AmCham Vietnam
Energy Committee

Co-Chair

James Meffen, Director, Treasury and Project Finance, AES Vietnam

James leads the treasury and project finance function for AES Eurasia. In this capacity he specializes in the execution of financings and treasury related matters for various AES subsidiaries in the region. James’ work in Vietnam includes support for AES’ business development activities for the Son My 2 power plant and LNG terminal and renewable energy portfolio. Previously, James was project finance lead at AES headquarters in Arlington, VA and prior to that was a director in the Structured Finance Department of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now DFC). His power finance experience spans over a decade, four continents, and more than three gigawatts of nameplate capacity and $5billion in financings.

James has a Master of Business Administration from the George Washington University in Washington D.C. and attended the Executive Leadership Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Pham Ba Linh, Managing Partner, Lexcomm Vietnam LLC

Pham Ba Linh is the Managing Partner of Lexcomm Vietnam LLC and Head of Energy, Project Finance and Infrastructure. He is accorded distinct market recognition by clients and peers as a seasoned and technically skilled top-rated transactional lawyer with more than 20 years of practice, focusing primarily on energy and natural resources, liquefied natural gas (LNG), projects and infrastructure, public-private partnerships (PPP), project finance, leveraged and acquisition finance, debt and equity capital markets, derivatives and structured products.

Ba Linh regularly advises international energy companies on a broad variety of multibillion-dollar landmark energy and infrastructure projects in Vietnam and Australia, having previously based in Hanoi, HCMC and Melbourne. He has acted for international banks, joint lead arrangers, multilateral lending agencies (MLAs), export credit agencies (ECAs), sponsors, infrastructure and energy funds, private equity firms, institutional investors and major works contractors.

He has received the accolade of being distinctively named one of the very top few “Leading Individuals” energy and project finance lawyers in Vietnam by the prestigious Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2019-2023 for his technical legal excellence and outstanding commercial expertise. He has won some of the most prestigious international law awards, including Asialaw Regional Awards 2019 for “Outstanding Practitioner: Vietnam” and “IFLR Asia Best Lawyers” in 2020, 2021 and 2022 as one of the best lawyers in Asia Pacific.

Client testimonials include “practice head Pham Ba Linh is widely regarded in Vietnam as a market-leading energy and project finance lawyer with an in-depth understanding of best market practices”, “a top choice for strategic oil and gas, LNG and power projects in Vietnam”, “often sought after for his expertise in upstream oil and gas, pipelines and LNG matters”, “a go-to lawyer for Vietnam energy advice – he understands the industry and what is going on in the market”, “acting for both the sponsor and lender on matters such as project finance, asset finance, leveraged and acquisition finance, and corporate finance”, “has a wealth of experience in advising an array of clients across a broad spectrum of upstream, midstream, power, petrochemicals, and mining exploration projects”, “very high level of service, market insight and genuine industry expertise – the advice is always to the point”, “deeply understand Vietnamese laws and international practice”, “he thoroughly understands clients’ business needs and provides practical advice”, “responsive and always willing to go the extra mile”.

Vice Chair

Nguyen Huu Hoai, Partner, Russin and Vecchi

Hoai has over 20 years of experience practicing law.

He joined Russin & Vecchi in 2005. Previously, he worked for an international auditing company and for a foreign multinational company as the company secretary and on its inhouse team.

His expertise includes corporate and M&A with particular emphasis on infrastructure and taxation.

He has worked on M&A transactions and on several cross-border transactions involving project finance, energy, and infrastructure.

Board Liaison

Michael Beckman, Partner, Ernst & Young Vietnam, Managing Partner, EY Law Vietnam

Michael currently leads the law firm of EY Vietnam, a fast growing team of 25 corporate lawyers based in Ho Chi Minh City.  EY Law Hanoi should also open by mid-November.  EY Law Global has over 3,550 lawyers in 92 offices around the world, and now intends to expand quickly throughout ASEAN.  Michael will head this expansion process in Indochina.

Michael has over 20 years’ experience in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate law.  Prior to joining EY, Michael worked as a corporate attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, London and Los Angeles, as well as Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, focusing on international corporate bankruptcy, securities and M&A work.  He is a member of the bar of New York and California and is a licensed foreign lawyer in Vietnam.

Outside of law, Michael worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in their pharmaceutical practice group and managed his own hedge funds for a decade.

Michael graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University, received his M.A. from Princeton University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.  He also studied at both Cambridge University in the UK and Georg-August University in Germany.