Paris Office Opening Expands Morgan Lewis's International Reach And Bolsters Key Practices
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date:
05/04/2004 -
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Press Releases
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LONDON, April 1, 2004 – Morgan Lewis announced today that, upon the approval of the Paris Bar, it will open a Paris office. Jean Leygonie and 13 other lawyers from leading French firm De Pardieu Brocas Maffei & Leygonie plan to join Morgan Lewis. With top-tier clients and broad experience across industries, the new team would dramatically strengthen Morgan Lewis’s European services, particularly in the areas of corporate, mergers and acquisitions, new technologies, antitrust/competition and labor and employment law.
Jean Leygonie, a corporate lawyer who brings more than three decades of experience and an active competition practice, would head up the proposed Paris office. He would be joined by three De Pardieu partners, all highly-rated attorneys in their respective fields: Anne Tolila, who focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and securities law; Florence Guthfreund-Roland, who focuses on telecommunications, technology and ecommerce; and François Vergne, who focuses on labor and employment law. The group has been together for approximately 10 years, first practicing at the respected Paris firm Moquet Borde before moving to De Pardieu in 1999.
The Paris office would be Morgan Lewis’s fourth in Europe in addition to London, Frankfurt and Brussels. The Paris office, which would operate as a branch of the firm’s London Multinational Partnership, would bring the total number of offices worldwide to 18, with more than 1,200 lawyers.
“We are very pleased Jean and his outstanding colleagues have chosen to join Morgan Lewis,” said Francis M. Milone, Chair of Morgan Lewis. “They are an exceptionally well-balanced and cohesive team. Their broad capabilities and depth give us a team that can handle a broad range of our client’s needs in France and in Europe. We also look forward to offering the full range of our services to their very impressive list of clients.”
Said Mr. Leygonie: “We felt the time was right to explore new opportunities with a firm that can offer our clients a truly international breadth. Morgan Lewis has an established reputation in the corporate world, a world-class competition practice, and is well known in Europe for its litigation practice. We share its leaders’ ambitious global vision and the commitment to excellence and teamwork. This is a natural fit for us.”
The addition of these 15 lawyers and the opening of the new Paris office would continue Morgan Lewis’s strategic growth, which in the past two years has included the addition of lawyers from the former Brobeck, Zevnik Horton and Pennie & Edmonds firms and has seen the firm open offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Irvine, Chicago and Boston.