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Deborah Azerraf

Deborah is a Senior Associate at Signature's Paris office, specialising in national and international disputes in Insurance law. With seven years of experience in Insurance law, Deborah has strong expertise on analysing both French and international Insurance policies, handling subrogation disputes for Property Damage insurers, and managing cases related to civil liability and directors' and officers' liability ("D&O" and "E&O") including fraud. Deborah has managed large-scale claims, including those arising from the Covid-19 crisis, and she represents clients in high-stakes litigation involving Insurance law, such as industrial risks, product liability and financial lines. Deborah’s clients benefit from her in-depth knowledge of Insurance law, combined with her experience in handling disputes across various sectors, including heavy industries, service industries, the luxury sector, the energy sector, construction and life science industry. Deborah's clients include insurers, manufacturers, hotels, luxury brands based both in France and worldwide. Deborah has been part of the Signature adventure since the opening in 2019.

Counsel Ela Barda is a litigator specialising in commercial litigation, digital platform law, civil fraud and enforcement matters at Signature Litigation’s Paris office. Ela represents both claimants and defendants before the French civil and commercial courts at all stages of litigation with a particular focus on high-profile cross border disputes. She has developed specific expertise in digital platform law and regularly represents French and international online platforms and media tech companies in civil and commercial litigation against individuals, companies and local authorities. Ela also has extensive experience in investigating, initiating and defending civil fraud claims. She regularly acts for international clients on asset-tracing and asset recovery proceedings. She has in-depth experience in pre-action proceedings on a wide range of interim applications. In addition, Ela has developed a strong expertise in the enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards. Ela also represents manufacturers in commercial and product liability disputes in the aviation field, as well as company directors in personal liability cases before commercial courts in the scope of insolvency proceedings.

Emmanuèle Lutfalla

After more than 30 years practicing in both major international law firms and top tier French law firms, Emmanuèle is one of the founding partners of the Paris office of Signature Litigation. She heads its French Insurance/Reinsurance practice. Emmanuèle's Insurance and Reinsurance litigation practice focuses on highly complex claims for their clients. She intervenes in various domains at national and international levels both for the Insurer’s accounts and their Insureds in order to advise them throughout their litigation’s lifespan. Emmanuèle has been involved in some of the most cutting-edge issues that have arisen so far in France, such as COVID-related cases, pollution cases and nuclear issues. She has been involved in some of the most important product liability cases for instance in the life sciences (medical devices) industry. In this respect, she has developed a specific experience in complex expert-appraisal proceedings and industrial risks investigations. She has advised a leading French engineering company, sub-contractor in charge of the geotechnical studies for the French main contractor following land subsistence in China in a shopping centre with escalators. She has also advised a company based in New Caledonia in the implementation of a “Terrorism” and “Vandalism” policy, following the occurrence of destructive popular riots. Additionally, Emmanuèle has assisted a French Insurer in US court proceedings related to the coverage of clean-up of soil and water at a site in New Jersey. Emmanuèle also advises on cutting-edge issues involving fraud, cyber, D&O and W&I. She assists her clients with pre-litigation and litigation procedures, Court ordered expert proceedings and enforcement actions. She is also involved in ADR.

Flore is an international arbitration partner based in Paris. She has significant experience representing parties in international mediation and arbitration proceedings. She also sits as an arbitrator. She regularly acts in shareholder or post-acquisition disputes for private-equity firms and more generally in the scope of the termination of agreements related to changes in economic (e.g. force majeure allegations) or legal (in particular, sanctions) circumstances for industrial clients. She has notable experience in the defence and energy sectors (LNG and nuclear) and has recently assisted several companies in disputes resulting from the termination of agreements related to major IT projects (ERP deployment, IT outsourcing). Flore has a very pragmatic approach to arbitration as she has spent 18 months on secondment with a client’s litigation and claim management team in the defence sector, and is a business and finance graduate on top of her law degree. Flore’s procedural management skills are a valuable asset in expedited proceedings, as well as in time-sensitive disputes where a quick resolution is desired. She has solid experience in the enforcement of arbitral awards in France including seizing assets. Flore is ranked as a ‘Next Generation Partner’ for international arbitration in The Legal 500 EMEA 2024 Guide, where she is praised as “a fantastic arbitration expert” who “delivers high quality work product and great client service.” She is further described as “sharp, focused and thorough in her work”, and a referee notes Flore is “definitively an international arbitration star.” Flore is also recognised in the Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal) for arbitration, in which she is highlighted as “very responsive, efficient and thorough,” as well as “a dynamic and fierce advocate.” Flore is also commended as “not only very bright but also very dedicated to the client’s success – she is a fighter who does not give up.” Flore is a very active member of the arbitration community; she co-founded Paris Very Young Arbitration Practitioners in 2012 and was a co-chair of the LCIA-YIAG (Young International Arbitration Group of the London Court of International Arbitration) from 2017 to 2021. She has also taught at the Paris Bar School and at various universities and schools (Paris X, Paris XII, Paris-Saclay (MACI) and ESCP Europe). She was admitted to the Paris bar in 2008.

