Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA) > Paris, France > Firm Profile
Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA) Offices
8 RUE CHATEAUBRIAND
75008 PARIS
France
Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA) > The Legal 500 Rankings
France > Employment Tier 2
Employment law boutique Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA) has offices in Paris, Lyon and Sophia-Antipolis, as well as bases in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The firm has strong resources and a wide range of expertise, and assists all types of clients including large French and international corporations. The team is retained to handle complex and challenging work, including large downsizing projects and the management of collective relations and litigation. The practice is also regularly called upon to assist with large M&A and private equity transactions, and complex employee transfer and reorganisation projects; it also has expertise in the compensation and benefits and social security spaces. Philippe Chassany, Jérôme Watrelot
and Elisabeth Graujeman co-lead the practice, which also includes key members Hélène Guillot, Virgile Zeimet and Abdelkader Hamida.Practice head(s):
Philippe Chassany; Jérôme Watrelot; Elisabeth Graujeman
Other key lawyers:
Hélène Guillot; Virgile Zeimet; Abdelkader Hamida; Pierre Lucas; Benoit Dorin
Testimonials
‘A very responsive team that knows how to serve their customers well.’
‘Lawyers invest themselves to the maximum to assist their clients.’
‘A deep knowledge of how a company does business. They know how to find solutions when it looks like the story is over. Efficiency, speed of execution and reliability. It is the perfect illustration of a modern law firm : technicality, customer service and up-to-date answers. The Best.’
‘Jérôme Watrelot, Virgile Zeimet, Pierre Lucas, Benoit Dorin and Elisabeth Graujeman work for and with their client as if it was their own company.’
‘A team with a very broad spectrum of specialities in labour law and social security, extremely responsive, available and competent, both in advice and in litigation.’
‘Elisabeth Graujeman is a leading lawyer, remarkable for her finesse, her intuition and the solidity of her analyses and her vast experience.’
Key clients
PAI partners
Groupe Carrefour
Soitec
Crouzet
Eutelsat
CEVA Logistics
Kellogg’s
XFAB
Shiseido Group EMEA
Worlwide Flight Services
YUM (KFC, Pizza Hut)
Ugitech
Maersk
Penelope
SETEC Group
Expleo
G.A.C group
Groupe Labeyrie
WKF
Kaufman & Broad
La Croix Rouge Française
H&M
Transdev Group
LCHA SA (LSEG Group)
KPMG
Imperial Tobacco (Seita)
Leroy Merlin
Ausy
ATOL Les Opticiens
Hélène DARROZE
Ergalis
Neotiss
La Fondation Œuvre de la Croix Saint-Simon
Work highlights
- Successfully represented the Carrefour Group before the Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionel) on a Priority Question of Constitutionality (QPC) regarding the participation of shop managers in the professional elections.
- Advised Eutelsat on the labour and employment law aspects of its combination with OneWeb to create a leading global player in Connectivity.
- Advising the Transdev Group on the labour and employment law aspects of the transfer of management of railways lines from SNCF to the Group.
Employment > Social security: compensation and benefits
Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA)Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA) > Firm Profile
The firm: Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA) is a law firm exclusively dedicated to employment law and other areas impacting human resources management. Over the past 30 years, the firm has experienced a strong growth and is now located in Lyon, in Paris, in Nice-Sophia Antipolis as well as in Casablanca and Tangiers, Algiers and Tunis. CWA brings together over 60 lawyers providing legal advice, accompanying and representing companies during litigations, and developing and conducting professional training.
CWA provides companies with strong support at all stages of the employment relation, be it individual or collective employment relations, either in the daily management of human resources and in the framework of large scale operations (restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, sales, outsourcing).
CWA defends its clients throughout all aspects of litigation, whether individual or collective. Given the increasing criminalization of business law in general and labour law in particular, CWA has developed an expertise in employment criminal law to handle this type of litigation.
Because all human resources professionals need to constantly update their knowledge of employment law, CWA deploys all its knowledge and experience to provide tailor-made training sessions, bringing functional and innovative solutions.
Areas of practice: Thanks to its wide experience and multilingual skills, CWA provides legal advice to major international groups or SMEs, which benefit both from the very personalized follow-up of a specifically dedicated lawyer and from the expertise of the entire firm through its highly technical expertise hubs.
Restructuring/M&A: the firm is involved in restructuring operations, such as business transfers, mergers and acquisitions or outsourcing operations. It addresses all matters: works council consultation, legal due diligence reports, impact of business transfers on employees, or elaboration and implementation of redundancy plans, negotiation of management packages.
Employment collective relations: a partner of companies and/or employer organizations, CWA brings its knowledge of legislation and case law, its responsiveness, and its analysis to help master the management of working relations, including the implementation of staff representative institutions.
Compensation and profit sharing: CWA assists its clients in remuneration strategies, including incentive plans (bonus, stock-option plans, profit-sharing, savings plans), taking into account the legal environment for social and tax optimization, and the specific clients’ constraints and needs. (notably in cases of mergers or any other restructuring operations.)
