Jones Day has launched a fund formation practice in Paris through the hire of partner Catherine Martougin from Luxembourg firm Arendt & Medernach in a bid to boost the firm’s private equity capabilities, while it also recruited a five-strong team from French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel to boost its TMT practice, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.
Martougin focuses on advising fund initiators, managers, investment advisors, and investors, particularly in alternative asset areas, including private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and debt. Prior to joining Arendt & Medernach as a partner in 2003, she spent four years in the Paris office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
Jones Day’s private equity co-head Adam Greaves said: ‘Responding to strong interest from our fund clients, the addition of a strong Luxembourg fund formation practice in Paris enables us to provide even better service to the many global clients we serve on cross-border matters.’
Sophie Hagège, partner-in-charge of the firm’s Paris office said: ‘With 120 lawyers in our Paris office, she is the latest in a string of very talented lawyers who have joined. And while she may be the most recent, she certainly will not be the last. We will continue to add even more depth to our full-service and cross-border skill set.’
Also today (1 July) the firm has recruited TMT partner Rémy Fekete as a partner in Paris from Gide Loyrette Nouel and he brings with him a four-strong team of associates. Ranked as a leading individual in The Legal 500 for telecoms in France, Fekete is set to build out the firm’s Africa practice and will work closely with its government regulation, M&A, projects & infrastructure, IP and disputes teams, to assist telecoms, energy and infrastructure clients with their projects on the African continent.
‘Joining Jones Day allows us to integrate our practice into a global firm and create substantial synergies around the TMT sector, which is booming worldwide and particularly in Africa,’ said Fekete.
July is following June as a prolific hiring period for the firm. Lateral hires made last month include Herbert Smith Freehills’ City-based deputy senior partner Mark Crean and Latham & Watkins project finance partner Nick Collins.
Other firms scaling up in Paris today include Watson Farley & Williams,which has announced the hire of finance partner Guillaume Ansaloni from local firm De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk