Four promotions span M&A and energy, resources, and infrastructure practice groups
King & Wood Mallesons Australia (KWM), an international law firm, has announced the promotions of Adam Black, Karim Issa, Genovieve Lajeunesse, and Richard Shi to its partnership in Australia, as of 1 July 2025.
Issa and Lajeunesse are part of KWM’s mergers and acquisitions group, while Black and Shi belong to the firm’s energy, resources, and infrastructure practice.
Renae Lattey, KWM’s chief executive partner in Australia, welcomed the four promotions in a news release from the firm. Lattey noted that, with these elevations, the number of the firm’s new partners this past year has risen to 16.
“These promotions underscore both the remarkable talent we bring through our firm and our ongoing focus on developing future leaders,” Lattey said in KWM’s news release. “Our new partners will build on their dedication to our clients and driving the firm’s continued growth across the region.”
Biographies on the firm’s website provided more information on the newly promoted partners.
Based in Brisbane, Black focuses on project development, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, capital partnering, commercial contracts, corporate work, and regulatory advice.
Black helps clients in a wide array of sectors and commodities. These include gas; renewables such as solar, wind, and batteries; mining; carbon offsets; and future fuels such as hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels.
Based in Brisbane, Issa works on areas including private M&A, private equity, joint ventures, capital raisings like secondary equity and debt capital raisings, and other corporate transactions. His experience also covers cross-border matters in various industries.
For more than a decade, his work took him to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. His working languages are English and Mandarin Chinese. He can also speak Japanese, Cantonese Chinese, and French at an intermediate level.
Based in Melbourne, Lajeunesse has acted for corporate and financial clients alike. Lajeunesse handles various domestic and cross-border transactions, including public and private M&A, joint ventures, and other corporate governance matters.
Based in Perth, Shi focuses on liquefied natural gas (LNG), carbon capture storage, new energy, iron ore, and lithium projects. Shi’s clients have included large energy and resource companies in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Shi’s practice has included the diverse aspects of significant projects, including traditional resources projects and emerging developments to decrease carbon emissions and search for clean energy sources for the energy transition.
Shi’s legal assistance covers all aspects of energy and resources projects, including acquisitions, divestments, project structuring and development, joint venture governance, regulatory matters, and tolling, marketing, and offtake agreements.
