A team from the Paris office of New York-based Kramer Levin is scheduled to join Morgan Lewis’ Paris office on 1 January.
This move represents a major expansion for US firm Morgan Lewis, which currently has a 12-lawyer team in Paris, half of whom are partners, according to its website. With a 54-lawyer team from Kramer’s Paris office set to join, Morgan Lewis’ Paris team will expand to approximately 70 lawyers in total.
The fate of Kramer’s Paris team has been the subject of speculation after the office elected against being part of the planned merger with Herbert Smith Freehills announced last month.
The team, with 54 lawyers, makes up most of Kramer’s Paris office, which has 62 lawyers according to its website. The office is currently led by corporate partner Dana Anagnostou and private equity partner Sébastien Pontillo. Anagnostou will soon become co-managing partner of the Paris office alongside Sabine Smith-Vidal, a partner at Morgan Lewis.
‘This is an exciting and market-changing development on a number of levels – for our office, for our European team, for our firm, and for our clients,’ said Smith-Vidal in a statement.
‘In Morgan Lewis, we have a true partner and global platform that supports collaboration and growth opportunities throughout Europe and around the globe, with a track record of successful expansion and integration of groups like ours,’ added Anagnostou.
The move marks a continued period of European growth for Morgan Lewis, following the opening of its second German office in Munich in March 2023. In London, the firm added IP litigators Tim Powell and Hiroshi Sheraton, corporate partner Luciana Griebel, and secondaries partner Ted Craig, all this year.
Paris became Kramer’s first foreign office in 1999 when it acquired Rogers & Wells’ five-partner Paris office following its decision not to be part of the Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells merger.