Nabarro has opted for Lefèvre Pelletier & associés to fill the France-sized hole in its international network after August & Debouzy left the alliance in March this year [2014].
The French firm, which has three top tier recommendations in the Legal 500, will ally with GSK Stockmann + Kollegen in Germany, Italy’s Nunziante Magrone and Spanish Roca Junyent as well as the UK’s Nabarro. It brings a North African presence to the network with offices in Algiers and Casablanca as well a Chinese contingent with outposts in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
The selection process saw Patricia Godfrey, partner and head of international at Nabarro, take the lead in assessing the French market for potential candidates though all members were involved in discussions and meeting a shortlist of contenders.
Godfrey said: ‘We have found the right French firm with the right culture and the right balance of practice areas to complement and strengthen the alliance. Building meaningful, productive relationships with other firms is often a matter of chemistry. In Lefèvre Pelletier we have found that chemistry.’
Lefèvre Pelletier stood out as the front runner due to its real estate team and its record in handling complex deals, talking to Legal Business, Godfrey added: ‘The Chinese presence was also a significant attraction. They have been established there for many years and have done a good job of sourcing French inbound work.’
The alliance now houses 980 lawyers across 31 offices and involves a programme of secondments, joint practice area meetings as well as referring work between members.
The move follows August & Debouzy exiting the network with the firm citing at the time an intent to grow its own affiliations, founding partner Gilles August, said: ‘This decision allows August & Debouzy an opportunity to develop relationships with other law firms in jurisdictions already covered by alliance members’.
michael.west@legalease.co.uk
