The Legal 500

Within Administrative and public law, Allen & Overy LLP is a second tier firm,

Led by practice head Noël Chahid-Nouraï and Jean-Yves Ollier, Allen & Overy LLP handles a large scope of work including regulatory, public contract, litigation and privatisation matters. The eight-lawyer team is a leading player in the PPP field, advising lenders, sponsors and public entities. Recent highlights include assisting the winning consortium on the Tours and Bordeaux railway project, the French state on the L2 bypass motorway project in Marseille and Gaz de Normandie on the regulatory aspects of a LNG terminal project in Le Havre. Senior associate Romaric Lazerges warrants praise; ‘he is a well business-minded advisor and a real deal-maker’.

Within Banking and finance, Allen & Overy LLP is a first tier firm,

Allen & Overy LLP has a full range of expertise with particular strength in restructuring, loan negotiating and project finance, in addition to be regarded as ‘one of the top two firms in France for securitisation’ work. Assisting a client portfolio made up of leading financial banks, the practice relies on a large workforce (some 30 lawyers), led by Rod Cork, including the ‘very reliable and knowledgeable’ Fabrice Faure-Dauphin, Carine Chassol, Christophe Jacquemin and Adrian Mellor. Highlights included assisting several financial institutions of the steering committee on the CMA-CGM restructuring, PAI Partners on the financing of the acquisition of Cerba, and CACIB and the lenders on the financing of Converteam.

Within Capital markets, Allen & Overy LLP is a first tier firm,

Allen & Overy LLP’s debt capital markets practice is ‘very good from plain vanilla to complex issues’. Led by François Poudelet, the team consists of US-qualified Diana Billik, English law expert Dan Lauder and ‘rising star’ Hervé Ekué, who is praised for his ‘very responsive and committed commercial approach’. The 18-lawyer team serves a large client base of financial institutions and some corporations, recently assisting Société Générale on its $1bn issuance of undated deeply subordinated notes, and BNP Paribas and Natixis on BCPE’s exchange offers of Tier 1 securities. The firm also handles derivative work, and has leading securitisation expertise in Fabrice Faure-Dauphin and Christophe Jacquemin.

Within Dispute resolution Commercial litigation Other recommended firms

Within EU competition and distribution, Allen & Overy LLP is a third tier firm,

Allen & Overy LLP’s ‘personalised’ and ‘business-oriented’ practice is led by ‘one of the very best lawyers in the field’, Olivier Fréget, a ‘fighter’ who has ‘excellent connections with the regulators’. The team also includes the ‘very commercially minded’ Florence Ninane, and was further enhanced on the cartel and EU litigation sides through the arrival of the ‘bright’ and ‘constructive’ Michel Struys, who was previously splitting his time between the London and Brussels offices. The firm attracts high-profile litigation work in the telecoms, energy, health and media sectors, winning a fine reduction for IMI in the copper-tube case.

Within Employment , Allen & Overy LLP is a third tier firm,

Led by Sabine Smith-Vidal, Allen & Overy LLP has a ‘consistently helpful and knowledgeable’ eight-lawyer team. The practice assists leading names in the pharmaceutical and banking sectors. It was recently called upon to advise on corporate acquisitions, contract termination and insolvency issues, representing GE Capital on the acquisition of the business activities of RBS Factor France.

Within Environment, Allen & Overy LLP is a second tier firm,

Allen & Overy LLP’s Jean-Yves Ollier manages the environmental practice with Noël Chahid-Nouraï also playing a key role in the team. The group advises industrial clients in the context of acquisitions and divestments, and leads a busy practice in the renewable field. It also takes on waste-related work, recently assisting a recycling platform on the EU Commission’s directive proposal on Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment.

Within Health and life sciences, Allen & Overy LLP is a second tier firm,

Allen & Overy LLP has ‘great business acumen and industry knowledge’, delivering a ‘personalised service’. The firm defends the world’s leading pharmaceutical groups on strategic matters against generic companies with Pierre Lenoir and Laëtitia Bénard being the practice’s pillars for patent, IP, litigation and regulatory issues. Olivier Fréget is also active in the field for competition matters, Noël Chahid-Nouraï for public law and Jean-Patrice Labautière on the corporate side.

