Mark Richards, one of the UK’s most highly regarded legal specialists in nuclear energy, talks to Alex Aldridge about his decision to move in-house with CH2M Hill

Mark Richards, international operations chief counsel at US engineering firm CH2M Hill, is pleased to be back in the office. He recently returned from Abu Dhabi, where he spent much of last year leading the primary contractor selection on United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power programme, which CH2M Hill is project managing – a baptism of fire to a job that Richards began in September 2008. It has been an interesting project, he says, but has not left much time to get to grips with the other elements of his newly-created London-based role.