Litigation is part of the practice’s DNA. Apart from the usual business litigation, the practice’s expertise in collective insolvency proceedings enables it to carry out work in the context of many specific actions arising out of restructurings.
Specific expertise
- Defending company officers acting in a de facto or de jure manner in the event that actions are brought to punish them by court-appointed administrators or at the request of the State Prosecutor (e.g. company director disqualification, personal insolvency, contributions when companies have insufficient assets to cover their debts, bankruptcy, misuse of company assets, etc.).
- Nullity actions concerning the suspect period.
- Actions to extend the scope of collective insolvency proceedings when the company targeted by the initial action is a fictitious and/or when assets are intermingled.
- Appeal proceedings and applications by third parties (i.e. persons not represented in the proceedings) to set aside a judgement which adversely affects their interests.
- Litigation regarding the exclusive jurisdiction of the court hearing collective insolvency proceedings (claims, contracts in effect, the allocation of pledges by the court, etc.).
- Litigation, which arises out of mergers between firms and the acquisitions of firms (joint ventures, warranties on assets and liabilities, takeover and controlling interest agreements, etc.).
- Disputes between shareholders, derivative actions against company directors.
- General corporate law litigation before courts in the jurisdiction of the French state, in foreign states (in conjunction with partner practices abroad) and before arbitration bodies under the aegis of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), or other similar bodies.
- Commercial litigation including termination of established commercial relations, unfair competition, direct actions on the part of subcontractors, debt collection, etc.).
- Enforcement procedures as regards movable and immovable assets.
- Corporate criminal law, criminal proceedings, protecting the interests of a firm or of the company officers being prosecuted (in relation to alleged misuses of company assets, fraud, inaccurate accounts, undeclared work and other offences of a business or fiscal nature).