About The Best Lawyers in France

The Best Lawyers in France were recognized by their peers in the legal industry for their professional excellence in their respective practice areas.

The guide highlights C&G’s “elite group of practitioners” and use of advanced machine learning techniques and notes that the firm “handle[s] cases that are every bit as complex and challenging as big, national law firms.” Commentators noted that the firm “punches way above its weight” in litigation and investigation matters.

C&G Co-Founder Mark S Cohen is one of only two lawyers in the United States to be recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” in both Securities Litigation: Defense and Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense. Commentary from The Legal 500 recognizes Mark as a “top-tier advocate” who is “at the top of the profession” and “can litigate with the best of them.”

For the first time, C&G’s Antitrust practice has been recognized in Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense for its handling of class action cases concerning allegations of cartel behavior, monopolization, and other exclusionary conducts. The Legal 500 cites the leadership of Melissa H Maxman and the addition of “heavyweight” lawyer John Roberti as key reasons for the practice’s recognition.

C&G is again recognized in the Advice to Individuals and Advice to Corporates categories of the Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense section. The Legal 500 commentary notes that the practice is led by “partners with deep experience who obtain excellent results for clients” and is “well placed to handle transatlantic cases” with offices in New York, Paris, and London, and has “particular expertise in financial crime, antitrust enforcement, public corruption, and tax issues.”

The guide has also recognized C&G once again in the General Commercial Disputes category, praising the practice for showing the “discipline and focus necessary to win a case.” Testimonials from the guide highlight the team’s ability to “handle large and complex matters” with “experienced people, good judgment,” and “better use of technology.”

For the 10th consecutive year, C&G has been recognized in the Securities Litigation: Defense category for the firm’s “expertise in the financial services sector” and “recognized trial expertise” in cross-border and domestic securities litigation and enforcement proceedings. The Legal 500 emphasizes the team’s “strong practitioners” and “attentiveness to clients” in the 2022 guide.

Recognized Practices:

• Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense
• Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Individuals
• Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Corporates
• General Commercial Disputes
• Securities Litigation: Defense

Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense

• Melissa H Maxman
• John Roberti
• Ronald F Wick

• Jonathan S Abernethy
• Jason Brown
• Mark S Cohen
• S Gale Dick
• Jeffrey I Lang
• Melissa H Maxman
• Reggie Schafer

• Mark S Cohen
• S Gale Dick
• Lawrence T Gresser
• Melissa H Maxman
• Daniel H Tabak

• Jonathan S Abernethy
• Mark S Cohen
• S Gale Dick
• Lawrence T Gresser

The Legal 500 analyzes the capabilities of law firms across the world. Its rankings “highlight the practice area teams who are providing the most cutting edge and innovative advice to corporate counsel.”

• Muriel Goldberg-Darmon: Stock Market Litigation
• Franck Le Mentec: Transfer Pricing and International Tax

• Angéline Duffour: Employment
• Muriel Goldberg-Darmon: Stock Market Litigation
• Guillaume Guérin: Stock Market Litigation
• Loïc Henriot: Commercial Litigation; Stock Market Litigation
• Franck Le Mentec: Tax
• Anna Milleret-Godet: Employment
• Guillaume Seligmann: IT and Internet
• Nicolas Vacca: Tax

Cohen & Gresser's Paris office has been recognized in The Legal 500’s 2020 Europe, Middle East, and Africa guide for its work in seven practice areas: Compliance, Commercial Litigation, Employment, Stock Market Litigation, Tax, White Collar Crime, and IT and Internet. Clients note that the team in Paris “shows great availability and responsiveness” and is “very effective in working through problems and understanding issues to reach reasonable resolutions.”

Muriel Goldberg-Darmon speaks with Caroline Ruellan, President of SONJ Conseil, about the relationship between shareholder dialogue and privileged information in an interview with Forbes.

(Regards croisés entre Caroline Ruellan, Présidente de SONJ Conseil et Muriel Goldberg-Darmon.)

Cohen & Gresser's Paris office has been recognized in The Legal 500’s 2019 Europe, Middle East, and Africa guide for its work in seven separate practice areas: Compliance, Commercial Litigation, Employment, Stock Market Litigation, Tax, White Collar Crime, and IT, Telecoms and the Internet. Clients note that the team in Paris is “solution driven” and has the “ability to deliver a holistic approach, from providing strategic analysis to delivering concrete action plans and execution,” with “strong technical and interpersonal skills."

