Canadian firm Fasken Martineau has launched in Paris after acquiring local firm Gravel Leclerc & Partners and a hiring a four-lawyer team from Dewey & LeBoeuf.
Fasken has acquired seven-lawyer firm Gravel as part of a launch that London head Gary Howes said is designed to take advantage of opportunities in the Francophone African market.
Howes said: “We’ve had a strong African practice for a while now and we wanted to be able to take advantage of the Francophone market. The combination of these two groups gives us that opportunity and gives us a good sized team on the ground.”
The Dewey team includes senior counsel Jean-Claude Petilon, who joins Fasken as a partner. Before joining Dewey, Petilon established the African practice for now defunct Coudert Brothers.
Earlier this month The Lawyer reported that Fasken had boosted its London office after hiring an eight-strong projects team from Howard Kennedy (9 September 2009).