Jon Paul Mouttet
Leaders in Law endorses Jon Paul Mouttet as our exclusively recommended Energy expert in Trinidad & Tobago. If you wish to get in touch with Jon Paul, please use the contact information provided above.
Jon Paul Mouttet is a Senior Partner in the Commercial Department of Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith & Morgan. Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith & Morgan has been in existence for over 100 years and is one the largest and oldest full service commercial firms in Trinidad and Tobago. He joined Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith & Morgan at the end of 2005 and was initially active in both the Litigation and Commercial Departments but now concentrates on commercial work and tax litigation. His practice primarily focuses on industrial foreign investment projects, energy and tax law.
His clients include international and local companies involved in oil and gas, power generation, commodity trading, industrial and manufacturing processes, quarrying, service companies and local conglomerates operating in various sectors.
Mr. Mouttet has over seventeen years of experience in the energy sector and regularly advises on petroleum related matters across the value chain, whether it be upstream, midstream, downstream or service related. He acts as local counsel to several international oil and gas companies concerned with upstream exploration and production work in Trinidad and Tobago and advises on a wide range of local issues; including petroleum legislation, exploration and production and other licences, production sharing contracts and sub-licence concessions issued by Heritage (formerly Petrotrin), Trinidad’s State oil company. He also actively advises on power generation matters and associated regulatory issues.
In terms of midstream and downstream energy related foreign investment he has advised on multiple prospective and actualized energy projects, including those involving gas sales and petroleum transportation issues, petroleum terminal optimization, metallics, LNG, CNG, polypropylene, polyethlyne and petrochemicals, the latest being the establishment of a methanol and di-methyl ether petrochemicals complex in La Brea. He has also advised on a number of sales and acquisition transactions involving power generation (electricity) assets and has represented power generating concerns (gas powered and renewable) in Trinidad, the latest power generating project being the ongoing development of the first ever industrial scale solar photovoltaic project in Trinidad.
Apart from his core energy practice he also advises on industrial regulation, tax, joint ventures, M&A transactions and other commercial/corporate matters and regularly represents both local and international clients before the Tax Appeal Board on contentious appeals against assessments made by the Board of Inland Revenue.
Jon Paul’s work often involves significant interface with personnel at various Government Ministries and bodies, including in particular, the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, the Board of Inland Revenue and several State Enterprises and he enjoys a good working relationship with the various personnel at these State institutions and companies.
Jon Paul has also contributed on Trinidad and Tobago law issues to various publications including the IBA Arbitration Newsletter (2008) and the World Bank’s Doing Business (2007 and 2012). His latest contributions relate to his co-authorship of the Trinidad and Tobago chapters of Chambers and Partners, Energy Oil & Gas (2019) and The Oil and Gas Law Review, 6th- 8th Editions (2019-2021).
Jon Paul also sits on several boards and is a member of the currently existing Energy Chamber Fiscal Reform Taskforce for the energy sector. He is also recognized by Global Law Experts and by Chambers and Partners, World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, having first been recognized by Chambers and Partners while he was still an Associate.
- Energy, Oil and Gas
- Tax (contentious and non-contentious)
- Commercial/Corporate
- Foreign Investment
- Health Safety and Environment (HSE)
- Trinidad and Tobago Law Association
- Association of International Energy Negotiators (formerly AIPN)
- The Oil and Gas Law Review, 6th, 7th and 8th Editions (2018 -2020), Trinidad and Tobago Chapter
- Chambers and Partners, Energy, Oil & Gas 2019, Trinidad and Tobago Chapter.
- University of the West Indies – LL.B.
- Hugh Wooding Law School – LEC
- King’s College London – LL.M.
Firm Description:
The Firm is one of the oldest and largest commercial law firms in Trinidad and Tobago and traces its origins to the practice of Oliver Fitzwilliam who first started practicing in 1912 after a gift of $5000 was bestowed upon him by his great uncle, Jules Larry. Oliver Fitzwilliam was later joined by Stanley Stone in 1919 after the end of World War I and this two man operation began carrying on their practice as “Solicitors and Conveyancers” under the name “Oliver Fitzwilliam & Co”. Their practice was one of the first firms in Trinidad and Tobago to formally register its business name in 1923 (its business name certificate is numbered forty four), pursuant to the passage into law of the then Registration of Business Ordinance in that same year.
Oliver Fitzwilliam & Co. was later succeeded by “Fitzwilliam, Stone & Alcazar” which, in 1979, was then renamed “Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith & Morgan”. The Firm has steadily grown both in size and expertise over the course of its existence and today enjoys a well-established and enviable reputation in the legal profession.
The Firm has a large client base which includes numerous international corporations and financial institutions, as well as domestic clientele across multiple sectors. It is a full service commercial firm with expert capabilities in all major commercial areas of practice and is broadly organized into five practice areas, these being, Commercial, Real Estate and Land Development, Advocacy and Litigation, Intellectual Property and Estates and Trusts. The Firm’s departments and internal administration is generally overseen by its Managing Partner, which position is currently held by Kurt Miller, with each department having a further specific Partner head. The Commercial Department is also headed up by Kurt Miller and perhaps covers the widest range of practice areas. It has extensive resource centres in banking and finance, energy, oil and gas, downstream industries, foreign investment, non-contentious tax, corporate, mergers and acquisitions, securities, employment and labour, marine and other general commercial areas of law.
