Kirkland Welcomes Debt Finance Partners Robert Eberhardt and William Nicholson in New York
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is excited to announce that Robert Eberhardt has joined the Firm as a partner in the Debt Finance Practice Group. Mr. Eberhardt is based in the Firm’s New York office.
“Rob is an impressive debt finance lawyer with deep experience in the energy and infrastructure sector,” said Jon A. Ballis, Chairman of Kirkland’s Executive Committee. “It’s an area of significant growth for our firm, and it’s exciting to see leading lawyers like Rob attracted to the platform we’ve built for energy and infrastructure work.”
Mr. Eberhardt’s practice focuses on the North American independent power sector. He has advised private equity sponsors, strategic investors, lenders and commodity hedge providers, and he has provided counsel on project development and finance, tax equity, investments, commodity hedging and project acquisitions and dispositions. He has significant experience with a wide range of transaction types involving offshore and onshore wind, solar, conventional power, storage, transmission and other projects.
Debt finance partner William Nicholson also joins Kirkland with Mr. Eberhardt. Mr. Nicholson is an infrastructure finance attorney with a wide range of experience on renewables and tax equity investments.
“We are really excited to add top tier partners like Rob and William to our global private equity infrastructure team,” said Rohit Chaudhry, a partner in Kirkland’s Debt Finance Practice in Washington, D.C. “Their experience in offshore wind, renewables and energy transition projects more broadly is a great fit for our practice.”
Mr. Eberhardt has been recognized as a top lawyer by Chambers USA, Chambers Global, Legal 500 U.S. and IFLR 1000 U.S. He was a member of the project finance editorial board for Law360 in 2020.
“Kirkland is a dominant force on energy and infrastructure deals, with a number of lawyers whom I have known for years, and I can’t think of a better place to continue to grow my practice and handle cutting-edge work,” Mr. Eberhardt said. “I’m excited to join the Firm’s market-leading team.”
Both Mr. Eberhardt and Mr. Nicholson join Kirkland from the New York office of Norton Rose Fulbright.
The over 350 lawyers in Kirkland’s Energy & Infrastructure Practice Group have a strong presence in Texas, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and handle an array of sophisticated energy and infrastructure transactions and advisory engagements. These attorneys span practice groups including private equity, corporate/M&A, capital markets, fund formation, debt and project finance, asset transactions, restructuring, litigation, tax, environmental, real estate and energy regulatory. Since 2019, Kirkland has advised on over 700 energy and infrastructure transactions, representing $285+ billion of deal value, with deep experience in each major energy and infrastructure vertical.
