Squire Patton Boggs has hired a partner from private equity boutique Lamartine Conseil in Paris as it continues to build out its PE bench in the French capital. 

Maxime Dequesne joins Squire after five years at Lamartine, where he was a partner. Before that he spent time as counsel at rival PE boutique De Pardieu Brocas Maffei between 2012 and 2016. Dequesne spent the bulk of his legal career with SJ Berwin and departed the firm a year before its merger with Hong Kong-based King & Wood Mallesons went live in 2013. 

Paul Mann, head of Squire’s European private equity group, said Dequesne’s arrival represented “another step forward in the roll-out of our private equity business strategy, which encompasses major and continuing investment in France, Spain, Italy, the UK and other locations, to meet the ever-increasing demands from our clients for superior transactional and investment support”. 

Dequesne has more than a decade of experience advising on private equity matters in France and specialises in handling leveraged buy-outs, development capital, real estate and venture capital transactions on behalf of French mid-market funds.

Some of his recent work has included advising in connection with French media company Phenix Group’s acquisition of digital printing and display company Smartmedia in February. Teams from regional players Berrylaw and Jeausserand Audouard also worked on the transaction alongside Lamartine. 

Dequesne’s arrival marks the third lateral partner hire for Squire’s Paris office this month following the arrivals of private equity partner Anthony Guillaume from DLA Piper and leveraged finance partner Benjamin Marché who joined from Shearman & Sterling. 

Following the latest additions the office now boasts 20 partners, four counsel and 21 associates, as listed on the firm’s website. 

Carol Sportes, managing partner of Squire’s Paris office, said: “It’s great to have Maxime with us, following Anthony and Benjamin’s recent arrival. The increase in private equity and M&A and banking capabilities in Paris is part of a much bigger picture of growth and investment in France. There is considerable excitement across the office about the resources and opportunities we can now offer to clients.” 

Lamartine did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Dequesne’s departure. 

Squire’s moves come amid an ongoing mid-market private equity and M&A deal making boom in France which has opened up opportunities for French and international firms to grow their teams in Paris to take advantage of the high levels of activity. 

Among them is Shearman & Sterling, which last October added a four-partner PE and M&A team from DLA Piper that included the latter’s co-managing partner for France, Xavier Norlain, while in September Willkie Farr & Gallagher hired private equity specialist Tiana Rambatomanga from Stephenson Harwood. 

Last week private Parisian firm Mermoz Avocats, which was launched in January by a group of senior French lawyers to target the country’s buoyant PE and M&A market, announced it was set to double in size through a merger with local firm HPML. 

Mermoz is one of a number of boutiques to have been launched in the French capital recently by partners who left large law firms to go their own way. January also saw senior Dentons partners Barton Legum and Jean-Christophe Honlet depart the firm to set up their own international arbitration-focused boutique, Honlet Legum Arbitration. 

And in February it emerged that the head of Hogan Lovells' Paris banking and finance litigation practice, Julien Martinet, had quit the firm with his team to launch his own financial disputes firm, Swift Litigation.