German desk

A team of French and German qualified lawyers is ready to provide you with both advisory and litigation support in French and German law.

With lawyers admitted to the Paris and Berlin Bars, the German Desk team acts before both French courts and arbitral tribunals. The German Desk can guide and assist clients on both sides of the Rhine and can easily and effectively outline the particular issues that clients active in both countries may encounter. In order to provide clients with the highest level of service, the German Desk draws on the skills of the firm's other practice areas, particularly in Tax, Employment and Real Estate matters.

All services can be provided in French, German or English.

Corporate Law
  • Preparation and assistance in approaching and negotiating with target companies
  • Drafting confidentiality agreements and letters of intent
  • Due diligence for acquisitions of assets or companies in France or Germany
  • Advice and assistance in the preparation of business transfers or acquisitions (share deals/asset deals/assignments or acquisitions of business assets)
  • Drafting and negociating asset and liability guarantees, contracts for the acquisition or sale of companies
  • Preparation and negotiation of shareholder agreements
  • Incorporation of companies, restructuring and ongoing legal support
Insolvency and restructuring
  • Drafting offers to take over assets of French companies in receivership or in insolvency proceedings
  • Claims for outstanding debts, defending lenders
  • Communications and follow-up with legal representatives
  • Advice on executive liability and minimizing risks at an early stage
Commercial Law
  • Drafting, negotiating and reviewing contracts, in particular for sales, services, companies and industrial facilities.
  • Standard Terms and Conditions (sale, purchase and use)
  • Drafting, negotiating and reviewing commercial agency agreements and distribution contracts
Employment Law
  • Drafting and negotiating contracts for corporate officers or senior executives, management packages, termination, layoffs, dismissals, agreed layoffs or other forms of termination
  • Drafting employment contracts, advice and assistance in the negotiation of these contracts
  • Advice and assistance in connection with secondments, and international mobility (inbound and outbound assignments)
  • Advice and assistance in the establishment, negotiation and interactions with employees’ representative bodies (DP, EC, CSE, CHSCT, DUP)
  • Assistance with individual or collective redundancy procedures and drafting of the necessary documents
  • Drafting of power of attorney
  • Advice/litigation and training in French employment law
Litigation and Arbitration
  • Advice and strategic analysis in the pre-litigation phase
  • Securing evidence, and preparing documentation
  • Advice and assistance in the context of judicial, technical and financial expertise
  • Representation and assistance in legal proceedings before all courts
  • Representation and assistance in arbitration proceedings, both in administrated arbitration (ICC, AFA or CFCAI arbitration) and in ad hoc arbitration
  • Assistance to a German pharmaceutical group in the creation of its subsidiary in France and setting up a distribution channel
  • Support in closing an industrial production site, a subsidiary of a German company, and transfer of the business abroad, mitigating risks with regard to the parent company’s liability
  • Assistance to a German-Danish group in the acquisition of assets of a French music content distribution company in receivership
  • Advising and assisting a major French IT development group in setting up its first subsidiary in Germany and subsequently acquiring 5 companies in Germany with a total of more than 1,500 employees
  • Advice and assistance to a French group in the logistics sector in setting up a holding company in Luxembourg to acquire shares in companies in Germany and Switzerland
  • Assistance in the negotiation of a partnership agreement between a French group in the engineering services sector and an oil company with major industrial sites in Germany
  • Advising and assisting a German group in the renegotiation and standardization of all their commercial agency contracts in France
  • Assistance in implementing a “whistleblowing” scheme in a French subsidiary of a German-American group
  • Assistance in implementing a collective redundancy plan (80 employees) in a French subsidiary of a German glass group
  • Advice and assistance during the negotiation regarding the departure of a manager of a German subsidiary of a French company and drafting the departure settlement agreement
  • Legal expert assessments and litigation proceedings following the completion of an industrial facility in the area of plastic material recovery
  • Arbitration involving industrial matters