Within IT, telecoms and the internet, Allen & Overy LLP is a second tier firm,

Allen & Overy LLP has a leading telecoms practice, including competition expert Olivier Fréget who advises new markets entrants, winning strategic battles against France’s historical operator. Fréget represented SFR in several cases against France Télécom, including a dispute over the broadcasting rights of football matches. Noël Chahid-Nouraï and Jean-Yves Ollier are also key elements for telecoms projects, while newly promoted partner Ahmed Baladi focuses on IT and data protection issues for clients such as Accenture and BNP Paribas.

Within Insolvency, tier 4

Allen & Overy LLP is a reference for debt restructuring work through finance heads Rod Cork and Adrian Mellor. The firm has a busy practice, handling major CMBS, property and LBO debt restructuring work on the lenders’ side. Having signed a strategic agreement with Santoni & Associés, the two-firm combination attracts high-profile cases, the firms representing several major creditors of the steering committee in CMA-CGM’s restructuring.

Within Intellectual property: Full-service firms , Allen & Overy LLP is a first tier firm,

Allen & Overy LLP is at the top of its game for patent litigation, notably in the pharmaceutical sector, where the firm represents leading laboratories in strategic cases against new manufacturers. Practice head Pierre Lenoir is a strong market figure, while the ‘very creative’ Laëtitia Bénard is praised for daring to ‘break new ground’. The 11-lawyer team delivers ‘very thorough and polished’ work and also handles trade mark and copyright work. The client base includes leading names from the pharmaceutical (Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline), consumer and media sectors.

Within Intellectual property: Patent and trade mark attorneys Leading individuals: Intellectual property: patents

Within Media and entertainment: Full-service firms Other recommended firms

Within Mergers and acquisitions, Allen & Overy LLP is a third tier firm,

Allen & Overy LLP’s practice is ‘customer-oriented’ and delivers ‘high standards in terms of response time and accuracy’. The six-partner team is increasingly involved in strategic deals for leading French and international companies. Jean-Patrice Labautière and Frédéric Moreau assisted Honeywell on its takeover of Sperian Protection, while Marcus Billam advised Compagnie La Lucette on its merger with Icade. Nicolas Bichot left the team to create his own practice.

Within Private equity Other recommended firms

Within Project finance and energy: Energy Project finance and energy: Energy

Within Project finance and energy: Project finance, Allen & Overy LLP is a first tier firm,

Allen & Overy LLP is ‘clearly among the best in Paris, especially when there is a true legal issue’ at stake. The practice is strong in France, Africa and Eastern and Central Europe for energy, infrastructure and telecoms work, and was further strengthened with the move of engineer and senior counsel Shaun Beaton from New York to Paris. The team, led by practice head Tim Scales and partners Rod Cork, Adrian Mellor, Christine Poyer-Rufenacht and Alexandre Ancel, also assists lenders and sponsors on a great number of high-profile energy projects. In the renewable field, the firm remains a top player and assisted GDF Suez, Natixis and other sponsors on the financing of the solar Curbans project in France. The nuclear sector is another area of strength with the firm advising Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) on its investment in Exeltium. Other highlights included acting for TAQA and JLEC on the Moroccan Jorf Lasfar power project.

Within Real estate, Allen & Overy LLP is a third tier firm,

At Allen & Overy LLP, the ‘really excellent’ Jean-Dominique Casalta and Christophe Jacquemin are ‘lawyers you want to have on your side’. The team focuses on transactional and finance work, providing ‘concise, commercially aware and straight to the point’ advice. The up-and-coming practice is increasingly retained by key market players (Unibail Rodamco, GE Real Estate), and was further strengthened on the tax property side through the hire of the ‘really great’ Jean-Yves Charriau from CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre. Highlights included advising Centuria Capital on the acquisition of a residential property in Paris from Allianz.

Within Tax, Allen & Overy LLP is a third tier firm,

Through practice head Siamak Mostafavi, Allen & Overy LLP has exceptional finance and capital markets tax expertise. The ten-lawyer team also includes Mathieu Vignon and Jean-Yves Charriau, a leading light for tax property work, who joined from CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre. The department represents the world’s largest financial institutions and has in-depth knowledge of the energy sector. Highlights included assisting the core sponsors on the launch of Marguerite Fund.