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Deborah Azerraf

Deborah is a Senior Associate specialising in insurance disputes, product liability and mass toxic and consumer litigation. She is used to working in large-scale litigation and has developed an online tool for claims management in this respect. Deborah is a litigator handling EU-wide disputes related to commercial and product liability, for both manufacturers and insurers. In this respect, she advises clients from a range of industry sectors including automotive, energy, consumer goods and cosmetics both on regulatory aspects and in Court. She has further developed a specific expertise in toxic tort, trying cases relating to alleged risks linked to exposure to chemical substances, including disease-related litigation, environment, successive owners’ disputes, etc. Deborah also takes an active interest in advising online platforms and new technologies developers in the launch of their business in France and any related disputes with the authorities and consumers.

Ela Barda

Ela Barda is a Partner at Signature Litigation’s Paris office specialising in commercial litigation, digital platform law, civil fraud and enforcement matters. Ela has over 10 years’ experience in commercial litigation. She represents both claimants and defendants before the French civil and commercial courts at all stages of litigation with a particular focus on high-profile cross border disputes. She has developed specific expertise in digital platform law and regularly represents French and international online platforms and media tech companies in civil and commercial litigation against individuals, companies and local authorities. Ela also has extensive experience in investigating, initiating and defending civil fraud claims. She regularly acts for international clients on asset-tracing and asset recovery proceedings. She has in-depth experience in pre-action proceedings on a wide range of interim applications. In addition, Ela has developed a strong expertise in the enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards. Ela also represents manufacturers in commercial and product liability disputes in the aviation sector, as well as company directors in personal liability cases before commercial courts in the scope of insolvency proceedings.

Philip Dunham

Philip is an international arbitration Partner at Signature’s Paris office with over 30 years’ experience, representing clients (including regularly acting for or against states) across a broad range of sectors and jurisdictions. Philip’s practice covers both commercial and investment treaty arbitrations spanning several international jurisdictions. He is an acknowledged expert in advising in relation to construction and engineering, oil and gas, telecoms, shareholder, agent and joint venture disputes, and regularly acts both for and against states and state-owned entities. He has represented clients in a number of high-value global disputes, with a particular focus on the Balkans, MENA, Latin America and South East-Asia. He acts both as counsel and arbitrator handling a broad range of disputes conducted under ICC, LCIA, SCC, DIAC, BCDR, HKIAC, UNCITRAL and ICSID rules.

Jérémie Fierville

Jérémie is a Partner at Signature Litigation’s Paris office specialising in complex, financial and commercial litigation. Jérémie’s practice is primarily focused on M&A litigation, shareholder disputes and corporate governance matters. Having practised in both Paris and London, Jérémie advises a broad range of French and international companies. He represents clients across all stages of a dispute, from pre-litigation strategic advice, litigation, arbitration and mediation. Jérémie has also lectured for several years at Paris Panthéon-Assas University, where he teaches courses relating to mediation, corporate law and complex dispute resolution clauses. He has authored numerous publications including Corporate Internal Investigations, An International Guide (Oxford University Press), and Swap Contracts and Insolvency Law (Cahiers de droit de l’entreprise). He has often interviewed on various topics, including Mediation, Corporate Governance and Geopolitics, ESG-related disputes and Private Equity-related issues. He regularly organises events on cutting edge legal topics, including the Impact of Geopolitics on General Meetings of Listed Companies, Shareholder Dialogue, International Arbitration and Blocking Statutes, The Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration.

