Paris

Latham's Paris-based lawyers provide comprehensive services to public and closely held corporations, private equity firms, financial institutions and other organizations in France and throughout the world.

Latham’s Paris office consistently garners top-tier rankings in leading publications such as Bloomberg, Chambers, The Legal 500, Les Echos, mergermarket and Thomson Financial. These accolades recognize the firm's full-service capabilities in Paris and its market standing, depth of expertise and practice strength.

Combining Deep Understanding of the French Market with a Vibrant International Practice

Very few law firms operating in the French market can match the depth of Latham's practice as well as the breadth of its geographic platform and the robust technology that underpins its performance. The lawyers in Paris maintain in-depth knowledge of client’s industries, including the economic and regulatory environments in which they operate. They are particularly active in the financial services, energy, hotels and leisure, insurance, life sciences, luxury and telecommunications sectors, advising both listed and emerging companies. Latham’s added value in the French market lies in its ability to provide both transactional advice and litigation counsel in core practices such as: 

• Banking & Finance
• Capital Markets
• Competition and European Law
• Employment Counseling
• Energy
• Information Technology
• Intellectual Property
• International Arbitration
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Private Equity
• Real Estate
• Restructuring
• Structured Finance
• Tax
• Telecommunications

Latham's Paris office includes French, English, US and European -qualified lawyers who have French, Chinese (Mandarin), English, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish language capabilities. The firm's on-the-ground understanding of the French market combined with a vibrant international practice has resulted in successful long-term relationships with the firm’s global clients.

Latham & Watkins’ Paris office is actively involved in pro bono matters has recently focused on providing legal assistance to national and international charities, nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations. In France, the firm works closely with the Pro Bono Institute and Handicap International, as well as with Ashoka France, assisting its fellows with new ventures, and with Business Angels des Cités, a private venture capital fund investing in small-and medium-sized companies located in economically depressed urban areas.

According to the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s third annual TrustLaw Index of Pro Bono, Latham ranks third in the provision of pro bono services in France. The 2016 index was “compiled with data collected from over 130 law firms—both large and small—and representing 64,500 lawyers in 75 countries, [and it] provides a snapshot of the resources mobilised by the industry in support of social causes, while also monitoring the growth of the sector globally.”

Latham's lawyers are also involved in various pro bono matters, including:

• Diversity projects with the Association Française des Managers de la Diversité (AFMD)
• Microfinance projects through Association pour le Droit à l’Initiative Economique (ADIE)
• Housing projects for disabled and physical training projects for the elderly and disabled through S.I.E.L. BLEU (Sport, Initiative et Loisirs)
• The establishment of drinkable water systems for rural populations in Cambodia through 1001 Fontaines Pour Demain
• Helping to staff a free legal clinic for the humanitarian organization Droits d’Urgence

The office's employment lawyers also provide assistance to Force Femmes, a nongovernmental organization that helps to provide access to employment for unemployed women age 45 and over, while Latham's litigators have advocated before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux and the Institut pour la Justice et la Démocratie à Haïti with respect to the electoral process for the presidential election in Haiti.

Survey of Pro Bono Practices and Opportunities

A multi-office team of Latham & Watkins lawyers and professional staff from across the firm’s offices globally conducted extensive research to prepare the 2016 edition of the “Survey of Pro Bono Practices and Opportunities” report. Conducted in conjunction with the Pro Bono Institute (PBI), the unique report is an essential resource for local practitioners, in-house teams and non-profits on pro bono practices around the world.

• Download the chapter about pro bono practices and opportunities in France