Ashurst appoints Tom Wilson in Tokyo to bolster its International Projects Group

Tom has over 14 years of complex, cross-border transactional project development and finance experience in the Asia Pacific region. He joins from the Asian Development Bank's PPP team, where he advised governments on PPPs across a broad range of sectors, such as LNG infrastructure, renewables, utilities, transport and social infrastructure, in a number of countries relatively new to PPP modalities including Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Palau, Pakistan and the Philippines. In addition to transaction advisory work, on behalf of ADB he led the review and amendment of PPP laws and supporting regulations in a number of jurisdictions. Before joining ADB, he worked for international law firms in Tokyo, Singapore and Jakarta, where he acted for governments, project sponsors, NOCs, financiers, investors and LNG buyers across all stages of project development and financing. 

Tokyo office managing partner and partner in Ashurst's International Projects Group David Wadham commented, "Tom is a very capable projects lawyer. He has expertise in many of the major energy and infrastructure sectors, working on some of the largest projects in the region. During his time at ADB, he remained at the cutting edge of innovative infrastructure projects, playing an instrumental role in shaping the PPP models in emerging markets. His appointment reflects our ambition to build a market leading international projects practice in Asia Pacific." 

Jini Lee, regional head of Asia added, "Ashurst have a top notch projects practice in Asia and we are delighted to add to our bench strength with someone of Tom's calibre. Having worked in Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines in the last decade as well as in-house, Tom understands our clients' needs and business drivers and will be a valuable addition to our projects team in Tokyo."

Tom said, "Ashurst is widely recognised for providing high quality legal service and has established a respected presence in Tokyo for over 30 years. I am confident that Ashurst is the ideal platform for me to develop my practice, leveraging on the strong reputation of the projects and infrastructure practice in Tokyo, Singapore, Australia and London." 

Earlier this year, dispute resolution partner Alexander Dmitrenko who specialises in contentious compliance work also joined the firm's Tokyo office.