Avocats – France

Frank Valentin

DLA Piper

François April

François is widely regarded as a leading renewables and energy & infrastructure practitioner in France. A Partner in the Energy & Infrastructure practice in the firm’s Paris office, François focuses on project financing in the energy, mining and infrastructure sectors. He also has in-depth knowledge of infrastructure assets, including airports, ports and roads and power distribution. François advises sponsors, investors (including investment funds) government entities and lenders on all aspects of projects, including finance and contractual arrangements, as well as regulatory issues, on projects in France, Francophone Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Canada, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. He is actively involved with the firm’s initiatives surrounding Canada, including developing and maintaining Canadian client and institutional relationships.

Linklaters

François Baylion

Partner focusing on corporate governance and transactions involving listed companies, including takeovers and equity capital markets transactions. He has particular experience of transactions in the energy, infrastructure and telecoms sectors. He has recently represented Société M.B.D., the family controlling shareholder of BIC, on the reorganisation of the family governance and the control structure with respect to BIC; Crédit Agricole Assurances (Predica) on the sale of its stake in La Française des Jeux (FDJ), as reference shareholder on the €1.5 billion refinancing plan adopted by Clariane, on its participation in a €850 million Series C capital injection in Verkor, a company specialized in EV batteries, on the investment by GIC, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, in Vauban Infra Fibre, France’s largest independent digital infrastructure platform, alongside several funds managed by Vauban Infrastructure Partners, on its acquisition of a 30% stake in Innergex France, and on the reorganisation by Group Crédit Agricole of its retirement business with the creation of Crédit Agricole Assurance Retraite.

BDGS Associés

François Bonteil

François Bonteil specialises in all areas of real estate work including real estate M&A (acquisitions and disposals of property-owning companies and portfolios of real estate assets), real estate private equity (joint ventures / shareholders' agreements), real estate services (including commercial leasing, development and asset management) and real estate finance (acquisition / mortgage financings , corporate and funds financings).

Clifford Chance

François Couhadon

Firm Partner, François Couhadon is specialised in mergers and acquisitions, stock exchange and private equity. He advises listed and non-listed companies and investment funds in the context of national and international transactions, including acquisitions and assignments, public offerings, delisting, securities issues, restructuring, implementations of joint-ventures and shareholders agreements.

De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés

François Gordon

Partner advising French and international companies on all aspects of competition law: merger control, anticompetitive agreements, abuse of dominant position, private enforcement, State aid and distribution law. His practice encompasses counselling as well as litigation before the European and French competition authorities and courts across an array of economic sectors, including regulated industries. He also assists clients on the EU’s foreign subsidies control procedures (FSR) and foreign direct investment reviews (FDI) in France and other jurisdictions. He has recently advised Carrefour on its acquisitions of Cora/Match and Casino stores and Séché Environnement on the competition law aspects of its acquisition of Groupe Flamme, a company active in the waste management sector. He has also recently represented a company involved in the first case before the French Competition Authority in which criminal and competition proceedings were conducted in parallel, raising significant due process issues. François regularly acts in the energy sector and has also advised several investment funds on merger control and FDI filings for various acquisitions.

BDGS Associés

François HERPE

Partner

Cornet Vincent Ségurel

François Hellio

François Hellio joined CMS Francis Lefebvre in 1990 and became a partner in 2001. He was appointed chairman of the firm's Management Board in 2024. He practices in tax law and advises clients on all aspects of international taxation with a particular focus on transfer pricing and litigation. François Hellio advises French and international listed corporate groups and family businesses on financing and structuring their investments, including property investments, in France and other countries. In addition to his core practice, he also advises clients on managing tax litigation. Backed by more than six years in our Berlin office, he brings in-depth knowledge of Franco-German taxation.

CMS Francis Lefebvre

François Hellot

Partner

Ashurst LLP

François Jubin

François Jubin is a partner in the Finance department at VOLT Associés.

