Orrick Adds Top Team in Paris

PARIS - The international law firm Orrick announced today that a team of five leading French practitioners has joined its Paris office, including Hervé Touraine, one of the preeminent structured finance practitioners in Paris; Emmanuel Ringeval, an authority on leveraged lending and debt restructuring; Emmanuel Bénard, a sought-after advisor to international companies on complex French employment law issues; Patrick Tardivy, a rising star in M&A and private equity; and Olivier Bernard, a rising star in structured finance and debt capital markets. They all join from Freshfields.

The addition of this team further strengthens Orrick’s 90-lawyer French platform, recognized as one of the leading international law firm practices in the market. The five new Orrick partners advise many of the largest French and international financial institutions, the most prominent French energy companies and infrastructure funds, CAC 40 companies and other international groups.

With this growth, Orrick has now added 17 partners in Europe since the beginning of 2015, including most recently the addition of Peter Roberts in London as head of the firm’s global Oil & Gas practice.

“This team takes our French platform to the next level,” said Orrick Chairman & CEO Mitch Zuklie. “They bring skills and reputations of the highest quality and greatly advance our strategy to be one of the leading advisors, in France and globally, to the finance, energy & infrastructure and technology sectors.”

Jean-Pierre Martel, Orrick’s Senior Partner in France, added: “We are honored to welcome these highly esteemed practitioners to our Paris office and look forward to a seamless collaboration with them to serve our clients and strengthen our practice both for today and the future. It is the beginning of another successful chapter in Orrick’s history in France and in Europe.”

Hervé Touraine noted: “Our team is delighted to join this vibrant and forward-looking practice. Orrick is on the shortlist of world-class firms in Paris, having worked on some of the highest- profile matters in the French market. We are very excited about what we together will offer our many common clients, and we look forward to a close collaboration with our new colleagues in Paris, across Europe and worldwide.”

Orrick’s New Partners

• Hervé Touraine: Ranked Band 1 by Chambers Global and Chambers Europe for Structured Finance in France, Hervé advises domestic and international financial institutions, corporations and investors on banking, structured finance, securitization and capital markets. He has advised on many groundbreaking transactions in France and Europe, including in the areas of covered bonds, corporate structured bonds and the establishment of dedicated origination and refinancing platforms. Hervé is an active participant in drafting securitization and structured finance legislation and regulations in France and is a founder and General Secretary of the Institut de Finance Structurée in Paris.
• Emmanuel Ringeval: Chambers Global-rated for Banking & Finance in France, Emmanuel has a particular focus on leveraged lending and debt restructuring. He advises private equity funds, financial institutions and corporate borrowers in leveraged acquisitions and recapitalization transactions. Prior to joining Freshfields in 2012, he was a partner with Weil Gotshal.
• Emmanuel Bénard: One of the top employment lawyers in France, Emmanuel advises national and international companies all aspects of employment law. His areas of focus include employee representation, collective bargaining, collective redundancies, and mergers and acquisitions. He has a strong record in collective litigation. Ranked Band 2 by Chambers Europe for Employment in France, Emmanuel is the co-author of a comprehensive book on restructurings in France.
• Patrick Tardivy: Patrick focuses on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity transactions. His sector focus includes aerospace and defense, energy and infrastructure and real estate investments. He also has experience in investments in Francophone Africa. Clients praise him in Legal 500 for his “excellent business acumen.”
• Olivier Bernard: Olivier advises French and international banks and borrowers on cross-border transactions. His practice focuses on structured finance, capital markets and securitization of a wide range of assets. He has advised on a number of groundbreaking multi-jurisdictional transactions, privately or publicly placed. He also advises major French banking groups on their covered bonds programs.

> A French-language version of the release can be viewed here.

About Orrick Rambaud Martel

Orrick established its Paris office in 2002 and expanded it significantly through a combination with the leading French firm Rambaud Martel in 2006. The French team has earned 23 practice rankings in Chambers Global and Chambers Europe, and is known for leadership in takeover bids, cross-border M&A and private equity, energy & infrastructure, finance, restructuring, tech companies, dispute resolution and international arbitration. Examples of the firm’s work include: advising Alstom’s board on the $13.5 billion sale of the company’s power generation business to General Electric; advising L’Oreal on its $8 billion stock buyback; representing the Peugeot family in a $4.1 billion capital raise including a joint venture with China’s Dongfeng Motor Group; restructurings of EuroDisney, Eurotunnel and Belvédère; and some of the most innovative project financings in the market including the first project finance transaction in France under the new Juncker Plan, the financing of the ports of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer; an innovative sea urbanization project that will increase the size of Monaco; and the first floating liquefied natural gas facility project in Africa for Golar LNG. The firm recently secured what American Lawyer dubbed a “mega win” in l’Affaire Tapie, one of the longest running and most closely watched disputes in France.