Together with

Table of Contents

• EDITOR’S RAMBLE 🗣

• FEATURED REPORT 📰

• TOGETHER WITH WHITE & CASE* 🤝

• IN OTHER NEWS 🗞

• STUFF THAT MIGHT HELP YOU 👌

EDITOR’S RAMBLE 🗣

Honestly, I didn't understand how important lithium was.

It's in the phone you’re using to read this now. It's in any electric vehicle you’ve sat in. It's used in pretty much all the batteries that make renewable energy work.

And right now, Europe imports almost all the lithium it needs.

That could be a problem – Europe's clean energy future depends on whether other countries decide to keep selling it the materials it needs.

So, this week’s newsletter is about what European companies, like Vulcan Energy, are doing about it.

I’m super excited that we’ve partnered with White & Case on this one. They shared how they helped put together a €2.2 billion financing package for Europe's first carbon-neutral lithium project in Germany.

It's the most globally significant deal we've ever covered – and White & Case walked us through exactly what lawyers did to make it happen.

Once you've read it, let me know what you thought. Just hit “reply” to this email (I respond to every message I get).

– Idin

P.S. LittleLaw’s going to be at White & Case’s Insight Scheme this summer – you can apply here.

FEATURED REPORT 📰

🔋 Why Europe spent €2.2 billion on its own lithium

What’s going on here?

Vulcan Energy (a lithium and renewable energy company) secured a €2.2 billion financing package to build Europe's first carbon-neutral lithium project in Germany's Upper Rhine Valley. The project is known as Project Lionheart.

White & Case advised Vulcan Energy on the financing, pulling together money from banks, governments and strategic investors into one combined package.

We spoke to Kian Newlyn and Asad Khan – two of the lead associates on the White & Case team that advised Vulcan on the deal – to find out what the work actually looked like.

Why does Europe need its own lithium?

Lithium is a metal used to make rechargeable batteries (which power things like phones and electric vehicles). It’s one of the most important raw materials in the shift towards clean energy – batteries help reduce demand for fossil fuels.

Right now, Europe imports almost all of its lithium (mostly from China, Australia and South America). That's a problem, because if supply chains get disrupted or prices spike, Europe's electric vehicle industry could be hit hard.

So, the EU has been trying to change this. In 2024, it introduced the Critical Raw Materials Act – a set of rules designed to encourage domestic production of minerals like lithium to reduce dependency on imports.

Vulcan's Project Lionheart was one of the first to be designated as a Strategic Project under the Act, which signals to investors and regulators that it's a priority.

How do you finance a €2.2 billion project?

So, to get €2.2 billion, you don’t just go to one bank. Vulcan's financing package is made up of funding from:

• Seven commercial banks

• Five Export Credit Agencies (from France, Denmark, Australia, Canada and Italy)

• The European Investment Bank (the EU's lending arm)

• The German government (around €204 million in grants)

• Strategic equity investors (who acquired a stake in the project rather than lending to it).

Getting this many parties into one deal isn’t easy. Kian told us that on some deals, each lender negotiates with the borrower separately. But in this case, they negotiated as a "club".

Here’s how it worked:

1. The lenders talked openly among themselves and tried to reach consensus on their positions (for example, what financial reporting Vulcan should have to provide, or what events should count as a default).

2. To keep things manageable, Vulcan appointed one of the banks – known as the Documentation Bank – to act as a representative of all the lenders.

3. The Documentation Bank collected all the lenders' comments, sorted through them, and presented Vulcan with a single list of issues to be addressed.

In practice, this meant Vulcan didn't have to negotiate separately with each lender, making the process more efficient. But it also means that every lender could see everyone else's positions – so one lender pushing back on a point could encourage others to do the same.

But, even with this streamlined process in place, the sheer number of parties meant there was a huge amount of work to get through.

What was the role of the German government?

The German government gave Vulcan €204 million in grants to help fund Lionheart. On top of that, KfW (Germany's state-owned development bank) invested directly in Lionheart through its newly created Raw Materials Fund (the first time KfW had invested money from this fund).

Government money often comes with strings attached. Grants tend to be earmarked for specific parts of a project, with tight reporting requirements and strict conditions on how the funds are to be spent (these conditions are also separate from conditions under the debt financing).

But there's a benefit to government support too – it sends a strong signal of the importance of the project. That helps attract other investors and get permits or regulatory approvals over the line.

According to Asad, as this was KfW's first investment from the Raw Materials Fund, KfW scrutinised the deal more carefully than usual. That’s because what was decided here could essentially set a precedent for any future investments. But they also wanted their first investment to be successful, so they had a reason to get the deal done.

What made this deal “bankable”?

Before Vulcan could borrow €1.4 billion (the rest of the €2.2 billion came from equity investors and government grants), it had to convince lenders the project would actually generate enough money to pay them back. In project finance, the term for this is "bankable" – lenders are confident enough in the project's revenue and risk profile that they're willing to lend. If a project isn't bankable, it doesn't get funded.

One of the most important factors in making this deal bankable was the offtake agreements. These are contracts signed with customers before the project is even built, committing them to buy what it produces. For example, a car manufacturer might agree to purchase a certain amount of lithium from Vulcan each year. These agreements give lenders confidence that the project will have revenue from day one.

Asad – who also spent time on secondment at Vulcan Energy – explained that White & Case's role was to renegotiate existing offtake agreements and negotiate new ones to make sure they were bankable.

Lenders looked at things like:

• Pricing – is Vulcan charging enough to repay the debt?

• Volume commitments – have buyers committed to purchasing enough lithium?

• Duration – do the contracts last long enough to cover the loan period?

• Counterparty creditworthiness – are the buyers financially reliable?

