CMS has announced the appointment of Susie Lind, one of the UK’s leading figures within the renewable energy sector. She joins as an Edinburgh-based partner within the firm’s market-leading Energy and Infrastructure team.
Susie brings more than 20 years’ experience within the sector operating in high-level roles across major energy companies and industry trade bodies including RenewableUK and Scottish Renewables, both of which she will continue to serve as a non-executive director.
The former UK Managing Director at the BlueFloat Energy | Nadara Partnership, Susie also enjoyed a 12-year spell at French energy firm EDF, where she rose to the roles of Legal Affairs Director and then Nuclear Decommissioning Director. Her significant list of industry achievements includes her tenure at the Offshore Wind Industry Council where she served as Vice Chair to UK Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband.
Her move to CMS marks a return to Susie’s roots as a specialist energy lawyer. After graduating from University of Aberdeen in 2005, she began her career at Dundas & Wilson, which joined forces with CMS in 2014. In her new role, Susie will advise renewable energy clients across Scotland, throughout the UK and globally providing strategic and legal support on organisational and project development, construction, operations and decommissioning, with particular focus on wind projects.
Also recruited to CMS’s Energy and Infrastructure team is Chris Martin, Susie’s colleague for nearly a decade. Joining the firm as an Of Counsel in January, Chris has been a specialist in the energy industry for more than 12 years, working on major projects both in the UK and internationally. He spent more than five years at EDF Renewables, laterally as its Lead Construction Solicitor, before moving to the BlueFloat Energy | Nadara Partnership where he was Head of Legal for the UK joint venture.
His appointment reunites the two specialists and further strengthens CMS’s pedigree as leading renewable energy legal advisers.
Allan Wernham, Managing Director of CMS (Scotland), said: “We are delighted to welcome Susie, a globally-renowned leader within the renewable energy sector with more than 20 years’ experience, to CMS.
“Her appointment, along with her highly-regarded former colleague Chris Martin, will further strengthen our leading position in offshore wind and energy projects. These appointments demonstrate our deep commitment to growing the energy practice to match the growth in scale and ambition of our sector.”
Susie Lind said: “I’m thrilled to be joining CMS’s talented and industry-leading energy team. Along with the immense global opportunities for the sector, Scotland has become a world leader in the deployment of renewables and has one of the largest pipelines for future development, particularly for deepwater including floating offshore wind.
“Throughout my career, I’ve seen the profound impact legal issues can have upon project and organisational outcomes. The opportunity to support teams and boards on legal and strategic planning and execution at such a crucial and transformative time for our energy system is hugely exciting.”
