Jones Day has hired a team of banking and finance lawyers from French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel to boost its Paris financial markets practice.

The team is led by partner Jean-Guillaume de Tocqueville, who is joined by counsel Matthieu Ollivry and associates Catherine Feunteun, Diane Richebourg and Charles Smith. The team brings with them a variety of individual specialisms related to banking and finance, including litigation, regulation, ESG and fintech.

Alban Caillemer du Ferrage, chair of Jones Day’s financial markets practice for the EMEA and APAC regions, said: “I have known Jean-Guillaume for 25 years and have always been impressed by his professionalism, his network and his ability to advise boards, leaders and top managers on the most complex issues. He has built the best reputation as a skilled lawyer with a deep understanding of how financial institutions and regulators operate in France and in Europe.”

De Tocqueville joins after almost three decades at Gide in Paris, where he was a partner and head of its financial services practice. Ollivry, meantime, is a trial lawyer who spent more than a decade at Gide, having joined from August Debouzy and White & Case before that. The ex-Gide team has been brought in to strengthen the firm’s financial services and regulation capabilities in Paris, and will advise French and international financial institutions on compliance, anti-money laundering, fintech, blockchain and banking and finance litigation matters. 

Sophie Hagège, the partner in charge of Jones Day’s Paris office, said: “The lawyers here in our Paris office advise a large part of the CAC 40 and a number of leading financial institutions across Europe. Jean-Guillaume is an important addition to our team and strengthens our ability to assist these clients with both transactional and litigation services.”

Elsewhere in Paris, Linklaters hired private equity partner Florent Mazeron from Magic Circle rival Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer last month to bolster its French corporate and M&A team. And back in January, Addleshaw Goddard raided Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and K&L Gates for a team of 22 lawyers to launch its Paris office – the firm’s second in mainland Europe.