Gide is very pleased to announce the promotion of nine of its lawyers to partner status.

Through the promotion of these highly talented lawyers, Gide consolidates its leadership and boosts its development. Drawing on their recognised and respected skills in their respective fields of expertise, these new partners are committed to promoting and defending the interests of their clients.

Gide can now rely on the skills of 119 partners, working out of its 11 offices worldwide.

The new partners are:

BRUSSELS
Romain Rard, Economic & European Law / Competition & International Trade / ESG, CSR, Sustainable development

LONDON
Samir Bensaker, Banking & Finance
Saadia Bhatty, Dispute Resolution

PARIS
Alexandre Bochu, Tax
Paul Guillemin, Mergers & Acquisitions / Corporate
Benjamin Krief, Employment Law
Guilhem Richard, Banking & Finance
Cléopha Thomann, Real Estate Transactions & Financing

WARSAW
Krzysztof Cieplinski, Dispute Resolution / Intellectual Property / Infrastructure (Projects)

Senior Partner Frédéric Nouel is delighted: "We are very pleased to see these nine talented legal practitioners being promoted to partner in Brussels, London, Paris and Warsaw. The promotion of these lawyers with remarkable careers to date boosts our various fields of expertise to always better defend the interests of our clients."

Managing Partner Jean-François Levraud adds: "We are proud to welcome this new generation of partners, who have all made their mark on our firm. With these promotions, Gide once again demonstrates its exceptional ability to find and nurture the development of young lawyers, by supporting them throughout their career."

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BRUSSELS

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Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2012, Romain Rard is a partner within Gide's Economic & European Law team, working out of the firm's Brussels office.

His practice focuses in particular on EU regulatory matters (financial services, telecoms, media, transport, chemical industry, etc.) and on French and EU competition law (State aid, merger control, and antitrust).

Romain represents European and national trade associations, as well as leading market players, and in this capacity advises on rule-making and policy implementation process of European institutions and EU agencies.

Romain has developed in-depth knowledge of EU processes and gained solid expertise regarding prudential matters, taxation, and anti-money laundering, as well as ESG matters and sustainable finance.

Romain is a graduate of Lyon III and McGill Universities.

LONDON

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Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2011 and as a Solicitor in England and Wales in 2019, Samir Bensaker is a partner within Gide's Banking & Finance practice group in London.

His expertise covers a wide range of domestic and international financing transactions in the fields of corporate financing (bilateral and syndicated loans) and structured financing (securitisations and risk transfer transactions), where he mainly works for arrangers, international financial institutions and private debt fund managers.

Samir holds a postgraduate degree in business law from Paris II - Panthéon-Assas University. He was seconded to Gide’s New York office in 2015, and practiced in Paris from 2010 to 2013.

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Admitted to the New York Bars in 2010 and Paris Bars in 2018, Saadia Bhatty is a partner within Gide's Dispute Resolution practice group in London.

She has more than 13 years' experience (including in Paris and New York) as counsel to private and state entities in cross-border disputes, in particular in international arbitration proceedings (commercial and investment), governed by the rules of various institutions (including ICC, ICSID, LCIA, PCA, SCC, HKIAC, VIAC, CAS and OHADA rules), as well as in ad hoc arbitrations (UNCITRAL), subject to the laws of both civil and common law jurisdictions. Fields of expertise include the energy, oil and gas, and construction sectors, particularly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Saadia also advises governments in the drafting/reform of their investment treaties and national legislation.

She is a graduate from Harvard Law School, the Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris, and the Ecole Normale Supérieure.

PARIS

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Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2011, Alexandre Bochu is a partner within Gide's Tax practice group in Paris. He specialises in mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganisations, investment fund structuring and real estate taxation.

Alexandre has significant experience regarding the taxation of corporate groups and investment structuring. He regularly acts for funds and management companies, and has been involved in significant real estate transactions, regularly advising listed real estate companies, particularly as regards acquisitions or reorganisations.

Alexandre has also developed significant experience in financial and capital markets transactions.

He is a graduate of the University of Montpellier (Magistère in corporate law and corporate law diploma (DJCE)).

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Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2011, Paul Guillemin is a partner within Gide's Mergers & Acquisitions / Corporate Law practice in Paris.

His practice covers a wide range of transactions, including complex M&A transactions for French and international clients involving both listed and unlisted companies, in various sectors such as telecoms, energy, financial institutions, retail and tech.

He also advises on private equity transactions, joint venture agreements, corporate restructurings and other strategic transactions. He regularly advises companies on complex governance issues.

Paul is a graduate of Paris 2 University (Institut de Droit des Affaires) and of the ESCP Business School (Programme Grande Ecole).

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Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2012, Benjamin Krief is a partner within Gide’s Employment Law practice group in Paris, where he assists on both individual and collective aspects of employment law. In particular, he assists transnational groups in the management of their strategic litigation, such as collective litigation initiated by staff representative bodies, labour litigation concerning senior executives or sensitive issues such as harassment, discrimination or the whistleblower status. Benjamin is also very active in the defence of intermediation platforms with regard to litigation initiated by drivers/delivery personnel seeking recognition of their employee status.

Benjamin also assists his clients in the implementation of their reorganisation project (transfer, voluntary redundancy plan, etc.) and has built up significant expertise on information and consultation procedures with staff representative bodies.

Benjamin Krief holds a PhD in law from Paris II - Panthéon-Assas University.

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Admitted to the Paris Bar, Guilhem Richard is a partner within Gide's Banking & Finance practice group in Paris.

Guilhem specialises in capital markets and corporate finance, advising both issuers and banks on a wide range of capital market transactions on Euronext and Nasdaq (IPOs, capital increases, private placements, block sales and dual listings), as well as on the issuance of securities giving access to capital (OCEANE, ORA), with a strong focus on the biotech, tech and cleantech industries.

Guilhem also assists companies in their day-to-day issues relating to corporate and securities law and corporate governance.

Guilhem holds a Master's degree from Paris I University and graduated from the ESCP-Europe Business School (Programme Grande Ecole).

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Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2012, Cléopha Thomann is a partner within Gide's Real Estate Transactions & Financing practice group in Paris. Cléopha specialises in real estate and corporate law, acting primarily on real estate transactions (merger & acquisitions on real estate companies, sale and acquisition of property portfolios, externalisation operations (sale and leaseback), implementation of partnerships, etc.) and real estate financing transactions. She also assists her clients in managing their property portfolios (building restructuring, commercialisation, etc.). She advises French and foreign major groups and investment funds alike.

In 2015, Cléopha completed a 6-month secondment in KKR's real estate investment team in London. She is a graduate of EDHEC Business School and holds a Master's degree in business law from Lille's Faculté Libre de Droit (2009).

WARSAW

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Admitted to the Warsaw Bar in 2011, Krzysztof Ciepliński is a partner within Gide's Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property, and Infrastructure (Projects) practice groups in Warsaw. Krzysztof specialises in commercial dispute resolution, representing Polish and foreign clients before civil, commercial and administrative courts, as well as in domestic and international arbitrations.

He advises on industrial property (including patent law and corporate rationalisation processes), know-how, trade secrets and technology transfer for the implementation of strategic infrastructure projects in heavy industries, as well as on Research & Development projects.

He also advises on intellectual property, including litigation and non-contentious matters relating to distinctive signs, unfair competition and aspects of e-commerce law.

Krzysztof holds a Master's degree in law from the University of Warsaw, and a Master's in business law from the University of Poitiers.