Shearman & Sterling has promoted internally in order to restock its highly rated Asia project finance practice following the departure of a Singapore partner and counsel to King & Spalding last month.

Singapore-based Jean-Louis Neves Mandelli has been promoted to the partnership with immediate affect while colleague Joe Freeman has stepped up to the role of counsel.

The reshuffle within the firm's project development and finance practice will be completed with the pending relocation of international energy counsel Angela Heywood Bible from Houston to Singapore later this year.

The changes come weeks after the departure of Anthony Patten and Lachlan Clancy to King & Spalding's Singapore arm, both joining as partners. 

Senior partner Dave Beveridge said they were “indicative of our commitment to Asia and the breadth of our capabilities across geographies".

Neves Mandelli has spent his professional legal career at Shearman, having joined as a trainee in London in 2008. He specialises in advising lenders and sponsors on projects across the energy and infrastructure sector.

Heywood Bible, meanwhile, pursued a career in journalism culminating in a role as an award-winning crime reporter in Raleigh, North Carolina, before training as a lawyer.

Legal roles include nearly five years as a counsel at Chevron in Houston, Texas.

Shearman’s website lists 16 Asia-based project development and finance lawyers including six partners with the team spread across its Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo offices.

In February, Shearman opened in Dallas having launched in Texas in 2018 when it hired teams from several firms, including Jones Day and Baker Botts, to open offices in Austin and Houston.

Patten, who was co-head of Shearman’s oil and gas group, joined the New York firm in January 2014 from leading Australian firm Allens in Perth, bringing Clancy, formerly a counsel, with him a year later.

Clancy is expected to relocate to King & Spalding’s Tokyo office from its Singapore arm.