Jérémie Fierville

Jérémie is a highly experienced litigator, specialising in complex corporate and financial disputes. Jérémie’s practice focuses on shareholders, governance and M&A disputes, as well as general commercial and civil litigation. Having practised in both Paris and London, Jérémie acts for a broad range of French and international companies. He represents his clients in strategic pre-litigations and litigations, as well as mediation proceedings. Jérémie has also lectured for several years at Paris Panthéon-Assas University, where he teaches courses relating to mediation, corporate law and complex dispute resolution clauses. He has authored numerous publications including Corporate Internal Investigations, An International Guide (Oxford University Press), and Swap Contracts and Insolvency Law (Cahiers de droit de l’entreprise). He has interviewed on various topics, including Private Equity-related issues, Mediation and ESG-related disputes. He regularly organises events on cutting edge legal topics, including General Meetings of Listed Companies and Shareholder Democracy, Financing of the Defence Sector, Duty of Vigilance, International Arbitration and Blocking Statutes, Enforcement of Arbitration Awards through Seizure by Garnishment, The Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration, and New Developments in Space Law.

Mathilde Gérot

With over 10 years’ experience, Counsel Mathilde specialises in commercial and regulatory litigation, representing a wide range of clients in commercial proceedings before French courts. In particular, Mathilde works extensively on a multi-jurisdiction product liability case and its cross-border coordination. Mathilde also has extensive experience in assisting French and international clients on major data protection and cybersecurity issues, advising on both contentious and non-contentious matters. Her work includes Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) investigations and litigations and more generally all GDPR-related topics. She has also developed a specific expertise on commercial and consumer law, contract drafting and negotiation. Mathilde’s clients come from various sectors, spanning from the automotive, mass retail, logistics, e-commerce and technology industries.

Michaël Perche

Michaël is a Counsel at Signature Litigation’s Paris office, specialising in public law and administrative litigation. Michaël has over ten years’ experience in advising public and private clients in various aspects of public law, including public procurement law, urban planning law, civil service law and public property law. He also handles regulatory issues in a wide range of sectors, including energy and transport. In these various fields, Michaël advises public and private clients and represents them before the judicial and administrative courts. Michaël also has significant experience in handling French and EU export controls (dual-use and military products) and international sanctions matters.

With over 30 years’ experience, Philip’s extensive practice covers both commercial and investment treaty arbitrations spanning several international jurisdictions, including regularly acting for or against States. He is an acknowledged expert in advising in relation to construction and engineering, oil and gas, telecoms, aviation, defence & security, pharma, shareholder, agent and joint venture disputes, and regularly acts both for and against states and state-owned entities. He has represented clients in a number of high-value global disputes, with a particular focus on the Balkans, MENA, Latin America and South East-Asia. He acts both as counsel and arbitrator handling a broad range of disputes conducted under ICC, LCIA, SCC, DIAC, BCDR, HKIAC, UNCITRAL and ICSID rules.

Sylvie Gallage-Alwis

After 10 years practicing in a major international law firm, Sylvie became one of the founding partners of the Paris office of Signature Litigation and has headed its products litigation practice since 2019. Sylvie has almost 20 years of experience in all ranges of product-related litigation: commercial litigation, product liability, product safety, product life-cycle investigations, ESG & climate change litigation. She is involved in some of the largest industrial accident cases that happened in France and regularly assists clients in the scope of investigations launched by the French or EU regulators. As such, she works on cases with innovative legal issues being debated: planned obsolescence, dieselgate, greenwashing, Covid-19 vaccine cases, PFAS liability, anxiety damage in toxic tort cases, consumer mass litigation, use of alleged war minerals, batteries' technology cases and marketplaces' legal status. She is further known in the French market as a leading toxic tort / mass litigation lawyer. She represents a variety of globally recognised manufacturers from industries such as automotive, electronic products, life sciences, cosmetics, new technologies/marketplaces, steel, energy, food, toys, consumer goods, etc. Sylvie is both an Avocat à la Cour in France and a Solicitor in England & Wales.

Thomas Rouhette

With over 30 years of litigation experience, Thomas is a founding partner of the Paris office of Signature Litigation and is a leading commercial and international litigator. Thomas focuses on complex, bet the company litigation and has a seasoned, wide and multifaceted practice, spanning from contract litigation to corporate and banking disputes. He has extensive experience in international, cross-border litigation and has a market leading reputation for this. Thomas has acted in some of the most high-profile litigations before the French courts. Thomas is also highly regarded for his litigation practice in relation to the aviation, automotive and pharma industries, and act for global companies in litigations, which often have a multi-jurisdictional element.