Norton Rose, Shearman raid Simmons Paris

Simmons & Simmons’ Paris office has suffered a double partner loss with defections to Norton Rose and Shearman & Sterling.

The firm’s Paris-based head of energy and infrastructure, Christophe Asselineau, who also heads Simmons’ Africa group, is leaving shortly to join Shearman. Asselineau joined Simmons as a partner in 2000.

As reported in this week’s Africa Special Report the continent is becoming an increasingly important focus for many law firms, with increasing capital being poured into African countries by investors worldwide.

Meanwhile Norton Rose has hired employment partner Laure Joncour along with of counsel Marie-Thérèse Eugenio and Elodie Grangier and an associate.

Norton Rose has not had an employment team in Paris since late 2009, when employment head Claire Fougea took a three-lawyer team to local firm Franklin. Joncour’s hire begins the rebuilding of the department, which will diversify the firm’s offering in France away from a heavy focus on finance, corporate and related areas.

A spokesperson for Simmons declined to comment on the departures apart from to wish Joncour and Asselineau well.

Meanwhile it has emerged that Simmons corporate finance partner Arnauld Achard left earlier this year for Canadian firm Fasken Martineau. Achard joined Fasken together with Paul Hastings corporate partner Lubomir Roglev in February.

The hires brought the number of partners in Fasken’s Paris office to 13.