Cohen & Gresser is pleased to announce that its Paris Office was honored as Regulatory Law Firm of the Year at the 2019 Women in Compliance Awards.This award recognizes the significant contributions of the women on our Regulatory Compliance team in providing exceptional legal counsel to the firm’s global clients.

Women in Compliance noted that C&G has "an impressive team with great experience and in which women are placed at its core," and applauded the firm's "ability to work on cross-border investigations, which involves the concurrent applicability of many laws and procedures of foreign jurisdictions."

C Evan Stewart is quoted in The New York Times regarding how federal regulators will be changing their annual stress tests. He notes that the changes take into account how "time-consuming and resource-oriented" these processes are.

For the second year in a row, Cohen & Gresser has been shortlisted for Regulatory Law Firm of the Year at the Women in Compliance Awards, a program that recognizes and celebrates the achievements of women in the regulatory compliance industry.

This award acknowledges a team either led by a woman or where the law firm demonstrates that the women on the team contribute significantly to the team's overall success in providing outstanding legal advice in the compliance and regulatory sectors. Click here to see the 2019 shortlist.

Jeffrey M Bronheim is quoted in Funds Europe regarding the regulatory barriers to entry that European investment firms must overcome in order to operate in the U.S. "Among these are procedural controls relating to valuations, illiquid securities, undisclosed fees, conflicts of interest, and insider trading," he said.

C&G has been shortlisted for the Regulatory Law Firm of the Year award at the 2018 Women in Compliance Awards, a program that recognizes and celebrates the achievements of women in the regulatory compliance industry.

This award acknowledges a team either led by a woman or where the law firm demonstrates that the women on the team contribute significantly to the team's overall success in providing outstanding legal advice in the compliance and regulatory sectors. Click here to see the 2018 shortlist.

Cohen & Gresser is pleased to announce the opening of its fourth office in Washington, D.C. The Washington office will be led by partner Melissa H Maxman, and will handle a range of commercial litigation and regulatory enforcement matters, with a focus on U.S. antitrust issues, criminal and civil litigation, and compliance and regulatory disputes in the federal agencies.

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In this article for Forbes, Muriel Goldberg-Darmon discusses the new US Rule 10 D-1 by which US executives of listed companies are required to reimburse their incentive-based compensation when there is an accounting restatement, even in the absence of fault. Muriel Goldberg-Darmon compares this new regulation with the French applicable rules and reminds that although the implementation of such clawback clauses is not mandatory under French law, such implementation should develop in the coming years.

• The Revised Policies will place increased pressure on companies and could result in substantial shifts in how companies need to investigate potential employee misconduct.
• Failure to disclose misconduct early in an investigation could result in companies facing the possibility of a guilty plea or indictment, rather than a deferred or non-prosecution agreement.
• To receive full cooperation credit, companies will need to assess several new strategic considerations, including the timing of disclosing hot documents and whether to claw back compensation from employees who engaged in misconduct.

• The announcement further suggests that NCET’s initial mandate will broaden the enforcement focus from criminal actors themselves to those who enable and facilitate illicit activities involving cryptocurrency.
• Cryptocurrency exchanges should take appropriate steps to work with counsel to avoid becoming the subject of a DOJ investigation or prosecution.
• The increased scrutiny will also likely extend to all cryptocurrency-focused businesses, NFT platforms, companies that accept cryptocurrency as payment, and even those that merely do business with third parties dealing in cryptocurrency.
• Given the heightened scrutiny from the DOJ and a constantly evolving regulatory landscape, all companies in the industry should evaluate compliance programs and practices to mitigate risk and exposure.

In this C&G client alert, Christian Everdell and Barbara Luse discuss a recent congressional report released by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that exposes how Russian oligarchs looking to evade U.S. sanctions are able to exploit loopholes in the art industry and calls for more regulation in a notoriously opaque industry which, according to the report’s findings, undermines one of the most fundamental tools that U.S. administrations use to pressure foreign governments against “bad behavior.”

