Offices – United Kingdom
Explore all Offices
Global Reach
Global Reach

Apart from offering expert legal consultancy for local jurisdictions, CMS partners up with you to effectively navigate the complexities of global business and legal environments.

Explore our reach
Insights – United Kingdom
Explore all insights
Expertise
Insights
Insights

CMS lawyers can provide future-facing advice for your business across a variety of specialisms and industries, worldwide.

Explore topics
Offices
Global Reach
Global Reach

Apart from offering expert legal consultancy for local jurisdictions, CMS partners up with you to effectively navigate the complexities of global business and legal environments.

Explore our reach
Insights
About CMS
UK Pay Gap Report 2024
UK Pay Gap Report 2024

Learn more

Select your region

David Rutherford
Partner

David Rutherford

Languages
  • English

David Rutherford is a Partner at CMS, London, with 10 years of experience working in the oil & gas, energy transition and maritime sectors, having joined the firm as a trainee in 2009.

Experience covers a range of disciplines within those sectors, including procurement, supply chain, project and infrastructure development and bespoke financing arrangements.

His clients include oil majors, state energy companies, independents, contractors and vessel owners. He has been on long-term secondments to Maersk in Copenhagen, BP in Aberdeen, BG and Shell in Thames Valley Park and GDF Suez (now Neptune) and OMV in London.  

He is very familiar with: vessel chartering, drilling contracts, wells goods and services contracts, subsea construction, EPC (and its variants), CITAs, TPAs, TPOSAs and JOAs.

With more than 450 energy and climate change lawyers, including over 100 partners, the CMS Energy and Climate Change practice is one of the largest of its kind in the world. Led from its centres of excellence such as London and Aberdeen, the practice works across 75 offices globally. Building on 40 years of experience advising on power, oil & gas and renewables through to energy disputes, emerging areas and Energy Transition, CMS is uniquely placed to ensure clients receive advice best suited to their commercial needs and to our collective future.

Relevant experience

  • Maersk Drilling in relation to its unique funding, service and alliance arrangements with SeaPulse and related service and alliance arrangements with Halliburton and Petrofac.
  • Oilfield services provider in relation to its USD 1bn synthetic equity investment in an oil field development in Western Africa.
  • Dragon LNG in relation to various capacity, power and environmental matters associated with the LNG terminal in Wales.
  • BG/Shell: procurement support during the takeover and assisting in relation to a long term services agreement in connection with the Lake Charles LNG facilities.
  • GDF Suez (now Neptune) in relation to the development of the Cygnus Field (£1.4 billion shallow water gas field development; largest North Sea gas discovery in 30 years) and Juliet Field (sub-sea tie-back).
  • An international owner, operator and manager of LNG carriers on a conversion contract to create an FSRU to serve the south eastern European gas market.
  • NEAC Compressor Service on its global arrangements for the supply of reciprocating compressors with an oil supermajor.
  • Significant experience in drilling contracts, drilling unit sharing arrangements, vessel charters (time and voyage) and infrastructure contracts. 
  • Advising a decommissioning services contractor on the creation of a suite of decommissioning contracts.
  • Advising shippers (including department stores and supermarkets) and freight forwarders in connection with vessel charters.

Education

2008 – LL.M. (Dist.), University of Nottingham

2007 – LL.B. (Hons.), University of Nottingham