Jones Day announced Diane Sénéchal joined the firm’s banking and finance practice as a partner in the Paris office. Counsel Thomas de Mortemart will join later in the month. They both come to the Firm from Ashurst’s finance department in Paris. The Paris Banking & Finance team will now comprise sixteen lawyers, including five partners.
The arrival of Sénéchal and Mortemart is an important step in the growth of the firm’s European banking and finance practice, which is part of a broader strategy to expand the practice’s global capabilities to better serve the firm’s clients. Sénéchal will join Paris banking and finance partners Alban Caillemer du Ferrage and Qian Hu, recognized as leaders in structured finance, derivative products, and market infrastructures in France; Frédéric Gros, highly respected in swap and structured loans litigation; and Sophie Chevallier, recognized in project and asset finance.
“Sénéchal and Mortemart will be significant additions to our finance capability in Paris, adding a strong focus in acquisition finance and debt restructuring to our finance offering,” said Sophie Hagège, partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Paris office. “Diane and Thomas will work closely with our private equity, restructuring, M&A, and real estate teams in Paris and worldwide.”
Sénéchal focuses her practice on banking and finance matters with a particular emphasis on the financing of acquisitions of both listed and non-listed companies – leveraged buyouts and strategic acquisitions – acting for all types of lenders, including credit funds, banks, borrowers, and sponsors. She has significant experience in debt restructuring, acting for both lenders and borrowers both within and outside the context of leveraged buyouts. She notably advised the lenders on several high profile lender-led transactions in 2014. Sénéchal is also well known for her work in capital markets, including various types of receivables-based financing, and more generally as a versatile banking and finance lawyer advising on a very broad range of transactions. She is listed in the Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, and The Legal 500 EMEA legal directories.
“Diane’s arrival coincides closely with several other Banking & Finance partners joining in Firm offices located in European financial centers,” said Alban Caillemer du Ferrage, co-leader of the Firm’s global Banking & Finance Practice. “Diane has worked on numerous high profile transactions over the years and her experience will prove valuable to global clients engaged in cross-border financial transactions. She will make a tremendous contribution to our finance offering in Paris.”
“I look forward to working with my new colleagues,” said Sénéchal. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to help develop Jones Day’s banking and finance practice and to work with the Firm’s leading transactional practices in Paris, London, New York, and throughout the world.”
Mortemart practiced for almost eight years in Ashurst’s Paris office. His practice focuses on acquisition finance in relation to leveraged buyouts, representing borrowers, lenders, and sponsors, as well as on debt restructuring.