Tessa Laws- Solicitor With The Green Touch

Tessa Laws has been with Rosenblatt for 13 years, during which time she has been involved in multiple corporate transactions covering IPOs, M&A and private equity work.

She spearheaded the setting-up of the firm’s Japan desk and has for the past 12 months been concentrating on renewable energy – with a particular focus on wind farms and waste-to-energy facilities.

Prior to joining Rosenblatt, Tessa had a couple of her own businesses, so has always been able to view transactions from both sides of the fence. She has a graduate degree from the London School of Economics and a post-graduate diploma from the Cranfield School of Management.

 Tessa sits on the legal committee for the Quoted Company Alliance, She was a founder member of the British Japanese Law Association and she is a member of the UK Environmental Law Association.

Prior to joining Rosenblatt, you owned a few of your own businesses. Can you tell us a bit more about them and what made you enter the legal profession afterwards?

They were both food orientated-the first was a frozen yoghurt business and the second a café. I entered the law in order to earn a proper living!

You are a founder member of the Anglo-Japanese Law Association and spearheaded the setting up of Rosenblatt’s Japan desk. What does your work involve and have you spent time working in Japan?

I represent Japanese companies working here and vice versa. I travel to Japan for work quite regularly and currently have 3 transactions involving Japan on my “books”. It is a fascinating place on every count. I invested quite heavily in Japan as a fledgling lawyer-time wise and have always enjoyed working there.

You’re obviously very involved in environmental work and are a member of the Environmental Law Association. What kind of projects have you been involved with and what are your future plans for both Rosenblatt and your own future involvement in environmental projects?

Our recent projects involve wind, solar, biomass, ethanol, waste to energy, fuelcell-investing, floating and M&A. We intend to grow our expertise, increasing brand awareness and in-house know-how on a technical level. I don’t imagine personally I will be too involved apart from packing disposable lunch boxes for my kids!

Do you think that Environmental Corporate Responsibility, particularly within the legal sector, is receiving more attention and interest in recent years and what more do you think should be done by law firms?

Yes, this is a big responsibility for us all, regardless of the profession.

Rosenblatt was closely associated with the New Energy Awards in February 2008. What role did you play in implementing and organising the event?

It was my baby, but was very well supported internally as an idea- I wanted to let people know we were active and applaud others who were-so I thought that and awards ceremony was a good way of getting this across.

Could you tell us a bit about the night? It certainly seemed like an altogether ‘different’ type of awards event!

There was a great atmosphere and we have received a lot of commendation for the originality and celebration. It took a lot of planning and we had an excellent response from the industry in terms of table sales and judging expertise so we were delighted!

 Tessa at the New Energy Awards

"The reason M&S won is because, as a retailer, it has made great steps towards introducing an expansive environmental plan to make it sustainable in the future and to reduce its carbon footprint.
 
"Could a law firm win?  Well, Rosenblatt itself employs many 'green' behaviours.  We avoid printing emails and certain other documents where possible, use energy-efficient computer equipment and make sure we do little things like turn our monitors and lights off at night.  It's the little things that make a difference.  So if there was an award for Green Law Firm of the Year, I'd imagine that Rosenblatt would be a strong contender!"