Former Gide and CC lawyers set up Paris independent

Jeremie Duhamel and Jeremy Blimbaum have launched banking and finance firm Duhamel Blimbaum along with two associates.

Before launching the firm Duhamel was a senior associate at Gide and Blimbaum was a senior associate at Viguie Schmidt. Before that he worked for Orrick Rambaud Martel and Clifford Chance.

“We wanted to create an independent law firm specialising in banking and finance,” said Duhamel. “The idea was to add the skills and knowledge in corporate finance and securities law to banking, finance and asset management. There are a lot of specialised M&A boutiques and we wanted to do the same thing with banking and finance.”

Duhamel Blimbaum is the second Paris boutique to launch this week. On 17 May, two partners from Thomas Cooper left to launch a shipping boutique (17 May 2010).

“I would say now that people can see the limits of the magic circle,” says Blimbaum. “Our idea was to be able to deliver high-quality service to clients but at an independent level so there’s no problems with conflicts of interest. And being smaller lets us be reactive and proactive in client relationships.”