Pensions and welfare protection: CWA also assists companies during the implementation or modification of retirement plans, supplementary healthcare schemes or death-incapacity-disability schemes. It has also developed a wide expertise in end-of-career plans (pre-retirement, proactive planning on employment and careers, etc).
Social security: CWA offers its expertise and understanding of the impact of social security regulations on the application of social security rules and the inspections of companies. It supports companies in the implementation of these rules and in the decision-making process.
Health and safety at work: the firm adapts to legal developments during the development and follow-up of the occupational hazards prevention policy and in the conduct of relations with the health and safety committee. Its experience allows CWA to accompany its clients at the pre-litigation and litigation stages.
International mobility: CWA has developed expertise and assists clients in their international development with constant focus on the safety of the solutions advocated. CWA’s transversal team, dedicated to international mobility, works in connection with a network of foreign lawyers able to assist clients in managing their employee mobility.
Main Contacts
| Department | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual and collective employment relationships | Bruno Briatta | bruno.briatta@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)4 37 51 16 16 |
| Employment collective relations, Social security law | Sébastien Cellier | sebastien.cellier@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)1 44 34 84 84 |
| Restructuring, employment collective relations, Litigation | Philippe Chassany | philippe.chassany@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)4 37 51 16 16 |
| Restructuring, Health and safety at work (working conditions/accidents at work and occupational diseases) | Laurence Cohen | laurence.cohen@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)4 37 51 16 16 |
| Labour and employment litigation | Benoît Dubessay | benoit.dubessay@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)1 44 34 84 84 |
| Head of the Pensions and welfare protection hub | Restructurings, Compensation and profit sharing, Pensions and welfare protection | Elisabeth Graujeman | elisabeth.graujeman@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)1 44 34 84 84 |
| Restructuring, Health and safety at work (working conditions/accidents at work and occupational diseases) | Hélène Guillot | helene.guillot@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)1 44 34 84 84 |
| Employment collective and individual relations, Restructurings | Abdelkader Hamida | abdelkader.hamida@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)1 44 34 84 84 |
| Employment collective relations, Health and safety at work (working conditions/accidents at work and occupational diseases) | Franck Janin | franck.janin@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)4 37 51 16 16 |
| Employment collective relations, Vocational training, Relations with staff representatives | Xavier de Jerphanion | xavier.dejerphanion@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)1 44 34 84 84 |
| Employment collective relations, Litigation | Yves Merle | yves.merle@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)4 37 51 16 16 |
| Head of CWA in Maghreb | International mobility, Corporate law and finance, Business law / Contract law, Public law, Tax law | Mohamed Oulkhouir | mohamed.oulkhouir@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)1 44 34 84 84 |
| Restructuring, Mergers and acquisitions, Employment collective relations | Sébastien Poncet | sebastien.poncet@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)4 37 51 16 16 |
| Restructurings, Mergers and acquisitions, Employment collective relations | Jérôme Watrelot | jerome.watrelot@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)1 44 34 84 84 |
| Restructurings, Mergers and Acquisitions | Virgile Zeimet | virgile.zeimet@cwassocies.com | +33 (0)1 44 34 84 84 |
Lawyer Profiles
| Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Benoît Dubessay | Partner | Attorney, registered with the Paris Bar Association | View Profile |
 | Elisabeth Graujeman | Managing partner | Attorney registered with the Paris Bar Association | View Profile |
 | Hélène Guillot | Partner | Attorney registered with the Paris Bar Association | View Profile |
 | Mohamed Oulkhouir | Managing Partner | Attorney registered with the Paris Bar Association | Managing… | View Profile |
 | Jérôme Watrelot | Managing partner | Attorney registered with the Paris Bar Association | View Profile |
 | Virgile Zeimet | Partner | Attorney registered with the Paris Bar Association | View Profile |
 | Xavier de Jerphanion | Partner | Attorney registered with the Paris Bar Association | View Profile |
Staff Figures
Number of partners (France) : 16 Number of lawyers (France) : 54Languages
Arabic English French German Spanish ItalianMemberships
IBA EELAOther
Other offices (Algeria) : Algiers Other offices (Morocco) : Casablanca Other offices (France) : Lyon Other offices (France) : Nice Sophia-Antipolis Other offices (Morocco) : Tangier Other offices (Tunisia) : TunisSpotlights
FRANCE
Chassany Watrelot & Associés (CWA) is a law firm exclusively dedicated to employment law and other areas impacting human resources management.
Within the framework of large scale operations (restructurings, mergers & acquisitions, sales, outsourcing…) as well as in the daily management of human resources, Chassany Watrelot & Associés mobilizes all its expertise and resources, to provide customized, secure and operational solutions, taking into account all the requirements and time constraints of its clients and their business environment.
- Employment