Muriel Goldberg-Darmon discusses recent French rules which strengthen France’s control over foreign investment in French companies listed on Euronext Paris.

In this C&G client alert, Muriel Goldberg-Darmon, Guillaume Guérin, and Pierre Wolman discuss the implications of two recent French rules that are meant to strengthen France’s control over foreign investment.

Muriel Goldberg-Darmon discusses three recent decisions by the Sanctions Commission of the AMF which further clarify how sanctions may be levied for an obstruction of justice in an investigation.

Muriel Goldberg-Darmon discusses the difficulties facing companies in fulfilling their continued disclosure obligations to the market, as well as the resulting risks of potential AMF sanctions.

John W Gibson, Thomas Shortland, and Ashley Collins outline the key factors company directors must consider when making business decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they may face scrutiny from a range of interested parties including creditors, employees, trade unions, landlords, customers, regulators, insolvency practitioners, and possibly law enforcement.

Muriel Goldberg-Darmon discusses how the outbreak of COVID-19 impacts a company’s responsibility to comply with financial communication and reporting obligations.

Muriel Goldberg-Darmon explains the specific regime of navigating whistleblowing within the French financial sector through the internal procedures of financial institutions and external procedures of the French Financial Market Authority (AMF) and the French Banking Authority (ACPR).

Dans cette publication, Loïc Henriot, Muriel Goldberg-Darmon, Louise Le Guilchet et Magalie Jullien présentent la directive (UE) 2019/1937 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 23 octobre 2019, qui a vocation à établir des normes minimales communes entre les pays de l’Union européenne pour la protection des lanceurs d’alerte, et analysent les différences qu’elle présente avec le régime de protection des lanceurs d’alerte issu de la Loi Sapin 2.

(In this C&G Client Alert, Loïc Henriot, Muriel Goldberg-Darmon, Louise Le Guilchet, and Magalie Jullien discuss Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament (the “Directive”) on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law. The Directive is intended to establish common minimum standards among European Union countries to protect whistleblowers.)

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John W Gibson, Tim Harris, Barbara K Luse, and Charlotte Ritchie discuss the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (“the 2019 Regulations”) that recently came into force in the UK.  The 2019 Regulations extend anti-money laundering responsibilities to UK art market participants, including art dealers and other intermediaries, in response to the increasing recognition that high value art is used by criminals and terrorist groups to launder and hide money.

In an article for Forbes, Muriel Goldberg-Darmon discusses the benefits of a recent market reform in France that lowers the threshold for majority shareholders to implement a squeeze-out, as well as the increased protection for minority shareholders proposed by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF, the French financial markets regulator) further to this reform.

Karen H Bromberg and Marvin J Lowenthal examine the Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security (“SHIELD”) Act, which amends New York’s current data breach notification law and places increased obligations on businesses that handle private data. With the SHIELD Act, New York joins the growing list of states that have adopted legislation to strengthen consumer privacy protections.

In this C&G Client Alert, Melissa H Maxman, Ronald F Wick, Erica Lai, and Danielle Morello discuss the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) announcement that it will now consider crediting companies for “robust” compliance programs at the charging stage of criminal antitrust investigations. This signals a reversal of the DOJ’s longstanding policy of allowing substantial penalty reductions only for “early-in” whistleblowers.

Christian R Everdell analyzes the potential implications of the regulation of cryptocurrency as a result of Ryan Coffey v. Ripple Labs, Inc. in his latest article for Law360. 

Mark S Cohen explores the international regulatory landscape with respect to Israeli businesses in an article for the Israel Desks Guide published by Nishlis Legal Marketing.

Bonnie J Roe is the author of the chapter on securities law opinions in this annually updated treatise on legal opinions, edited by M. John Sterba, Jr. 

Even start-ups are being disrupted! In this article, C&G counsel Christian Everdell examines the SEC’s role in regulating Initial Coin Offerings.

The SEC has recently undertaken a review of its principal regulations for periodic reporting by publicly traded companies, in response to claims that the reporting process has become overly burdensome and that investors are blinded by “disclosure overload” that makes it difficult to discern the important facts within a mass of detail.  If the regulations were re-written today, they would undoubtedly focus on some different issues.  But the key to more effective disclosure lies in better presentation.  Companies can (and sometimes do) present information in easy-to-understand formats, and they should be encouraged to do so.  In addition, the SEC has a chance to make its website more user-friendly for investors, and it should seize this opportunity to do so.

