The firm yesterday confirmed it is opening offices in both Paris and Dubai, in conjunction with partnerships with Leitão de Sousa in Portugal and Gürhan in Turkey.
In a statement, the firm said the project stemmed from the shared vision of named partner Arthur Brandi and French lawyer Guillaume Dolidon, who forecast that key future high-growth markets are ‘more inclined towards the Latin culture’.
The Paris office will include 18 staff, including seven partners.

Congo deal

Elsewhere, Lisbon-based firm Miranda Correia Amendoeira & Associados has continued its 2012 expansion by opening in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) through a deal with a local practice.
The firm is set to capitalise on its association with MBM-CONSEIL, one of the largest and best-established law firms in the DRC, and will initially focus advising clients in the natural resources (predominantly diamond, gold and copper), logging and forestry, and transport sectors.
Headquartered in the capital Kinshasa, 11-lawyer MBM-CONSEIL is one of the largest and longest-established firms in DRC, and was the country’s first formal legal partnership. It also has an additional office in the second city of Lubumbashi, in the mineral-rich Katanga Province.

Dubai opening

Meanwhile, Paris-based firm Arago has confirmed it is also launching in Dubai.
The firm had already made inroads into the United Arab Emirates by being one of the few overseas practices to plant a flag in 2009 in Ras Al Khaimah. The new Dubai office will be managed by partner Bertrand Dumon.
The firm has also established an active partnership with one of the UAE’s leading local law firms, Bin Shabib & Associates.