Simmons nabs Linklaters Paris lawyer

Simmons & Simmons is taking a corporate lawyer from Linklaters as a new partner to its Paris office.

Christophe Asselineau is a senior lawyer at Linklaters in Paris and specialises in corporate finance and projects. He will be setting up a projects practice for Simmons in its Paris office, focusing on developing French-speaking countries.

Asselineau is the seventh partner to join the Simmons office and will be working alongside 30 fee earners.

Stephen Walters, corporate partner in the firm's French practice, says: "We have got a thriving corporate practice and business is developing very well at the moment.

"We have been looking to add to the number of corporate partners to help us respond to the existing deal flow and coupled with that we have got an emerging projects group."

Walters says that the office is currently acting on three international development projects in Guinea, Iran and Australia - advising French banks and sponsors.

Walters says: "We expect Christophe to focus on the projects side and also help us to deal with the corporate work."

Asselineau says that he is joining Simmons because the opportunity to set up a projects practice as part of the firm's international group was too good to miss.

He says that he was expecting to get partnership at Linklaters next year, but would prefer to be one of the major players at Simmons rather than one of the many partners at Linklaters.