New York – (December 19, 2005) – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is pleased to announce that Pierre-Pascal Bruneau, a leading French transactional tax lawyer, will join its Paris office as a partner in early 2006. Mr. Bruneau is a widely recognized leader in providing tax and structuring advice in complex domestic and cross-border transactions, an area in which he has practiced over the past 20 years. His clients include leading private equity funds, financial institutions, and French and global corporations. Mr. Bruneau joins the firm from Slaughter and May, where he was a partner in that firm’s Paris office.
“We are very pleased that Pierre-Pascal is joining the firm. He is an outstanding lawyer who fits well with our growing French and cross-border transactional practice. He will play an important role as we continue to strengthen our leading Private Equity, M&A, Leveraged Finance, and Fund Formation Practices”, said Raman Bet-Mansour, Managing Partner of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s Paris office.
“The strong growth of our Paris office created an excellent opportunity to attract a tax lawyer of Pierre-Pascal’s caliber. Pierre-Pascal will enhance our Private Equity, Acquisition Finance and general M&A practices in France and throughout Europe. He broadens the service we bring to our clients through our very strong tax capabilities in New York, London and Frankfurt”, said James A. Kiernan, Managing Partner of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in Europe.
“I am delighted to join a firm of Debevoise’s stature that has made a strong commitment to develop its corporate practice in Europe and particularly France. I have had the pleasure of knowing many of the firm’s Paris lawyers for some time and believe that together we can continue the process of building a preeminent French and cross-border transactional practice”, Pierre-Pascal Bruneau added.
Debevoise’s Paris office, which opened in 1964, has over 40 French, American and English lawyers, representing French, U.S. and other multinational companies and financial institutions in France and abroad. With Mr. Bruneau, the office will have six partners and ten international counsel, each with considerable experience in French and cross-border transactions. The Paris office is part of an integrated European practice, and the firm’s Paris-based lawyers work in close collaboration with their colleagues in London, Frankfurt and Moscow, as well as New York and China.
Pierre-Pascal Bruneau holds a Maîtrise de Droit international et privé, an LLM (Georgetown University) and a JD (Chicago-Kent University). He started his career as a tax associate at Francis Lefebvre (1980–1981), and then at Cleary Gottlieb in Paris and New York (1981–1984). He was with McDermott Will & Emery in Chicago (1984–1988) and in 1988 he founded Pierre-Pascal Bruneau et Associés. In 1995, he joined Slaughter and May as a partner. He is a member of the Paris Bar and the Illinois Bar.
One of the leading international law firms, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP was founded in 1931 and currently has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Frankfurt, Moscow, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The firm has over 640 lawyers, more than 100 of whom are based in Europe, and provides services principally in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, private equity funds, financings and restructurings, tax matters, litigation of complex commercial and criminal matters and international dispute resolution.
