We provide assistance in drafting and negotiating all types of contracts that a company may enter into in the normal course of business, whether with customers, partners or contractors.

A contract formalizes a commercial agreement. A contract must also help secure a relationship and anticipate and solve any possible issues in performance. Effective legal protection can only be provided if the contract is clearly and accurately drafted.

We claim specific expertise in contract drafting as a result of our long experience as a provider of advisory services and litigation management.

We provide our clients with advice and assistance throughout the company lifecycle: in choosing the right type of corporate intity, drafting, corporate constitutional documents, officers’ status, shareholders’ agreements, reorganization, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy proceedings.

Advice on Competition, Retail and Consumer Law is a key component of oour legal services.

We advise our clients on issues related to the laws and regulations governing the manufacturer/distributor relationships (discriminatory practices; discounts and rebates; purchase terms and conditions and trade cooperation agreements; refusal to sell; fixed prices; invoicing; etc) and we help them implement appropriate contractual schemes.

We also provide assistance in connection with disputes relating to such issues and in the event of termination of business relationships.

We assist our clients in selecting a distribution channel or program and drafting the relevant contracts (supermarket and hypermarket distribution, exclusive distribution, selective distribution, franchising, etc.).

Due to its ever growing importance, French and EU competition law has become a significant area to consider when drafting any type of contracts (distribution, licensing, R&D, cooperation, etc.) and when implementing business and pricing policies (market compartmentalization, discrimination, etc.).

We also provide litigation management services for proceedings before French and European commercial and other specialized courts (Conseil de la concurrence, EC Commission and Court of Justice of the EC).

Moreover, we are very familiar with all issues relating to advertising and promotion. We assist our clients with advice and representation on challenges related to misleading advertising, comparative advertising and any types of promotional activities (sweepstakes, contests, premium-based sales, couponing, etc.).

With the development of consumer rights – wich are also enhanced by EU laws and regulations – companies face an increasing amount of risks and compliance requirements in multiple areas including safety, environmental responsibility, packaging, etc.

Moreover, new labeling requirements, including fair trade and organic labels, require vendors not only to know about the applicable regulations but also to take an overall cross-disciplinary approach to consumer laws.

While business is inherently governed by civil and commercial laws, criminal law is just as important and should not be eclipsed. We assist and represent our clients, whether companies or individual officers incurring personal liabilities in the main areas of white collar crime.

Many companies own intellectual property that needs be protected and safeguarded. We advise our clients in fields such as trademarks, patents, design rights and copyrights.

We provide complete lifecycle assistance from the acquisition and registration of proprietary rights to the defense of such rights when threatened or disputed.

We have developed specific expertise in handling copyright infringement matters. Specifically, we have caused the issuance of certain court decisions with significant case-law value on the issue of the exhaustion of rights.
 

We frequently assist clients in dealing with the intellectual property-related issues of unfair competition particularly in matters of unauthorized copying of products or product packaging.

The rules on unfair competition also serve as a legal basis for allegations of enticing away of employees or diversion of customers.

We represent  both national and international clients. They mainly include investors, corporate end users (industry, retail and service providers), developers and asset managers
 
Our main areas of activities are the following:
 
-          Acquisition and sale of real estate assets and real estate companies: due diligence, drafting and negotiation of legal documentation (letter of intent, acquisition deed, representations and warranties)
-          Real estate financing, drafting of real estate related security package
-          General real estate: negotiation and drafting of commercial leases, finance lease agreements and long term leases, assets management agreements
-          Development agreements, contracts related to the construction process (services agreement, project management,  architect agreement, etc.)   
-          E nvironmental law: environmental  matters related to real estate acquisitions and construction operations, sustainable development
-          General zoning and commercial equipment zoning
-          Litigation 

 We have a specific expertise in the HRT industry.
 
We advise the main players in this industry: investors, developers and hotel managers.  We assist them in all the steps of their projects including:
-          Structuring of hotel investment projects
-          Construction contracts, works contracts, zoning matters
-          Hotel management agreements, hotel leases
-          Labour hotel management related matters
-          Litigation

The Internet has become part of companies’ daily operations, whether it is used as a sales and distribution channel or morely as a publicity organ for the company's business.

 We offer our consulting services in a variety of subjects related to website creation and operation.

Additionally, the internet raises specific issues related to distribution, competition, and consumer rights, which must be considered.

And unfortunately, the internet may also be a source of illegal and malicious activities. We frequently assist clients in taking actions against fraudulent practices through Internet (copyright infringement, unfair competition, fraudulent concealment…).

In this practice area, we focus our services on the employer/employee relationship, advising our clients both at the hiring stage and in connection with the various events that may affect an employment contract.

We have advanced expertise in handling disputes brought before the Conseil des Prud’hommes (employment tribunal).

Regardless of the procedural legal rules and the substance of individual litigation cases, both starting on action and the defense of a claim require that certain choices must be made, specifically initial claim stage of the plaintiff: submission of an expedited or summary request for pre-trial, protective and/or provisional orders, election to either seek court determination on the substance or introduce summary proceedings, opening of a delay reduction case after reviewing the risks, making a choice of law determination, etc.

We design our litigation strategy on case by case, so as to answer this fundamental question: What is the client’s objective? Obviously the primary objective is to “win” or at least “not lose” the case. But beyond that, priorities may not always be the same. In some cases, emergency dictates the strategy; in other cases, the plaintiff may prefer to reach a favorable outcome even though it might take longer. While most court proceedings are aimed at obtaining monetary remedies, plaintiffs may sometimes seek a judgment that simply makes a determination in principle or puts an end to a harmful practice.

Therefore, the procedural strategy must be tailored to the objective to be achieved – a fundamental principle that we keep in mind when representing and assisting our clients before a court.

Through our Barcelona office represented by Franck Berthault and Virginie Molinier (admitted to the Barcelona Bar) and our partnership with the Catalan law firm FIRMA LEGAL and its French-Spanish Partner Joaquin Verdu Jouanneau, we have all necessary skills to provide our clients with top quality advice in their cross border operations

With offices in two countries and lawyers with bilingual capabilities and a dual general and legal culture, we are efficiently equipped to deliver the legal assistance and consulting competency needed by international businesses.

The primary purpose of our Barcelona office is to support French and Spanish companies having, or planning to establish, offices in their neighbour country.

This includes creating a subsidiary, acquiring a local company or entering into a partnership.

At the same time, we pay a great deal of attention to the growing number of Spanish companies keen to get a foothold in France.

Essentially, we have the ability to meet the needs of French nationals residing in, or traveling to, Spain by providing them with our overall knowledge of Spanish law (contract, tort, employment law, family law…) as well as our cultural and geographical knowledge.