Region Area

Lawyers

Christopher Richardson

Work Department

Corporate/Securities

Position

Partner

Career

Chris is an energy transactions lawyer and former General Counsel who focuses his practice on domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; strategic joint ventures and investments; project development and construction (including LNG projects, pipelines and facilities); upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas contracts; and corporate governance.

Chris also provides strategic counsel to independent E&P companies, national oil companies, oil majors, oilfield service companies, private equity investors and sovereign wealth funds in relation to deal structuring, investment risks, joint venture management, dispute resolution, operational and commercial matters, new country entry, and relations with host country governments. 

Chris has advised clients on conventional and unconventional oil and gas matters throughout the United States. He has also handled transactions and projects in dozens of foreign jurisdictions, including across Latin America, Asia (with particularly deep experience in India, China and Southeast Asia), the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Central Asia, and Australia. Chris also serves as an advisor to foreign governments in the development of their oil and gas laws and regulations as part of the Commercial Law Development Program, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Commerce and State Department. 

Prior to joining the firm, Chris served as General Counsel and as a member of the Executive Committee of Mubadala Petroleum, an international oil & gas company owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, with upstream, midstream and LNG operations and assets located throughout the Eastern Hemisphere. Chris was also previously resident in the Hong Kong and Houston offices of a leading energy law firm and worked in-house with Occidental Petroleum in Texas and the Middle East.

Memberships

Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (2005–Present)

Education

JD, 2004, University of Virginia School of Law, Virginia Environmental Law Journal, Editor-in-Chief BA, 1999, magna cum laude and departmental honors, Tulane University