Regardless of which side ultimately benefits, the Supreme Court's message for antitrust litigants is clear: Class action is an exception to the usual rule.

The proxy and annual reporting season is upon us and, as with other things, it is best to be prepared. Here are some thoughts for publicly traded companies to carry through the season and help plan for the remainder of the year

Dell’s board of directors played a starring role in helping Michael Dell defeat the legal challenge of taking Dell Inc. private in a $25 billion dollar buyout. The committee’s role in protecting the transaction is a text book lesson on navigating complex transactions.

With the recent increase in enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), it is prudent for counsel to conduct in depth due diligence when acquiring a foreign target. Their conduct may become your company’s FCPA liability.

When a sovereign nation defaults, investors in its debt securities are often left without recourse. NML Capital, Ltd. v. Republic of Argentina is reimagining, and may even protect, the rights of U.S. corporations holding foreign sovereign debt.

A series of recent decisions suggest that courts are actively considering the practicality of the fraud-on-the-market doctrine, which has historically been one basis for argument by plaintiffs in securities class actions.

A recent arbitration ruling which determined that Kraft Foods Group/Mondelez International Inc. must be paid more than $2.7 billion by Starbucks Coffee Company to conclude a lengthy breach of contract dispute, is a venti wake-up call to inside counsel negotiating long-term ventures, supply and distribution agreements, and other commercial and strategic alliances.

On December 11, 2013, the public comment period will close on two new auditing standards proposed by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to improve the informational value of the auditor’s report. These proposed standards, if adopted, would change the role of auditors and expand the scope of the auditor’s report.

The SEC adopted amendments disqualifying private securities offerings involving felons and other “bad actors” from relying on the Rule 506 safe harbor exemption. The lesson learned here is to know who you are dealing with especially when it comes to large investors, brokers and even potential targets and acquirers. Questionnaires and other fact-checking exercises should now be part of the due diligence process.

The SEC is firming up their controversial proposal for new regulations under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which will require certain public companies to disclose the ratio between CEO compensation and the median pay of rank-and-file employees.  Counsel to such companies are urged to advise clients on the potential backlash from investors, competition, and otherwise.

Last year saw a sharp increase in investigations targeting the illicit flows of funds through financial institutions. In three prominent enforcement actions in 2012—against ING, Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC—prosecutors and regulators extracted massive fines for conduct ranging from intentional concealment of illicit transactions to ineffective monitoring.

Examining the Dodd-Frank and US Foreign Corrupt Practices Acts  and ways in which companies can institute and augment compliance programs to mitigate the risks they pose.

Offering insight to multinational corporations in terms of navigating within, among, and between the different policies and agendas of antitrust regimes around the world.

Join Cohen & Gresser on September 28 for an international webinar that will offer practical solutions and discuss immediate steps businesses can take to develop and shape their global legislative strategy moving forward. C&G’s Miriam González Durántez, Jeffrey Bronheim, and Melissa Maxman will discuss some of the G7’s top priorities and how the individual member nations are implementing them, with a particular focus on the U.S. budget process and spending priorities and global tax and trade regulations.

Date: September 28, 2021 Time: 5 PM BST / 12 PM EST

Topics will include:

• An overview of the G7 summit and top priorities moving forward
• Tax and spending priorities, including:
  • U.S. fiscal policy and the budget process
  • The global minimum tax
  • International investment
• International trade policy, including:
  • Priorities of the European Union
  • The impact of Brexit on global trade policy
  • The U.S. trade agenda
• Steps that companies can take right now to craft and strengthen their legislative/policy strategy.

Jason Brown participated on a panel titled "Consumer Protection and the State Attorneys General" at COMPLY2018. 

• Genesis of the law
• Apprehending the risks in a company
• Deployment of compliance programs within a company
• Protection of whistleblowers
• The new mechanism of transaction (differed prosecution agreement)
• The monitoring process
• Final remarks by the vice president of the Assemblée Nationale.

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Melissa was a panelist for this event. 

Melissa was a panelist at this event.