Serra, Leavy & Cazals to Join Weil, Gotshal & Manges
NEW YORK, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Weil, Gotshal & Manges, one of the
world's leading law firms, today announced that the partners of the highly
regarded French law firm of Serra, Leavy & Cazals will merge with Weil Gotshal
and will practice under the Weil Gotshal name with effect from 1 January 2003.
Claude Serra will be joining the Firm as managing partner of the Paris
office. Also joining the Firm as partners will be James Leavy, Frederic
Cazals, Gilles Cervoni, Lucien Rapp, David Chijner, Roland Montfort,
Pierre-Alain Bouhenic and Philippe Druon, who will be accompanied by all the
existing associates and support staff. Joe Tortorici, a Weil Gotshal partner
from its New York office, will be relocating to Paris in a new position
responsible for coordinating Weil Gotshal's European practice and will be
joined by partner Eric Ordway, already based in Paris.
The Paris office will have over twenty attorneys specializing in
corporate, litigation and tax law and has developed a considerable reputation
for its work in M&A, private equity, corporate and commercial litigation, tax
and competition law.
"We are extremely pleased that Claude and the team from Serra, Leavy &
Cazals will be joining our Firm," said Stephen J. Dannhauser, Weil, Gotshal &
Manges' Chairman. "We have worked with the entire team at Serra, Leavy &
Cazals on a host of matters over the years. They have developed a reputation
as some of the finest M&A and private equity players in France and they will
add a new level of strength and expertise to our European practice.
Establishing an office in Paris is an important part of our strategy of being
located in major international financial markets to serve the commercial needs
of our clients, and complements our existing European offices in London,
Frankfurt, Brussels and Central Europe."
"Claude and his team's involvement in landmark French cross-border
transactions such as the recent Vivendi deal is indicative of the type of
complicated, international mergers and acquisitions and private equity
transactions on which they regularly act," said Thomas A. Roberts, Weil
Gotshal's Corporate Chairman. "This is our strength in the US and in our
existing European offices and with the addition of the Serra, Leavy and Cazals
team, it will be our strength in France. It is a perfect fit for Weil Gotshal
and our global strategy."
Claude Serra said, "We are all delighted to be joining Weil Gotshal. We
have worked with lawyers at Weil Gotshal for many years. We know and
appreciate the quality of the Firm and the commitment of its lawyers and
people to the highest professional standards. As we were growing and becoming
involved in large deals, we felt the need for reinforcement and wanted to
become part of a New York based international firm. This merger is a natural
move in view of the strong relationships built between the partners over the
years and will enhance both Firms."
NOTE TO EDITORS
International Law Firm
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP is an international law firm of over
1,000 attorneys, including approximately 275 partners. Weil Gotshal is
headquartered in New York, with offices in Boston, Brussels, Budapest, Dallas,
Frankfurt, Houston, London, Miami, Paris, Prague, Silicon Valley, Singapore,
Warsaw and Washington, D.C.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
767 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10153
http://www.weil.com
SOURCE Weil, Gotshal & Manges
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CONTACT:
Katherine D'Urso, Chief Marketing Officer,
+1-212-310-8563, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Marcia Horowitz,
Rubenstein Associates, +1-212-843-8014; London - Chris Pullen,
Head of Marketing, +44-0-20-7903-1259, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; or
Roddy Watt of Weber Shandwick, +44-0-20-7067-0700
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