McDermotts picks up Fasken trio for Paris energy boost

Fasken partners Jean-Claude Petilon, Liliane Doukouré and Matthieu Adam all join McDermott’s energy advisory practice group. Petilon is joining as senior counsel while Doukouré and Adam will be counsel at their new firm.

Petilon was one of the founding partners of Fasken’s Paris office, having joined with a team from Dewey & LeBoeuf (22 September 2009). He previously established the African practice for Coudert Brothers.

The trio have experience advising African and international companies, as well as African governments, on energy and projects transactions and financing. Paris is often used as a base for firms’ Africa practices due to its close links with former French colonies on the continent.

The hires mark McDermott’s continued efforts to grow its presence in Paris, two years after launching there with the hire of Herbert Smith’s local corporate head Jacques Buhart (25 April 2011). Last year the firm picked up a team of three senior lawyers from Orrick Rambaud Martel, as well as lawyers from Jones Day and Weil Gotshal & Manges (6 June 2012).

Buhart described the arrival of the Africa-focused team as a “major step” in the development of McDermott’s Paris office. The firm now has 12 partners in France.