Meet the team

Commercial Litigation

Squadra Avocats

Paris, France
01 44 29 32 80
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Deals

Representing Brandeis Fiducie in a major follow-on compensation action after a decision rendered by the French Competition Authorition against Edenred, Natixis, Sodexo and CCR Up Coop fined €415 million for two types of anti-competitive practices. Around two hundred thousand retailers who are victims of these practices are now entitled to compensation. More than six thousand of them are represented by Brandeis Fiducie as trustees, and advised by Squadra Avocats (Partners Benoît Javaux and Jean-Baptiste Belin, and Associate Eve Arcelin-Boyer). Matter value: confidential but significant.

Squadra Avocats (Partner Solën Guézille, and Associate Olivia Debacq) represented a French Retailer in a commercial dispute against the seller of a commercial space with major issues to be investigated during a legal enquiry that lasted 7 years. Matter value: EUR 10 million.

Advised a French bank in a dispute involving a French reseller that committed alleged sales outside the network in breach of an exclusivity clause. Partners Benoît Javaux and Charles Morel led Squadra Avocats’ Litigation team. Matter value: confidential but significant.

Squadra Avocats (Partner Benoît Javaux) advises the founder of a French company in a series of disputes arising from the acquisition of a majority stake by an investment fund, including earn-outs outstanding, dismissal from CEO position and accuracy of financial statements. Matter value: confidential but significant.

We (Partner Jean-Baptiste Belin) defended the interests of a French insurance company in a dispute with a software company following the failure of an integration project, resulting in a favorable outcome with quick payment of damages. Matter value: EUR 35 million.

Squadra Avocats (Partner Benoît Javaux) represents Service Prestige and Service Prestige Développement in an action for the sudden break of its established business relationships with Emirates, the largest airline in the United Arab Emirates. Matter value: EUR 3 million.

Squadra Avocats’ Litigation Team (Partner Charles Morel, and Associate Emilie Rosier) advises a French manufacturer in a high-profile litigation case. Matter value: EUR 12 million.

Squadra Avocats (Partner Solën Guézille, and Associate Olivia Debacq) is defending a French car manufacturer following a fire in the underground parking lot of a 5-storey office building, which caused extensive material damage and may have been triggered by the thermal event of a hybrid vehicle battery. Matter value: EUR 2,5 million.

Squadra Avocats (Partners Benoît Javaux and Jean-Baptiste Belin) represented a French software company in a lawsuit against a client after a failed partnership agreement. We obtained that a legal investigation took place in order to clarify the responsibilities of the client in light of the failure of the partnership, resulting in a favorable outcome (disclosure of huge amount of sensitive information to be used for the claim in damages to come). Matter value: EUR 29 million.

Squadra Avocats Litigation team (Partners Solën Guézille, Jean-Baptiste Belin, and Charles Morel) assisted Cartol Industries, which manufactures rail parts, in a claim against a French rolling stock manufacturer following the termination of a strategic commercial transaction. Matter value: EUR 17 million.

Squadra Avocats’ Litigation Team (Partner Benoît Javaux, and Associate Eve Arcelin-Boyer) represented a French industrial group in a dispute against a US power conglomerate concerning the performance of a contract for the sale and maintenance of a gas turbine and, more specifically, the implementation of contractual and legal warranties and compensation for damages and operating losses suffered. Matter value: EUR 48 million.

Squadra Avocats (Partners Jean-Baptiste Belin and Charles Morel) represents several investors in a dispute against a leading company in the e-health market concerning the invalidity of the transfer of a marketing data business acquired by our clients. We are arguing the invalidity of the transfer on the grounds that the transferor voluntarily concealed essential information relating to the transferred business, including non-compliance of its databases with the GDPR. Matter value: EUR 6 million.

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Team Services

Squadra Avocats‘ commercial litigation team has grown rapidly over the past few years. Its development has been driven by the arrival of two new partners from prominent firms: Benoît Javaux (from August Debouzy, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan) and Charles Morel (from Altana, and August Debouzy). Both worked at August & Debouzy before joining Squadra Avocats, as Jean-Baptiste Belin did (Atos, August & Debouzy, Franklin) up until his arrival to the cabinet in September 2018. Partners Benoît Javaux, Charles Morel, and Jean-Baptiste Belin share a common way of working – driven by excellence, innovation, and accountability. Together, they are used to working as a team in complex and cross-practice commercial litigation. Partner Solën Guézille joined Squadra Avocats‘ commercial litigation team in March 2019.

 

Squadra Avocats‘ commercial litigation team covers a wide range of procedures – including business litigation (in commercial and criminal courts), compliance / anticorruption, insurance (advice and litigation), civil liability (including duty of care), domestic and international arbitration, ADR and court-mandated expert proceedings. Partners Solën Guézille, Benoît Javaux, Charles Morel, and Jean-Baptiste Belin dedicate a significant part of their time to commercial litigation – sometimes working collaboratively on the same matters when required by cross-practices issues.

 

All of them have extensive experience in commercial litigation issues. Partner Solën Guézille is a seasoned commercial litigation expert, and is capable of providing valuable insights on insurance, construction issues, product liability and mediation. Partner Benoît Javaux, as both counsel and mediator, has dealt with complex commercial and corporate disputes of all kinds for over eighteen years, with particular skills on fast-track proceedings, trade secret, arbitration, mediation and class action. Partner Charles Morel involved in a number of high-profile cases for a variety of parties, be it debtors, shareholders, managers, creditors or investors, with extensive knowledge of legal issues relating to insolvency, asset takeovers and divestitures. Partner Jean-Baptiste Belin takes care of strategic commercial pre-litigation and litigation matters, with a strong appetite for outsourcing disputes, intellectual property claims, failure of tech projects, database extractions, court-mandated expert appraisals, evidence collection and unfair competition. This addition of skills makes Squadra Avocats‘ commercial litigation team particularly unique in the Paris Legal Market.

Testimonials

« Benoît Javaux earns plaudits as “a stellar practitioner” in product liability, corporate and finance litigation » 

« The “very smart” Benoît Javaux ranks highly among peers thanks to his top-tier representation of companies across several industries »

« Benoît Javaux demonstrates great intellectual acuity. He provides fine and pertinent analysis and is creative and hard working »

Awards and Recognition

Excellent in Dispute Resolution - Mediation

Leaders League, France 2024

Excellent in Dispute Resolution - Commercial Litigation

Leaders League, France 2024

Legal 500 Firm to Watch - Dispute Resolution : Commercial Litigation

Squadra Avocats is able to handle a range of disputes, covering commercial litigation, financial litigation and industrial disputes, representing SMEs as well as some larger companies and individual investors. The practice is led by Benoît Javaux, Solën Guezille, Charles Morel and Jean-Baptiste Belin.

Benoît Javaux, "National Leader in Product Liability Defence"

Who's Who Legal 2023

Solën Guézille, "Thought Leader - Insurance & Reinsurance"

WWL Thought Leaders: France