Lawyers

Maria Connolly

Maria Connolly

TLT, South West

Work Department

Commercial Property

Position

Partner

Career

Maria is head of Real Estate at TLT and leads TLT's cross-discipline Future Energy team.

She is also executive board sponsor for TLT’s sustainability strategy; under her sponsorship, the firm has set an ambitious target to be a carbon neutral organisation by 2025, engaged Carbon Intelligence to help develop an ambitious sustainability programme, and entered several sustainability-focused partnerships including with Forest Green Rovers, Green Britain Foundation, The Chancery Lane Project and Action Net Zero.

Maria has significant expertise in sustainable energy, having acted in relation to several hundred wind, solar, biomass and hydro projects and pathfinder multi-technology, electric vehicle charging and energy storage projects. Notably she has spearheaded TLT's "first-of-a-kind" strategy, which aims to drive transition to an improved energy system by broadening the availability and accessibility of contributing technologies. Maria and her team provide innovative legal solutions on landmark projects, developing the legal precedents and industry confidence required to help establish the technologies concerned while providing opportunities for UK and overseas investors to finance the energy transition by investing in established and emerging technologies.

Maria advises on a wide spectrum of property matters including acquisitions of subsidy-free and operational sustainable energy generation and green infrastructure projects, drafting bespoke documentation, negotiation of exclusivity agreements, option agreements and leases and undertaking full due diligence.

Maria also has significant experience in dealing with the property aspects of corporate insolvencies, including fixed charge receivers, administrations and acting for lenders in connection with both property finance, mortgage book transfers and recoveries.

Maria is independently recognised as an expert in the field of Energy & Natural Resources: Renewables & Alternative Energy (UK-wide) and Real Estate (Bristol & Surrounds) by Chambers UK, and a leading individual in the field of Energy by Legal 500.

Maria is a mentor for the RegenSW Entrepreneurial Women in Renewable Energy programme and has been appointed to the City of London Law Society Energy Committee. She is also a regular speaker at industry events on topics such as subsidy-free project modelling, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and multi-technology projects.

Maria qualified as a solicitor in 1999 and became a partner in 2007.

Jurisdiction: England and Wales

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