Infrastructure

Cleary Gottlieb brings together market-leading transactional capabilities, deep regulatory and industry knowledge, and a global platform to help clients navigate the most complex energy and infrastructure investments anywhere in the world.

Infrastructure is the backbone of economic growth, energy security, and digital transformation, as well as a key asset class for investors. From the pipelines powering emerging economies to the data centers driving the AI revolution, the sector is being reshaped by forces that demand legal counsel capable of seeing the full picture, structuring innovative and bespoke transactions, and addressing the novel reliability, affordability, and policy questions that come with them.

From the United States and Latin America, across Europe and the Middle East into Asia, our presence in the markets where energy and infrastructure deals originate, and energy policies are evolving in real time, means we can assemble the right team, in the right jurisdiction, when it matters most.

Integrated Capabilities Across the Full Asset Life Cycle

Infrastructure transactions rarely fit neatly into a single legal discipline – especially in today’s unprecedented load growth environment. A renewable energy joint venture may require bespoke structuring to satisfy changing tax incentive and regulatory regimes and investor mandates all at once. A cross-border data center acquisition may raise antitrust, regulatory, project finance, tax, environmental, and community considerations simultaneously.

We advise across the entire life cycle of infrastructure assets, from early-stage development and project finance, through construction and operational phases, to acquisition, refinancing, restructuring, and exit. Our clients include private equity, infrastructure funds, financial institutions, multinational corporations, technology companies, hyperscalers, sovereign entities, and debt investors. We have played an instrumental role in many first-of-their-kind transactions that have shaped how infrastructure deals are structured and executed across the sector.

At the core of our offering is market-leading strength in M&A, capital markets, debt finance, real estate, funds, and restructuring, complemented by deep energy industry knowledge and capabilities in antitrust, tax, IP and technology transactions, private credit, structured finance, environmental regulation, and dispute resolution. These disciplines come together in integrated teams built around each engagement.

We get involved early in dealmaking to provide strategic counsel that shapes transaction architecture from the outset – designing ownership and governance structures that withstand increasing regulatory scrutiny, including at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and state Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) across the U.S., and anticipating and resolving transactional, regulatory, social and litigation risks before they become obstacles.

Where We Lead

Energy Transition and Renewables

The global energy transition is reshaping markets, regulation, and capital flows. We advise clients across the full spectrum of energy assets – solar, storage, transmission, onshore and offshore wind, LNG, hydrogen, and gas – giving infrastructure funds and private equity firms a single point of access for both traditional and climate-focused capital deployment.

Our lawyers help clients stay ahead of shifting legislative and regulatory requirements, identifying pathways through complex federal and state energy policy, permitting, environmental review, and compliance processes to keep projects on track. With more capital flowing into infrastructure than ever before, we help investors and fund managers navigate opportunities, whether the focus is traditional assets or the growing climate and energy-transition space.

Data Centers and Digital Infrastructure

The rapid growth of AI and cloud computing is driving an unprecedented wave of digital infrastructure investment and an unprecedented demand for power. As behind-the-meter generation scales and grid interconnection timelines lengthen, the gap between data center demand and available power supply has become the defining challenge for the sector – a challenge that requires creative counsel that understands power and the evolving regulatory paradigms.

We advise hyperscalers, technology companies, and independent power producers on bespoke power development and supply arrangements, utility interconnection and private grid strategies, and innovative procurement structures, including powered land and hybrid behind-the-meter models, providing a comprehensive legal platform from complex power procurement through to multi-billion-dollar M&A, real estate transactions, and joint ventures.

Power and Utilities

Power and utility transactions present unique and mounting regulatory complexity as energy demand and power prices increase and the grid modernizes. We bring deep FERC and PUCs experience, enabling us to absorb the complex approval risks inherent in these transactions, without the need for separate regulatory counsel. Because FERC and state PUC proceedings often reach into deal and ownership structure, governance, and economic impacts, these transactions demand counsel with the sophistication to steward the full regulatory process — not just cover discrete approvals. Our integrated approach to FERC, state utility commission, antitrust, and environmental approvals allows us to deliver a unified regulatory strategy that de-risks transactions, including those facing heavy state and local stakeholder scrutiny, so clients interface with one experienced team overseeing the whole process. As the regulatory landscape continues to evolve, we help clients structure transactions that stay ahead of change.

LNG and Natural Gas

LNG plays a growing and important role in the global economy. We advise on the full range of LNG transactions, from upstream development and export terminal projects to downstream procurement and supply arrangements. In the U.S., we bring particular depth in FERC and DOE authorizations governing export terminal development and LNG exports.

Transportation and Social Infrastructure

From airports, ports, and rail systems to water, waste, and social infrastructure, we advise on the structuring, financing, and acquisition of essential public assets across developed and emerging markets, including concession-based projects, public-private partnerships, and large-scale privatizations.