Cabinet NOGHES DU MONCEAU > Monaco, Monaco > Firm Profile

Cabinet NOGHES DU MONCEAU > Firm Profile

The firm: Cabinet Noghès du Monceau is a boutique law firm with an experienced, internationally minded team. Its core values include fully individualised commitment to each client, a deep understanding of each client’s ultimate goals and clear, swift, tailor-made solutions.

Cabinet Noghès du Monceau’s recognised expertise and experience in a wide range of legal practice areas and in various jurisdictions offer a one-stop service to address each client’s specific legal concerns whether they be local or involving international jurisdictions. The firm’s flexible organisational structure facilitates a 360° perspective and an integrated workflow between its practice areas, enabling the firm to assist its clients throughout an entire project, regardless of the legal issues and processes involved. Each client’s challenges are always approached with a straightforward, clear step-by-step approach.

The diverse professional backgrounds of the firm’s team members, in particular, within top-tier international law firms, enables it to work in close collaboration with international peers. The practice is globally focused on business law services and particularly well-known for expertise and added value in complex, cross-border financial crime cases (money laundering, frozen assets, white-collar crimes and fraud) and international transactions.

Cabinet Noghès du Monceau assists its clients in both advisory and litigation contexts in particular in the following practice areas:

Commercial law: the team is devoted to providing clients with bulletproof contracts, working with executives/legal departments to create the best contractual environment to protect the interests of their business. Cabinet Noghès du Monceau’s expertise in commercial litigation offers full support with any issues resulting from contract breaches.

Real estate and construction: Cabinet Noghès du Monceau has extensive experience in the exclusive real estate market of Monaco, including asset optimisation for both private and public investors, the drafting of high-quality documentation for both residential and commercial transactions, as well as the legal day-to-day property management aimed at optimising the resources of private clients, property developers, builders and intermediaries. Well-versed in all aspects of costing, budget management, regulatory issues, financing requirements and accounting law, Cabinet Noghès du Monceau is an indispensable right-hand adviser to help navigate all your real estate transactions.

Criminal law: the firm acts at all stages of criminal risk management (assessment of upfront criminal risk, during the proceedings, in crisis management) and assists both victims and respondents in areas such as corruption, fraud, money-laundering, financial offence, fraudulent breach of corporate law, white-collar crimes, drug trades and regularly acts in cases involving a significant international scope (extraditions, international arrest warrants, international sanctions, etc.).

Corporate law: the team advises local and international clients through all phases of their development and related transactions including legal structuring of transactions and related financing; drafting and negotiating documentation, close management of transactional risk and liabilities, as well as advice on company law issues and procedures. The firm is also increasingly well-known and recommended in Monaco for its extensive experience in shareholder dispute resolutions.

Banking law and regulatory: the firm advises on financial regulatory matters and financing transactions, representing mainly borrowers and issuers. Financial, banking and insurance activities represent roughly 16% of Monaco’s GDP and this is reflected by an increasing demand for specialised competency in all aspects of banking and financial law. In response, this year, the team has expanded to substantially improve their service to banking institutions or their clients. This includes, inter alia, counselling, drafting and support on both transactional and litigation/criminal matters.

Monaco residence / incorporation: the firm assists individuals and companies in all administrative procedures required to successfully set up their life and business in the Principality of Monaco. Each detail will be managed in order to facilitate this process, including any issues related to relations with governmental bodies.

Employment: the firm’s employment practice can represent employers or employees in all aspects of employment law in non-contentious as well as contentious matters such as, but not limited to, contract drafting, assistance during each phase of the working relationship, harassment cases, competition issues etc.

Private management: prenup negotiations, estate planning, acquisition of private jets; yachts and other valuable assets.

Sports law: the firm represents high-level sports athletes or sponsors in the negotiation of sponsorship and partnership agreements, as well as in the resolution of international disputes.

The firm is a female-led team, which provides a strong and nurturing environment for young, ambitious talent. Founding partner, Pierre-Anne Noghès du Monceau, built her wealth of international experience in top-tier law firms in Washington DC and Brussels, specialising mainly in commercial and corporate issues. She is now a member of the Monaco Bar, the very restricted circle of 30 attorneys entitled to litigate in the Principality’s courts. As a result, Pierre-Anne Noghès du Monceau expertly provides local know-how and legal support, while also covering all international concerns with ease and consolidated proficiency. She leads the team at Cabinet Noghès du Monceau, helping to develop the next generation of young lawyers.