VOLT Associés

François Kopf

François is Partner at Linklaters in Paris and Global Chair of Restructuring & Insolvency. With more than 25 years of experience, his practice focuses on special situations that require a combination of restructuring, transactional and litigation expertise. Previously, François led the Restructuring & Insolvency department at Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier for almost nine years and also served as the firm’s co-managing Partner for five years. In recent years, he has acted on most of the high-profile restructuring transactions and insolvency proceedings in France, where he has represented debtors, creditors, managers, shareholders, investors and trustees as well as judicial liquidators and judicial administrators.

Linklaters

François Lan

Partner

Squadra Avocats

François Morazin

Partner

PDGB

François Muller

Partner

ADVANT Altana

François Pochart

Partner

August Debouzy

François Rontani

François Rontani joined CMS Francis Lefebvre in 2003 as a partner. He practices in tax law with a focus on taxation of the financial sector. He advises international companies and French and international banks on the tax aspects of financial and equity market transactions. François Rontani supports clients during tax audits and negotiations with the tax authorities. He acts for them in litigation proceedings before the administrative courts.

CMS Francis Lefebvre

François Tenailleau

François Tenailleau joined CMS Francis Lefebvre in 1998 and became a partner in 2010. He leads the firm’s Infrastructure & Projects practice and co-leads the Aerospace & Defence team. He advises on public business law issues with a focus on public procurement contracts, concessions, public-private partnerships, agreements involving the use of public property, and structuring complex contractual arrangements. He also acts for clients on other aspects of public law, including public property law, financing of public bodies, public and quasi-public institutions, social housing, and state aid. François Tenailleau is regularly consulted by government bodies and professional organisations on matters within his fields. He is a regular contributor to Ministry of Finance expert groups, such as those formed to draft the French public procurement code, to revise the general terms and conditions of public procurement contracts and to consult on the revision of European public procurement directives.

CMS Francis Lefebvre

François Verdot

Partner

Franklin

François Versini-Campinchi

Partner

CGR Avocats

François Vignalou

Partner, Tax law

Bignon Lebray

François Voiron

François Voiron is counsel in Gide's Criminal and Commercial Litigation team in Paris. He specialises in business criminal law and, more broadly, litigation. He is involved in a wide range of criminal business law cases at all stages of the proceedings, dealing with a wide variety of issues including breaches of probity, financial offences, but also unintentional offences (industrial accidents, accidents) and press law (defamation, slander). He also conducts internal investigations for clients, particularly in the context of suspected wrongdoing or fraud.He also conducts internal investigations on behalf of clients, particularly in cases of suspected wrongdoing or fraud, and assists clients in civil and commercial disputes before the courts, particularly in parallel with criminal proceedings. François has handled a number of complex cases involving multiple proceedings for major French and foreign companies and their directors, most recently assisting a major French bank in a criminal trial for disseminating misleading information, and a foreign investor accused of laundering tax fraud in connection with very substantial property investments in the south of France. François holds a Master 2 in European Business Law from the University of Paris-Panthéon-Assas and a University Diploma in International Business Litigation from the University of Paris-Est-Créteil. He has been a member of the Paris Bar since 2014.

Gide Loyrette Nouel

François Wyon

Partner

Orrick

François Zocchetto

Firm Partner, François Zocchetto mainly works in corporate and tax law, assisting both public and private actors. Chartered accountant, François Zocchetto began his private career with an audit/accounting and statutory auditor firm, and then founded in 1987 a law firm in business law for SMEs located in Paris and Western France. He has experience of the law applied by public actors and companies, and supports public projects (contracts, urban planning, public procurement, public service delegation) as well as restructuring, acquisition and transfer operations in entities of various sizes. He has held numerous mandates, including Senator of the Mayenne department from 2001 to 2017 and has been Mayor of Laval since 2014.

De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés

François de Navailles

Partner - M&A-Private Equity

Veil Jourde