Laurens Wilkes Discusses the Rise of Litigation in Energy Infrastructure Investment with FundFire

Winston & Strawn partner Laurens Wilkes was quoted in a recent FundFire article discussing the rise of litigation in energy infrastructure investment. Disagreements over issues such as divergent expected return performance among joint venture partners are leading to legal challenges more often than in the past, with managers and investors more exposed to risks, such as delays in project completion or increased capital costs during the development phase of new projects.

Laurens stated that over the past few years, a rise in fiduciary duty claims and fraud allegations has troubled a wide range of energy transition projects, including but not limited to wind and solar investments.

“Projects have a traditional risk aspect that private fund managers are typically very good at calculating?” he said. “Where the increased risk is coming, and where you are seeing people may have [issues] a little more than in the past, though, is with new technology.”

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