make that choice for each piece of work and we tailor the cost and package accordingly.

Flexibility

We work flexibly but can attend your office or meetings whenever required. We have a big pool of talent we can draw upon and between us we provide:

depth of resource – we can pull in people from a wide team of senior energy lawyers.
assistance at a senior or junior level, as the work demands.
specialist support where needed e.g. finance, employment, corporate.

People

John Stockdale works with other high-calibre consultant lawyers, each of whom has a background in the City and experience in-house. Mini-bios for the core team are set out below.

John Stockdale

Worked for over four years as Legal Manager at JX Nippon, with responsibility for an extensive UKCS/NCS upstream and midstream portfolio. Helped implement three-year asset divestment strategy via a string of complex deals in the downturn. Role included commercial management on various transactions.

Trained and spent 10+ years working in oil and gas in law firm Dentons, typically in Africa, the Middle East and the UK.

Other experience includes roles in Centrica, Morgan Stanley (commodities trading) and Dentons Dubai.

John was recognised as an oil and gas expert in both Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners (the two leading independent law firm directories) when at Dentons: “John Stockdale is marked out for his work in oil and gas, for which clients praise his responsiveness and his approach to complex situations: “He understood what we were trying to achieve and his style has defused a potentially difficult negotiation. He’s very good technically and understands our business well.”

Danielle Kent

Trained and worked for over 7 years in the highly regarded energy team at Dentons. Was seconded to RWE Supply & Trading (energy trading and projects). Worked on deals in the UK, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the CIS.

Danielle has a lot of experience across the suite of typical E&P agreements (JOAs/UUOAs, DSAs, TPAs, GSAs, proximity /crossing agreements, study agreements, SPAs, CAs).

Typically advises on asset management, JVs, projects, A&D, regulation / licensing, supply chain, energy trading and general commercial contracts.

Wealth of experience in CCS and energy transition, having worked on the UK Government’s CCS Commercialisation Programme for 3+ years, from procurement stage to negotiating FEED and project contracts with the White Rose and Peterhead consortiums.

Other Specialist Consultants

Details of other consultants available on demand. We have access to experienced dedicated specialists in the following areas:

renewables and power projects
energy trading
CCUS
supply chain
corporate / commercial