Watson Farley & Williams LLP

Watson Farley & Williams LLP

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Lawyers

Valentina Keys

Valentina Keys

Work Department

Regulatory and Competition

Position

Valentina regularly advises clients on various aspects of Net Zero, EU Green Deal, Fit for 55, EU ETS, Circular Economy and wider sustainability/climate change/decarbonisation agenda applicable to different sectors.

Valentina also has broad experience of providing stand-alone regulatory advice to international companies on environmental risk management (i.e in the fields of waste, chemicals, energy, water, responsible ship recycling etc) and in particular on REACH, RoHS and WEEE compliance.

On the transactional side, she has extensive experience of drafting and negotiating environmental sections of the due diligence reports. Her experience includes defending environment prosecutions and some health and safety actions. She represents multinationals defending claims, supporting witnesses and directors/managers.

Valentina has also spent time on secondment at DECC analysing disparate financial investment measures which could be offered to consumers and companies alike in order to encourage greater uptake of energy efficiency and renewables.

Valentina’s advisory remit also includes advising corporates and financiers in relation to contractual transfer of risk and apportionment of liability for environmental damage and contaminated land as well as on the EU Green Deal, Fit for 55, Circular Economy, Extended Producer Responsibility, ESOS, SECR, EU ETS, Eco-Design of Energy Using Products, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, EU Ship Recycling Regulation, climate change and cleantech, hazardous substances (including asbestos), packaging waste, packaging tax, international carriage of dangerous goods, transfrontier shipment of waste, conflict minerals and Brexit. Valentina is a regular speaker at international maritime and clean cargo events and advises on a range of topics from compliance with cleaner fuel and emission reduction requirements to sustainable ports, clean cargo and innovative financing models such as Poseidon Principles and the Sea Cargo Charter, amongst others.

Valentina has been named as a ‘Rising Star’ by Legal 500 in 2022.

Career

2003 – 2005 · Law Conversion Course (London City University) and a Legal Practice qualification, Law School, Oxford Institute of Legal Practice 1999 – 2003 · LLB(Hons) Modern Languages, University of Cambridge, UK

Memberships

Valentina has been named as a ‘Rising Star’ by Legal 500 in 2022.

Mentions

Real estate • London

Environment

Leading associate
Risk advisory • London

ESG

Real estate • London

Planning