Lenders also paid close attention to termination rights. They needed to be sure that buyers who had committed couldn't easily walk away, and that any remedies for late delivery weren't so harsh that they'd put Vulcan's operations at risk.

The financing also included sustainability requirements. These are standard in project finance. Vulcan has to comply with environmental and social policies which are agreed with the lenders, and report on them regularly. If the company breaches those commitments – as an extreme example, say by polluting a local river – that could trigger a default under the loan documents, meaning lenders could demand their money back or stop releasing funds.

How many White & Case offices were involved in this?

For this deal, White & Case's team spanned six offices across Europe.

1. London led on the overall financing structure, the English-law finance documents and the offtake agreements.

2. Hamburg covered the German law aspects of the financing and project documents.

3. Berlin (alongside London) led negotiations on the equity investment agreements and advised on compliance with the grant conditions.

4. Paris handled French law aspects of the offtake agreements.

5. Düsseldorf advised on electricity and grid connection matters.

6. Brussels dealt with competition filings relating to the investment.

That meant regular calls between offices, a clear division of who was responsible for what, and senior lawyers keeping an eye on progress to make sure nothing fell through the cracks.

What did the junior lawyers actually do?

Project finance transactions involve a huge number of documents, which gives junior lawyers the opportunity to actually draft documentation, like:

• Security documents (which give lenders rights over the project's assets),

• Ancillary loan documents (supporting agreements that sit alongside the main facility agreement), and

• Corporate authorisations (including board resolutions confirming the company has approved the deal and that the people signing it have permission to do so).

But one of the biggest responsibilities for the junior lawyers was process management – essentially keeping track of which parties were progressing which tasks, and running the signing process (the final stage of the deal, when there’s real time pressure).

With this many documents and parties all needing to sign, that's a big logistical exercise. Kian said at the team's daily meetings, they looked to the trainees for guidance on the signing process – what was ready, what was still outstanding, and what needed to happen next.

It is a critical part of the process. When a signing process goes smoothly, it makes a major impression on clients – it shows the lawyers are well-organised (plus it saves the client a lot of time).

What bigger picture trends does this deal show?

This deal reflects a few broader shifts happening across European project finance.

🏛️ Government money is becoming the norm, not the exception. For projects this big and this strategic, lending from private banks alone isn't always enough. Governments are increasingly stepping in with grants, development bank equity and fast-track regulatory support to help get deals done.

🔋 Projects that solve more than one problem have an edge. Lionheart doesn't just produce lithium – it also generates renewable energy from geothermal sources. That makes it attractive to commercial lenders, public funders and policymakers all at once, which makes it easier to raise the money.

⚙️ Europe is starting to treat critical minerals the way it treats roads and power grids. The Strategic Project designation, the KfW investment, the government grants – they all show that European governments see projects like Lionheart as essential infrastructure (not just commercial ventures). That means more public funding and more regulatory support will flow into these projects.

For aspiring lawyers, this is exactly the sort of work international firms like White & Case will be doing more of. Complex deals involving public funding, regulation and coordination across multiple countries – it’s the type of work junior lawyers can expect now and in the future.

TOGETHER WITH WHITE & CASE* 🤝

Curious what lawyers at White & Case actually do?

This 2-day programme this summer that lets you see it up close.

The Discover: University Insight Scheme gives you a real introduction to life at White & Case.

Ahead of next year’s application cycle, this is one of the easiest ways to understand what the job really involves.

What you’ll get:

• Learn what lawyers at White & Case do for clients around the world

• Understand the day-to-day role of a trainee lawyer

• Get tips on strengthening future training contract applications

Plus, we'll be there too. LittleLaw’s running a commercial awareness workshop where we’ll break down a real-life White & Case deal, and explain how lawyers spot legal issues (using a simple 3-step framework).

It’s free to attend (and travel expenses are covered).

🎓 Who can apply: First-year law students and penultimate-year non-law students.
📅 Programme dates: 10–11 June 2026
⌛ Application deadline: 12 April (you have 11 days left to apply!)

* This is sponsored content

IN OTHER NEWS 🗞

• 🤝 London-listed Unilever has agreed to sell its food business to McCormick (a US company known for its spices) in a deal valuing it at $44.8 billion. That means brands like Hellmann's, Knorr and Marmite are all changing ownership. Unilever and its shareholders will keep a 65% stake in the combined group. Clifford Chance and Wachtell Lipton are advising Unilever, with Cleary Gottlieb and Hogan Lovells acting for McCormick.

• 👩‍⚖️ The Court of Appeal has confirmed that paralegals working under solicitor supervision are not committing a criminal offence. Last year’s High Court decision in Mazur found that unqualified staff couldn't conduct litigation, even with a qualified solicitor supervising them. The appeal court disagreed, finding that delegating litigation work to unqualified people is lawful, provided proper supervision is in place. Here’s our explainer of Mazur if you want to catch up.

• ⚽ London sports law boutique Northridge has taken investment from US private equity firm Cordillera. The firm was founded in 2017 by ex-Charles Russell Speechlys partners (it’s now at 44 legal professionals). The firm has built its name on deals like the sale of Everton FC and Red Bull's investment in Leeds United. It's part of a growing trend of PE money entering the legal market.

STUFF THAT MIGHT HELP YOU 👌

• 💻️ Free application advice: Check out my YouTube channel for actionable tips and an insight into the lifestyle of a commercial lawyer in London.

• 📁 Law firm application bank: A growing library of real, verified successful applications for training contracts and vacation schemes. Helpful if you want to learn from others who answered the same questions you’re stuck on.

• 📝 Write winning law firm applications: A practical course to help you write clearer applications, faster. Avoid common mistakes, learn how to structure answers properly, and get lifetime access to future updates. Try it for 14 days, risk free.