Clifford Chance loses seven-lawyer Paris funds team to Gibson Dunn

Gibson Dunn has made a major push in Paris, hiring a top-ranked seven-lawyer team from Clifford Chance to establish a funds offering in the French capital for the first time.

The group includes four partners - Xavier Comaills, Marie Préat, Elodie Cinconze and Pierre Goyat - alongside three counsel. Comaills and Préat are regarded as among France’s top funds lawyers, with the wider practice considered market-leading.

Both partners spent nearly 13 years at Clifford Chance after joining from Ashurst in 2013.

Paris funds play

The incoming team advises sponsors and investors across fund formation, secondaries, GP stakes and fund-related tax structuring - areas that have seen strong demand as private capital activity in Europe continues to grow.

Shukie Grossman, chair of the global investment funds practice, said the hires mark a “transformational step” in the growth of Gibson Dunn’s global funds practice, pointing to Paris as a critical hub for the European private capital ecosystem.

Comaills added that Paris has emerged as a key hub for primary and secondary transactions and GP stakes alongside London. “Global sponsors increasingly require integrated counsel across Europe’s financial centres and favour European integrated platforms supported by a strong US fund formation capability,” he said.

Opened in 1967, the Paris office was Gibson’s first outside California. The office currently has around 18 partners.

It is the latest move in a steady European expansion for the US firm. Gibson Dunn recently opened in Madrid with the hire of a senior M&A partner from Freshfields, and last year launched in Zurich, led by Christopher Harris KC, who joined as co-chair of its global arbitration practice.

US firms circle Paris

Gibson Dunn’s move comes amid a wave of lateral hiring in Paris led by US firms, many targeting private capital talent.

Ropes & Gray has been among the most active, launching in Paris last year with a team from Clifford Chance before adding a 10-lawyer funds and tax team from Linklaters in January and following up with an eight-lawyer M&A team from Latham.

Elsewhere, Proskauer hired private equity partners from Hogan Lovells, White & Case took a corporate real estate team from DLA Piper, and Latham added a four-lawyer energy and infrastructure PE team from Clifford Chance.