The guiding principle at Cabinet Noghès du Monceau is justice for all and so underprivileged clients are frequently represented on a pro-bono basis. The firm has been appointed to handle over 270 pro-bono files since the opening of the firm in 2016, including numerous workplace accident cases, criminal, employment and liability cases.

Interviews

Pierre-Anne Noghes Du Monceau, Founder/Partner

Founding partner of one of the leading law firms in Monaco, Pierre-Anne Noghès du Monceau built her wealth of international experience in top-tier law firms in Washington DC and Brussels, specialising mainly in commercial and corporate issues. As a member of the Monaco Bar, the exclusive circle of 30 attorneys entitled to litigate in the Principality’s courts, Pierre-Anne Noghès du Monceau and her team expertly provide local know-how and legal support, while also covering all international concerns with ease and consolidated proficiency.

 

1) What do you see as the main points that differentiate Cabinet Noghès du Monceau from your competitors?

Cabinet Noghès du Monceau is unique in Monaco for its combination of extensive international experience and deep local knowledge. Our team is composed of both Monégasque and international lawyers who have acquired the highest standards of practice by working for top-tier international law firms. Collaborating closely on a daily basis with the best law firms around the world allows us to offer our clients unparalleled cross-border assistance, while at the same time providing the highest level of knowledge of how the Principality of Monaco – a very specific sovereign country only half the size of New York’s Central Park- works.

 

2) What makes the Noghès du Monceau team unique?

See above what both differentiates us and makes us unique in Monaco (at Cabinet Noghès du Monceau, we like our clients not to waste time reading lengthy reports).

 

3) Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?

Our experience in a wide range of legal practice areas and in various jurisdictions offers a one-stop service to address each client’s specific legal concerns. We are however particularly focused on business law and have proven our ability to provide decisive counseling in complex, cross-border financial crime cases (money laundering, frozen assets, white-collar crimes, compliance and fraud) and international transactions. In the next 12 months, we foresee further expansion in this area.

Cabinet Noghès du Monceau also has strong expertise in shareholder dispute resolution and we plan to build upon the foundation of our success in this area. We have recently recruited high-profile lawyers from the financial sector, who will drive this expansion.

 

4) What are the main values of the firm that benefit clients?

Our guiding principle is justice for all and so we frequently represent underprivileged clients on a pro-bono basis. We have been appointed to handle over 270 pro-bono files since the opening of the firm in 2016, including numerous criminal, employment and liability cases.

Whether we are representing a multi-national corporation, internationally-renowned fashion houses, Formula One racers and other celebrities, or one of our pro-bono clients, we dedicate the same level of attention to finding the best solution for our clients.

Cabinet Noghès du Monceau upholds a strictly merit-driven recruitment policy. We seek to champion all our employees without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race, nationality or other. As a result, our team is a diverse group with minority groups well-represented. Three-quarters of our team are women and the same proportion are foreign with 5 different nationalities represented. They hail from career backgrounds as diverse as fashion, science, TV and banking, which amplifies and enriches our overall perspective.

Three of our team have recently become members of the Women’s Law Network (WLN), which aims to enable women in all legal and related fields to achieve their full personal, professional and economic potential and to contribute to the future development of their profession.

 

5) Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide?

With residents from 139 different nationalities, a large majority of Monaco’s population is made up of foreign nationals, who account for over 80% of our clientele. Therefore, the combination of our team’s international background and language skills, coupled with competent use of AI, enables us to offer a systematic, cost-efficient French-to-English translation of all draft deeds in order for our foreign clients to be able to make more informed decisions with the assistance of our lawyers in a language they fully understand.

Due to the fact that most Monaco case-law is unpublished, access to legal precedent is a major challenge for clients. For this reason, we have developed an internal know-how app dedicated to Monaco published and unpublished case-law to draw upon our experience, reduce search time and, ultimately, work more efficiently for the benefit of our clients.

 

6) Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?

The last three years have shown us that the world can change rapidly. We see our role as anticipating all eventualities in order to protect our clients from upheaval, as well as positioning them to better seize any opportunities. For this, our firm’s strategy is purely pragmatic : we adapt, fast, like a high-speed boat, both in terms of workforce and expertise. Therefore, no matter where the world is three years from now, our firm will be exactly where our clients need us to be.