Sylvie Gallage-Alwis

Sylvie is a Founding Partner of Signature Litigation’s Paris office. She specialises in product liability, toxic tort, ESG and group litigation disputes. With almost 20 years’ experience, Sylvie represents manufacturers doing business in France in complex product-related disputes, including product liability, industrial risk, product safety, toxic tort, mass litigation/class actions, regulatory compliance and environment/climate change matters. Sylvie represents a variety of globally recognised manufacturers from industries including automotive, electronics, life sciences, cosmetics, new technologies, steel, energy, food, toys and consumer goods. She manages one of the largest product litigation teams in the French market. She is involved in several high-profile French industrial disaster cases, including large-scale fires, planned obsolescence allegations, use of conflict minerals, ‘dieselgate’, maritime engine accidents, marketplace liability and COVID-19 vaccine cases. She defends clients against claims from consumers, NGOs, business partners and competitors, and also handles investigations by French market surveillance authorities such as the DGCCRF, ANFR and ANSM. She has also coordinated product safety corrective measures across the European Union. Sylvie also assists her manufacturing clients with commercial litigation (e.g., sudden termination of contracts, unfair competition, significant imbalance cases) and the review of contracts and Terms & Conditions. Sylvie is a leading defence counsel in France for manufacturers facing mass toxic tort claims and consumer group actions. Her work in this area began with asbestos-exposure claims, where she established rare, company-favourable case law. Some of these cases are cited in the French Civil and Social Security Codes due to the significant legal precedents they set. Her practice now includes cases involving various chemical and hazardous substances, as well as claims based on anxiety over developing future diseases. Sylvie is a go-to lawyer for class actions in France. She has conducted a study for a client on class action systems in over one hundred jurisdictions and is one of the few defence counsel invited to participate in the Cambridge Forum’s working group on class actions in the EU. Sylvie is admitted as an Avocat à la Cour in France and a Solicitor in England & Wales.

Mathilde Gérot

With over 10 years’ experience, Counsel Mathilde specialises in commercial and regulatory litigation, representing a wide range of clients in commercial proceedings before French courts. In particular, Mathilde works extensively on a multi-jurisdiction product liability case and its cross-border coordination. Mathilde also has extensive experience in assisting French and international clients on major data protection and cybersecurity issues, advising on both contentious and non-contentious matters. Her work includes Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) investigations and litigations and more generally all GDPR-related topics. She has also developed a specific expertise on commercial and consumer law, contract drafting and negotiation. Mathilde’s clients come from various sectors, spanning from the automotive, mass retail, logistics, e-commerce and technology industries.

Emmanuèle Lutfalla

After more than 30 years practicing in both major international law firms and top tier French law firms, Emmanuèle is one of the founding partners of the Paris office of Signature Litigation. She heads its French Insurance/Reinsurance practice. Emmanuèle's Insurance and Reinsurance litigation practice focuses on highly complex claims for their clients. She intervenes in various domains at national and international levels both for the Insurer’s accounts and their Insureds in order to advise them throughout their litigation’s lifespan. Emmanuèle has been involved in some of the most cutting-edge issues that have arisen so far in France, such as COVID-related cases, pollution cases and nuclear issues. She has been involved in some of the most important product liability cases for instance in the life sciences (medical devices) industry. In this respect, she has developed a specific experience in complex expert-appraisal proceedings and industrial risks investigations. She has advised a leading French engineering company, sub-contractor in charge of the geotechnical studies for the French main contractor following land subsistence in China in a shopping centre with escalators. She has also advised a company based in New Caledonia in the implementation of a “Terrorism” and “Vandalism” policy, following the occurrence of destructive popular riots. Additionally, Emmanuèle has assisted a French Insurer in US court proceedings related to the coverage of clean-up of soil and water at a site in New Jersey. Emmanuèle also advises on cutting-edge issues involving fraud, cyber, D&O and W&I. She assists her clients with pre-litigation and litigation procedures, Court ordered expert proceedings and enforcement actions. She is also involved in ADR.

Michaël Perche

Michaël is a Counsel at Signature Litigation’s Paris office, specialising in public law and administrative litigation. Michaël has over ten years’ experience in advising public and private clients in various aspects of public law, including public procurement law, urban planning law, civil service law and public property law. He also handles regulatory issues in a wide range of sectors, including energy and transport. In these various fields, Michaël advises public and private clients and represents them before the judicial and administrative courts. Michaël also has significant experience in handling French and EU export controls (dual-use and military products) and international sanctions matters.

Thomas Rouhette

With over 30 years’ experience in litigation, Thomas is a Founding Partner of the Paris office of Signature Litigation and specialises in international and commercial litigation. Thomas represents French and international corporates and financial institutions in international commercial disputes. He has a particular focus in high-stakes disputes involving complex legal issues. His multi-faceted expertise encompasses several industry sectors including automotive, aviation, banking and technology industries. Thomas is particularly known for his expertise in cross-border litigation, having coordinated many large-scale international disputes and conducted numerous international enforcement proceedings. Thomas is also involved in civil fraud and asset tracing, corporate, unfair competition and product liability disputes.