Paul Hirst
Addleshaw Goddard1
Rail
The ‘hugely impressive and much admired’ team at Addleshaw Goddard is ably co-led by Paul Hirst and Anna Heaton. It is regularly instructed on the premier transactions in this sector. The group has considerable strength in franchising, rolling stock, projects and infrastructure. In addition, it continues to grow its international client base. It is also noteworthy that its clients are a balanced mix of public/private sector clients. The ’excellent’ Simon Gwynne has a broad knowledge of rolling stock and other rail assets, such as depots. Gwynne continues to be active on various transactions both in the UK and internationally, acting for a diverse range of clients including governments, financial institutions, lessors, lessees and equity investors. Carla Hancock plays a key role in the department. Hancock has considerable experience of advising on a wide range of transport and infrastructure projects, but is primarily focused on the heavy and light rail sectors.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Very good knowledge of all aspects of rail. Paul Hirst - very smart and insightful. Carla Hancock - very capable.’
‘The team is a great mix of lawyers who have spent many years in rail and have vast experience, through to those who are just starting out in rail. My interactions with the whole team were excellent - and they really all felt like part of the wider project team.’
‘The individuals have significant sector knowledge. However, they all worked as part of the wider project team, offering advice and insights as we went through the deal. I felt fully supported. Particular credit would be to Andrew Carter and Ross Sandford.’
‘AGs rail practice is now the strongest in the UK, with longstanding DfT and combined authority experience at the leading edge of business models across the future of franchising and wider business models.'
‘Paul Hirst is a persuasive figure not only in the public sector field, or working with rail companies, but for global investors as well looking to deploy private capital across rail systems in Europe for the first time.’
‘The greatest strength of the team (Paul Hirst and Carla Hancock) is their depth of knowledge on rail procurement contracting.’
‘Paul Hirst - very wide knowledge of rail procurement contracting, models and their advantages and disadvantages, as well as market knowledge.'
- 'Carla Hancock - knowledge of rail procurement contracting and models, as well as ability to efficiently seek instructions from client and turn them into draft contracts.’
Key clients
- Agility Trains
- Prologis Group Companies
- Department for Transport
- Keolis UK
- VTG Rail UK Limited
- London Luton Airport Limited
- ScotRail Trains
- Rail Operations Group Limited ("ROG")
- High Speed Two (HS2) Limited
- Greater London Authority / Transport for London / London Underground
- West Yorkshire Combined Authority
- West Midlands Combined Authority
- Hitachi Rail Limited
- MerseyTravel
- HS1 Limited
- Freightliner Heavy Haul Limited
- SMBC Bank
- DB Cargo
- Transport for Greater Manchester
- Qatar Railways Company
- Network Rail Infrastructure Limited
- SNCF
Work highlights
- Advised on the further extension of the current Franchise Agreement in March 2023 and on the subsequent award of a National Rail Contract (NRC) for the West Coast passenger services to the current operator.
- Appointed by Agility Trains to provide legal support to Agility as it delivers its obligations under the Intercity Express Project (IEP). Value exceeding £4.5bn.
- Advising Qatar Rail (QR) on three schemes: the proposed international railway line linking Saudi Arabia and Qatar; a rail link into Etihad Rail linking Qatar with the UAE; and a rail link into the proposed GCC Wide rail system.
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Practice head
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Paul Hirst, Anna Heaton