Gide announces the appointment of its new Executive Committee, with Frédéric Nouel as Senior Partner and Jean-François Levraud as Managing Partner. The new executive team also includes partners Olivier Diaz, Nicolas Jean, Emmanuel Larere, as well as Chief Operating Officer Frédérique Misk-Malher. This Executive Committee took office on 1 January 2021.

Elected 2020 Law Firm of the Year by The Lawyer, Gide intends to uphold its unique position on the domestic market and consolidate its leading position in Europe and further afield.

The firm, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020, actively furthered its development after demonstrating agility and quick measures to efficiently meet the new challenges wrought by the pandemic.

The alliance of different profiles within this new Committee fully illustrates the variety of practices and experience that embodies the firm's approach since its establishment. 

Senior Partner Frédéric Nouel states: "I am very happy to begin this term of office with Jean-François Levraud, Olivier Diaz, Nicolas Jean, Emmanuel Larere and Frédérique Misk-Malher. Our collective ambition is to perpetuate our leadership in a context imposing a certain number of restrictions, as well as challenges and opportunities. In particular, we are looking to strengthen our working relationship with our clients in order to offer them tailored solutions that will help them meet the challenges facing their industry, and work with them to boost their capacity to look to the future."

Managing Partner Jean-François Levraud adds: "The health crisis has had an indelible effect on our clients. The previous Committee carried out essential work by adapting the Gide model to this complex and uncertain environment. We are now looking to continue the development of Gide to meet, in the best way possible, our clients' needs in particular by supporting mergers and acquisitions, which are increasing in number given the economic situation; boosting our services working with executive teams; and expanding our activities in Africa."

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Frédéric Nouel, 59, elected as Senior Partner, is a Gide partner since 1994. He focuses primarily on M&A, financial and real estate transactions for listed companies and investment funds operating in the real estate and hotel markets in Europe. Consistently ranked as a "Band 1", "Tier 1" / "Leading Individual" by Chambers Europe and Legal 500, Frédéric was elected "Lawyer of the Year: Real Estate" by Best Lawyers in France in 2020 and 2017. 

Jean-François Levraud, 45, elected as Managing Partner, headed Gide's Casablanca office from 2014 to 2018. He is a partner within Gide's Real Estate Transactions & Financing practice group in Paris and mainly advises on real estate transactions, construction, development and real estate development in France and abroad. He is also regularly ranked as a leading lawyer in real estate law in Morocco by the various international legal directories Chambers Global, Legal 500 and IFLR1000. He is ranked as an "Expert Based Abroad" for the Moroccan market in 2020. Lastly, he is referenced as an expert in real estate for Africa by Chambers Global and is among the one hundred most influential business lawyers in French-speaking Africa (Jeune Afrique 2020 ranking).

Olivier Diaz, 56, elected as Member of the Executive Committee, has been acting for over 30 years on complex mergers and acquisitions, securities law, governance and private equity transactions. He is regularly involved in industry discussions on topics of securities law and corporate law, in particular as a member of commissions with the Financial Markets Authority, the Comité Juridique de la Place de Paris and the Club des Juristes. Recognised unanimously as one of the most talented lawyers in the field of mergers and acquisitions, Olivier is regularly praised in the main international directories (Chambers and Legal 500) and by his peers (Best Lawyers) as a great strategist, in particular as regards listed transactions.

Nicolas Jean, 36, elected as Member of the Executive Committee, joined Gide in 2008. He specialises in project development, project financing, and bank and structured financing. He acts primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, where he specialises in infrastructure, energy, real estate and telecommunications. Nicolas set up the first ever think tank to be established by a law firm, A New ROAD (A New Roundtable On African Debt), dedicated to African debt. Nicolas is recommended in Energy and Project Finance in the 2020 edition of Legal 500 for France, and is ranked fifth among the 100 most influential business lawyers in French-speaking Africa (Jeune Afrique 2020 ranking). He is also ranked by Financial Afrik among the "100 qui transforment l'Afrique" (100 experts who transform Africa).

Emmanuel Larere, 52, elected as Member of the Executive Committee, focuses his practice on non-contentious and contentious patent and trademark matters. With over 25 years' experience in the field, he is recognised as a renowned specialist. Emmanuel's patent litigation practice covers life sciences, including biotech, new technologies and traditional industrial sectors. In trademarks law, he advises and defends major French and international groups. Ranked as a "Leading Individual" by Legal 500 in France, Emmanuel regularly acts within the firm's Intellectual Property team, ranked by Best Lawyers 2021 as "Law Firm of the Year in Intellectual Property in France". 

Frédérique Misk-Malher, 55, Chief Operating Officer since February 2015, is in charge of all the firm’s business services. She supports the Executive Committee in defining and implementing its development policy, and monitors strategic projects in France and abroad. She also heads up projects impacting all the firm's support divisions. She began her career at Arthur Andersen before becoming the administrative and financial director within the advertising division for France of communication agency DDB for 13 years. She then became Chief Financial Officer for Young & Rubicam for three years, and director-general of Heptacom for two years. Frédérique then joined group DTZ in 2010, and law firm Baker & McKenzie in 2011 as director-general and member of the Executive Committee of its Paris, Luxembourg and Casablanca offices.