Freshfields joins Paris hiring spree with four-lawyer M&A team

Freshfields has hired a four-lawyer M&A team in Paris, led by dealmaker Benoit Marpeau - the latest in a flurry of international firms scaling up in the French capital.

Marpeau joins from boutique Peltier Juvigny Marpeau & Associés, where he was a name partner and led the M&A team for the past decade. He brings with him two associates and one counsel. His practice focuses on public and private M&A, carve-outs and reorganisations.

Paris talent war

Freshfields is one of several global firms on a Paris hiring spree. Linklaters has been particularly active, adding a leveraged finance duo from McDermott just last week and an eight-lawyer restructuring team from elite French M&A specialist Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier earlier in July.

Weil added a six-lawyer antitrust team (also from Peltier) in June, Hogan Lovells brought in a top-tier IP pair from A&O Shearman in the same month, while Ashurst landed Alexis Werl from Eversheds to head up its white-collar practice back in May.

What they said

"The French market is an important market for the firm, which has always supported an ambitious - and successful - strategy of development in Paris", said Hervé Pisani, co-head of  Freshfields’ global transactions team in Paris.

"The arrival of Benoit Marpeau, a recognised expert combining technical skills that are highly regarded by clients and their peers, with strong interpersonal skills, is part of a genuine desire to root our growth strategy in the long term."