Squire Patton Boggs has boosted its Paris real estate practice with the appointment of a four-lawyer team, including two partners.
Estelle Vernejoul started her career in 2012 at Eversheds Sutherland in Paris, where she spent six years working in various practice areas, including real estate, insolvency and restructuring, insurance and competition. She then set up her own firm, Avocatalyse, which focused on real estate and construction matters.
Her areas of expertise include real estate transactions, portfolio management and leasing, real estate and construction projects, litigation and urban planning law.
Vernejoul joins Squire Patton Boggs with associate Angélique Charrier, who worked with her for two and a half years at Avocatalyse after spending five years as a self-employed lawyer.
Thomas Coëffé joins Squire Patton Boggs as a partner after six years at Taylor Wessing’s Paris office—the final two as counsel. He previously worked at Hogan Lovells in Paris and at the Paris and Casablanca offices of French firm Jeantet Associés. He began his legal career at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.
He advises on large-scale real estate transactions and projects, including real estate mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing, financing and asset management. He has particular expertise in the hospitality sector, having advised extensively on hotel acquisitions and financings.
He brings associate Elise Milani with him, who has worked in Taylor Wessing’s real estate department for nearly two and a half years. She began her legal career at French firms Bourdon and Bessan.
“Estelle and Thomas are experienced lawyers with skills that both complement and fit well together. Thomas brings a focus on development, investment and private equity transactions, while Estelle balances these areas with portfolio management and, importantly, brings expertise in construction, litigation and urban planning,” Matthew Dalzell, the European head of the firm’s real estate practice, said in a statement.
Paris managing partner Carole Sportes added: “With our growth in Paris we are seeing increasing demand for real estate, both in terms of supporting the transactional activity of other practices, as well as servicing client needs more generally. Estelle and Thomas also offer global synergies in key industry sectors such as hospitality and leisure and will be very much valued locally and at a firmwide level.”
Taylor Wessing was approached for comment.
Vernejoul and Coëffé are the latest partners to join Squire Patton Boggs in Paris, following the hire last month of private equity lawyers Maxime Dequesne and Anthony Guillaume, and acquisition leverage finance lawyer Benjamin Marché.