King & Spalding expands in Paris with Freshfields property team
US firm King & Spalding has made the first major hire for its Paris office since opening there in 2009, picking up a seven-strong team from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
The team is led by partner Benoît Marcilhacy, previously head of Freshfields’ French real estate group. Marcilhacy brings with him fellow partner Pascal Schmitz, counsel Alexandre Couturier as counsel and associates Cyrille Gogny-Goubert, Blandine Hugon-Pagès, Samuel Kujas and Aurélien Néret-Minet.
Property is a new area for King & Spalding in France. The office opened three years ago (27 April 2009) with the hire of Dewey & LeBoeuf Paris arbitration head Eric Schwartz and has focused on arbitration since then.
The hires bring the number of lawyers in the office to 15, including five partners.
Marcilhacy focuses on the acquisition and sale of structured property folios, sales and leasebacks and the establishment of real estate funds. He joined Freshfields in 2001 from Gide Loyrette Nouel.
A spokesperson for Freshfields wished the team well.
