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French Group

Providing a wide range of legal services to French speaking businesses and individuals.

Although the UK is now a Third Country in terms of its relationship with the EU following Brexit, London and the UK as a whole remains a place to call home for tens of thousands of people with strong connections to France and the Francophonie.  

We have a dedicated team of French-speaking lawyers, who can provide a full range of advice to individuals, companies and institutions on a variety of matters, including family, corporate, tax, estate and wealth planning, litigation, arbitration, fraud and reputation protection.  

The Group is headed up by Partner Melissa Lesson, a dual French and English national. Melissa has lived in both Paris and London and is a regular visitor to France, supporting her clients, building her network of French advisors and participating in conferences.  

Our clients have connections to francophone countries by way of nationality, residence or domicile or may have an interest in companies, trusts or luxury assets registered in francophone jurisdictions. In addition, we are able to draw on our strong relationships with a worldwide network of lawyers and a diverse range of advisors. 

Our London location and sensitivity to the cultural needs of French-speaking clients makes us the ideal choice for complex, cross-border matters. We are also members of the French Chamber of Commerce of Great Britain

We are uniquely placed to look after the needs of private companies and their ambitious leaders, where business and personal interests come together.  We are attuned to the differences between an institutional mindset and that of a private company or individual. Understanding the values, motivations and priorities of our clients makes a significant difference to the outcome of a deal.

We have one of the most complete and experienced Dispute Resolution departments in London - half the Firm’s lawyers are litigators and we have one of the largest groups of injunction specialists in the UK. While we are equipped to litigate, going to court is never our default response. We start every dispute with a clear, dispassionate overview of the options. Whether personal or commercial, our approach is the same; assimilate the facts and lay out the options, because the means of resolution can be as diverse as the issue themselves. We are ready to be as measured and diplomatic or as assertive as the situation demands. 

We advise clients with connections to francophone countries on all aspects of family law. Issues relating to children and financial arrangements are at the heart of our work but the breadth of our work is diverse and includes divorce, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, cohabitation and surrogacy.     

We have been defending our clients' reputations for decades, both publicly and discreetly. We have wide expertise in tackling and preventing unwarranted attacks, including securing injunctions to prevent the misuse of private information and the spread of fake news, as well as challenging defamatory content and harassing behaviour, and defusing personal and corporate disputes.

Our Residential Property Group is one of the largest dedicated residential property practices in London, with a marketing-leading reputation. We specialise in prime UK residential property transactions both in London and the surrounding areas. Close working relationships with our colleagues in Planning, Construction, Dispute Resolution, Immigration and Tax means that we do not simply present a list of options but come with a decisive recommendation about the best and most complete course of action.

We recognise that the corporate, business and personal taxation needs of our clients increasingly overlap. For this reason, our tax practice is deliberately broad, with experts in all aspects of corporate M&A and restructuring; real estate; tax disputes and investigations; employment incentives and rewards; VAT; personal tax and cross border issues, for companies, funds and individuals.

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