Paul Johnson Email & Phone Number

I am the founder of Mercatis Law, a boutique specialist commodities law firm established in May 2017.BackgroundI have specialised in commodities law for my entire career (30 years). After five years in physical commodities and shipping, I came to understand that there was a surprising gap in the legal and knowledge markets for commodities: it was too compartmentalised into traditional law firm skill sets to properly service the industry itself, namely: (1) physical commodities, (2) shipping, (3) mining/producer finance, (4) OTC derivatives, (5) exchange traded futures and (5) commodity & trade finance. No one person seemed to have the whole range of experience. I therefore set out to become a "complete" commodities lawyer with experience in all of those skill sets, and all aspects of the business, across all commodity types (energy, metals, ags and emissions), in different institutions and roles. I was pleased to be told recently by some old hands in the business that it is a rare skill set, that I truly understand how it all fits together, how financial meets physical, where alternative solutions to issues may lie, and where new opportunities can be found in a given commodities cycle.I have held senior positions at two leading commodity & shipping specialist law firms (Partner HFW 1998), a large trading house, and two investment banks with deep commodities experience (ABN Amro and BNP Paribas). I have lived and worked in London, Hong Kong and Singapore, and I know the markets well, some of which have been extremely challenging, especially in Asia. Approaches from senior figures in the commodities business encouraged me to set up a new, boutique specialist commodities firm, originally called PJ Legal, and recently renamed Mercatis Law. If you would like to see more about me, please see the document attached below.

Listed skills include Structured Finance, Investment Banking, Capital Markets, Structured Products, and 19 others.