Biography
Randel Young is a lawyer and energy advisor with over 40 years' experience in structuring, negotiating and implementing US and cross-border energy, infrastructure and resource projects and business strategies, particularly in developing countries, emerging markets and other challenging commercial, legal and regulatory environments. As a senior executive, regional general counsel and strategic business advisor, Mr. Young has consulted on hundreds of energy, infrastructure and natural resource projects, transactions and disputes throughout the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean Basin, the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Mr. Young's oil and gas experience spans the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the industry and he has experience in conventional and renewable power development projects.
Mr. Young has represented national oil companies, state-owned enterprises, major oil & gas companies, construction and infrastructure developers and other investors on cross-border projects and transactions around the world. In addition to his energy and infrastructure transaction advisory practice, Mr. Young has served in senior management at his global law firm, K&L Gates, including as Practice Group Coordinator (Oil & Gas), Practice Area Leader (Energy, Infrastructure & Resource Practice), Office Managing Partner (Houston office), and as a member of the firm's global management committee and global advisory council.
In the 1990s, Mr. Young held senior management and legal positions for a multinational pipeline and power project development and operating company, serving as senior vice president and regional general counsel for South America and as a member of the company's regional executive and risk committees. His executive oversight responsibilities included operation and expansion of an integrated gas midstream (transmission, distribution, processing and trading) and electric power (generation, transmission and distribution) business with assets, activities and projects in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Chile. In addition to his extensive Latin America experience, Mr. Young has deep experience on projects and operations in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, having lived and worked in those regions (from 2005 -2011) as a cross-border project and M&A partner in another global law firm's London, Dubai and Riyadh offices.
Best Lawyers in America has consistently recognized Mr. Young for his work in Project Finance Law and Energy Law. Texas Lawyer magazine named Mr. Young one of five “Go-To Lawyers” in International Law in Texas. He has been recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Guide to the World’s Leading Energy and Natural Resource Lawyers, Who's Who in Energy, and Euromoney's Energy & Environmental Expert Guide. While based in the Middle East, Mr. Young was listed in The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers in three categories: M&A, Oil & Gas and Project Finance, and for two jurisdictions: Texas and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Young is a partner in K&L Gates's Energy, Infrastructure and Resources Practice, based in Houston. He is a Distinguished Research Fellow and serves on the Advisory Board of the Tulane Center for Energy Law. For the past two academic years, Mr. Young has lectured at Tulane Law School on the structuring, development and execution of cross-border pipeline projects and energy transactions as part of an advanced course on Large-Scale Global Energy Projects.
Randel Young received his Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Houston in 1977 and his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of Houston Law Center in 1980. Mr. Young also holds a Certificate in Advanced Arbitration Skills (Domestic and International) from the A. A. White Dispute Resolution Center in Houston. He is conversant in Spanish and Portuguese.
April 30, 2021