374 rue Saint-Honoré 75001 Paris France 33.(0)1.53.05.60.00 33.(0)1.53.05.60.05 (fax)

Proskauer Rose LLP provides a competitive edge to a wide variety of American and other multinational groups doing business in France and Europe, as well as leading French companies in the financial, oil, chemical, pharmaceutical, telecom, consumer products and leisure sectors.

Due to our deep experience with international transactions, clients often call on us to manage their multijurisdictional transactions and to work closely with client-approved local counsel to deliver a seamless work product.

Our Paris office provides French and European Union legal advice.  Our core practices include:

• Corporate transactions including mergers & acquisitions, private equity transactions, corporate restructurings and joint ventures
  
  
• Commercial law including competition law matters, distribution and licensing, product liability, insurance and white collar defense
  
  
• Labor law with a particular emphasis on large corporate reorganizations and litigation
  
  
• Tax including international taxation, tax structuring of corporate transactions and investment funds and tax planning
  
  
• Litigation and arbitration including international litigation, appearances before various French courts and international arbitration tribunals
  
  
• Antitrust covering the range of challenges, from scope of activity to merger filing, from providing help with dawn raid scenarios, to dealing with state-aid inquiries

Our American and other multinational clients frequently rely on us to handle their European investments.  In fact, after the investment is completed, clients often engage us to act as general counsel to French or European affiliates - to provide strategic advice to management and coordinate overall French and European legal representation, with the assistance of local counsel as necessary.

French clients regularly consult with us on business acquisitions, reorganizations and joint ventures involving American companies or licensing arrangements for product distribution in the United States.  We also help clients comply with rules administered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and major U.S. stock exchanges.

To serve these needs, the Paris office counts among its lawyers U.S. corporate and securities lawyers who, in the context of a given matter, may draw upon the firm's tax, real estate, employee benefits, antitrust and environmental lawyers.

Our lawyers in Paris also have significant experience in representing clients in French and transnational litigation, working closely with
our U.S.-based team with respect to litigation in U.S. courts and arbitration involving foreign clients.

Foreign clients and their local subsidiaries count on our experience in communicating the subtleties of the local legal climate to managers unfamiliar with local practices, our ability to draft legally effective agreements that make sense in both legal cultures, our awareness of how local issues may impact the client's legal situation at home, our attention to corporate reporting obligations, and our general sensitivity to the cultural distinctiveness of business practices and communication styles in different countries.

Our Team

The senior members of our Paris office include partners who have experience covering a broad range of legal matters around the world.

Olivier Dumas specializes in the legal and taxation aspects of capital-investment transactions, including fund formation, investment fund arrangements and associated investment and disinvestment transactions. Oliver also has extensive experience practicing in both legal and judicial aspects of general Business Law.  He holds a Masters Degree in Economic law from the University of Paris IX Dauphine.

Philippe Goossens focuses on white collar crime and complex disputes.  He also represents major construction companies in labor law litigation and statutory audits, and he advises on criminal aspects of economic and urban law.  He holds masters degrees in business law and judicial careers from Paris University.

Guillaume Kellner specializes in corporate law, M&A and securities law.  He represents many leading European companies in transactions.  He holds a master of business law degree and DES-DCJE of European law from Strasbourg University.

William Krisel has a corporate law background, with particular experience in international M&A.  He is a member of the New York and Paris bars.  Bill graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1976 and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1980.

Jean L'Homme focuses on corporate finance, specifically on financial services and infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships. He has extensive experience providing advice to financial institutions including banks, investment services providers and funds, in the wide range of regulatory issues relative to their businesses including, but not limited to licensing, compliance and regulatory investigations. Jean is a member of the Paris Bar, and received his law degree from Paris II University.

Valérie Lafarge-Sarkozy has focused her 20-year legal career on product liability matters in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and pesticide industries.  She received her masters of business law degree and DEA from Paris II University.

Christophe Lapp has over 25 years' experience in international arbitration, strategic counseling and litigation, specifically in the construction industry.  He has negotiated contracts and resolved disputes for significant projects around the world and is an experienced advisor to the French government on issues of tele-communications law, antitrust and public administrative liability.  He received his masters of private law degree from Reims University.

Béatrice Pola focuses on labor and employment issues for some of France's largest employers.  A member of the Paris bar since 1992, she lectures to students preparing for the bar examination and is widely published in labor law periodicals.  Béatrice is a graduate of Toulouse University, with a masters in private law and post-graduate degrees in business law and litigation.

Daniel Schmidt specializes in the legal and taxation aspects of private equity investment funds, LBOs and venture capital; mergers and acquisitions; restructuring; finance; and capital markets, such as IPOs and public buy-back offers.  He received a DJCE and Master's Degree in Business and Taxation law from the University of Montpellier.

Delia Spitzer has extensive experience in international business transactions and is a member of the New York and Paris bars.  She is a graduate of the Catholic University of Cordoba (Argentina) and Columbia University Law School.

Yasmine Tarasewicz focuses on labor and employment issues.  She is the author of Le Statut du Dirigeant Social ("The Status of Corporate Managers") and a lecturer on cutting-edge labor law issues.  She is a member of the Paris bar and a graduate of the University of Paris School of Law.

These senior attorneys are assisted by a team of associates based permanently in Paris, as well as lawyers from other offices who rotate to Paris to better serve clients.