Travers Smith announces new head partner for Paris office

Travers Smith Braithwaite has announced details of its new Paris "liaison" office, first revealed by The Lawyer (22 February).
David Patient, who has just been made a partner, will head the office which is the firm's first abroad.
Although the firm is investing in its own offices, it will be a solo operation for Patient until Travers Smith has had time to assess how the new venture is going.
Managing partner Alasdair Douglas says: "A significant amount of Travers Smith Braithwaite's work has an international dimension. For this work we believe that our clients are best served by our having access to, and the ability to select, established overseas firms which have the necessary expertise and experience.
"This approach also allows us the flexibility to work with a client's existing legal advisers in different jurisdictions or to select alternative advisers where conflicts of interest arise."
The office will source and manage the provision of French legal services to the firm and its clients.
The move has been planned for some time but opposition from the French bar has slowed the venture down. It is understood that the new office was only permitted because Travers Smith happens to have a French trained avocat working in its London office.
Travers Smith has only one other office outside London, on the Isle of Man.