Bird & Bird partner Jenny Murray reflects on the fast-moving energy transition and why curiosity, resilience and commercial understanding matter for aspiring lawyers
Having joined Bird & Bird as a partner in September 2025, Jenny Murray is helping to build the firm’s energy projects practice in London at a time when the sector is facing growing demands around energy security, grid infrastructure and the transition to renewables. From offshore wind and solar to battery storage and data centres, her work spans an increasingly diverse range of technologies.
For Murray, one of the biggest challenges facing energy clients is the UK’s electricity grid. Originally designed around a handful of major power stations, the network is now having to accommodate tens of thousands of smaller generators. “It was built for four or five large power stations,” she explains, with the “rapid growth” of renewable generation creating significant challenges around grid stability, connection capacity and ageing infrastructure.
Energy security has also become an increasingly important driver of investment. While climate change and net-zero commitments remain central to the sector, Murray points to a “growing desire to reduce reliance on geopolitical partners and secure domestic energy supplies”. Meanwhile, the rise of energy-intensive technologies, particularly data centres, is creating further demand for reliable green power.
These developments make for a varied workload. Murray describes Bird & Bird’s energy practice as “fairly technology agnostic,” advising on everything from offshore and onshore wind to solar, battery energy storage, heat networks and biofuels. “No two days are the same,” she says.
“On any given day, we could be advising on project strategy, procurement, construction, planning, acquisitions or financing,” Murray tells Legal Cheek Careers. “For example, we recently had a day where we were advising on construction contracts, reviewing power purchase agreements for rooftop solar installations, supporting the disposal of UK generating assets and negotiating electricity network contracts for a large hyperscaler data centre in the east of the UK. That variety is one of the things I really enjoy about working in the energy sector.”
Despite the technical complexity of the sector, much of the legal work comes back to commercial fundamentals. “Anyone with a strong foundation in general commercial contracts will find a home in an energy team,” she says. But projects are not without their challenges. Alongside grid connection delays and infrastructure constraints, developers must navigate planning conditions, local opposition and delivery risks. Murray also points to a changing political narrative and public perception around net zero, which can complicate efforts to secure planning permission and bank financing.
It was partly the increasing overlap between energy and technology that attracted Murray to Bird & Bird. She says the firm’s technology focus was “the key reason” she decided to return to private practice, having previously stepped away from law to run a renewable energy development and consultancy business with her husband. “I had said I was never going to be a lawyer again until I met the team at Bird & Bird,” she recalls smiling.
As energy projects become increasingly dependent on technologies designed to improve efficiency, optimise generation and support grid stability, Murray sees real value in having colleagues specialising in technology, data, intellectual property and cybersecurity close at hand.
Her enthusiasm for the sector has developed over a career that began more by accident than design. At secondary school, Murray remembers watching classmates who already seemed certain they wanted to become lawyers. “For a long time, I thought they were smarter than me and that it was not going to be for me,” she recalls.
She had originally applied to study business studies and French, but strong exam results prompted someone to suggest law instead.
What began as a pragmatic decision soon became a genuine interest. Murray enjoyed law’s connection to the real world, particularly the people, disputes and circumstances behind the cases she studied. But it was work experience during university that ultimately “flipped the script”.
Experiencing legal practice first-hand helped turn an interesting degree into a career ambition, an experience that continues to inform her belief in the importance of vacation schemes.
After qualifying, Murray joined a firm whose work largely centred on construction projects and clients. She was drawn to the tangible nature of the work: being able to walk through a city and recognise buildings whose contracts or disputes she had worked on. Her practice later expanded into major social infrastructure projects involving schools, hospitals, roads and transport.
Around 15 years ago, her focus began shifting towards renewable energy. Wind farms, energy-from-waste facilities and biofuels offered the same satisfaction of helping deliver physical projects, but with a broader sense of purpose. It “felt like work that changes the world for the better”, she says.
The sector also appealed because of its collaborative nature, bringing lawyers into regular contact with architects, designers, engineers and technicians. Eventually, that interest took Murray beyond legal practice and into the commercial side of renewable energy development, before her return to law at Bird & Bird.
Now working in a sector that continues to evolve rapidly, Murray stresses the importance of staying informed. Rather than attempting to follow every development herself, she relies on the wider team to share expertise.
“I rely heavily on the juniors and associates in our team,” she says. Individual lawyers take responsibility for monitoring particular sectors and regulatory developments, feeding their findings into weekly team meetings. Every Friday afternoon, the team’s trainee also circulates a “market sweep” email highlighting key developments from the week. Murray describes the approach as “divide and conquer”.
For aspiring lawyers interested in renewable energy, she is keen to dispel the idea that specialist technical knowledge is a prerequisite. “You do not need to be an electrical engineer,” she says.
Instead, she encourages students to understand how the energy market operates, how the electricity network functions and what makes projects commercially viable. Equally important is understanding what clients are trying to achieve and why they are investing in particular technologies.
A solid grounding in contract and commercial law provides the foundation. As Murray puts it, “almost everything we do is contract-based”. For trainees hoping to make an impression, however, technical ability is only part of the picture. Murray values “a willingness to give things a go, curiosity, and resilience”, recognising that junior lawyers are there to learn rather than arrive with all the answers.
Above all, she encourages aspiring lawyers not to feel they need to fit a preconceived mould. It is “crucial to be your truest self and have the confidence to be genuine in your work environment”, she says.
Jenny Murray will speaking at ‘Exploring a career in energy law — with Bird & Bird’, a virtual student event taking place Wednesday 14 October. Secure your place now.
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