PBA Legal

INSURANCE LAW

We act for various insurance and reinsurance companies and brokers, both in advice and in litigation. The Firm is particularly recognized for its first-rate skills in civil liability insurance law, construction and professional civil liability in defense of regulated professions as well as for its ability to use the Firm's cross-functional resources, particularly in criminal law ( insurance fraud, compliance insurance).

Our expertise :

• Drafting and interpretation of policies (guarantee exclusion clauses, scope of the guarantee, articulation of guarantees, etc.)
• Defense in the context of litigation relating to the application of guarantees (nullity, forfeiture, termination of the insurance contract) or under subrogation remedies.
• Assistance under international or complex programs: central police and local police, successive lines, liaison with any foreign advisers in the event of a police subject to foreign law.
• Defense in the context of professional arbitration (between insurance companies or between insurers and brokers)
• Assistance in regulatory matters and compliance with the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR)
• All types of insurance: construction, environment, products, professional civil liability, inexcusable fault, persons, etc.

Our rankings:

• Chambers 2022: Ranked - Band 3 
• Chambers Europe 2021: Ranked - Band 3
• Legal 500: Tier 3
• Legal Decision Makers: Excellent (Industrial Risks, Insurance & Liability Litigation)

Some examples

• Assistance in drafting a biomedical research insurance policy (clinical trials) 
• Assistance in the context of a request for nullity of the insurance contract under a known past
• Assistance in the context of a request for nullity of the insurance contract under a voluntary false declaration of the risk
• Assisting a company in the context of a professional arbitration under the succession of guarantees over time (known past)
• Assistance to an insurance company in the context of a class action brought against its insured
• Defense of an insurance company in the context of a refusal of guarantee against its insured following a criminal conviction of the latter
• Advising an insurance company on the transition of its governance in application of the Solvency II Directive
• Advising a foreign insurance company in the context of obtaining a license in France
• Assistance in drafting insurance clauses for a sports entity for major events
• Training in insurance law

CRIMINAL AND COMPLIANCE

We are one of the most reputable French firms in business criminal law and have cross-skills inherent to companies (insurance issues, defense of image and reputation, anticipation of social issues).

We are thus accustomed to intervening in a crisis cell configuration putting all our know-how, our reactivity and our sense of anticipation, at the service of our customers.

We are committed to helping them draw the consequences of the criminal crises they may have to go through in order to help them set up appropriate prevention systems, ensuring them a better position in the face of the risks of their liability being brought into play. .

Since its creation, convinced that Compliance cannot be effective if it is not taken advantage of the benefits offered only by the experience that counsel can acquire by being confronted with the criminal crisis, the Firm has taken to heart to support companies in their ethical compliance procedures. Conversely, the strategic management of legal proceedings cannot do without the implementation of mechanisms imposed by the ethical requirements to which companies are now formally subject.

We also regularly intervene in social criminal law, criminal health law and environmental criminal law.

Our expertise :

• Drafting of ethical charters and development of Compliance systems
• Ethics training assistance
• Advice on governance and the positioning of the various stakeholders in the context of the implementation of Compliance processes
• Management and monitoring of alerts
• Handling legal proceedings in all their dimensions (searches, hearings, criminal investigations, individual litigation, insurance issues, etc.)

Our rankings:

• Legal 500: Dispute Resolution: Business Criminal Law - Tier 3 
• Law and business option: Business criminal law and AMF sanctions: 3 stars
• Decision Makers: White Collar Crime: Excellent
• Decision-makers: Compliance – International investigation and internal investigation – Compliance program: strong reputation

Some examples :

• Follow-up and assistance in the context of regular audits and internal investigations in several countries, including supervision and coordination of corrective actions 
• Due diligence, organization and implementation of a specific Compliance data-room on the occasion of the sale of an international subsidiary 
• Defense in the context of trade union litigation relating to the implementation and content of e-learning systems 
• Defense of executives and managers in media cases relating to corruption charges made abroad 
• Defending a manager implicated in the context of procedures for obtaining public contracts 
• Defense of a former manager prosecuted for misuse of corporate assets in connection with economic intelligence operations 
• Establishment of the defense of a group of companies, its managers and its key executives for alleged practices of social security fraud 
• Defense of a manager of a listed company implicated before a Criminal Court for acts of abuse of weakness committed by the company's sales representatives throughout France 
• Defending companies that are victims of internal embezzlement or in the context of phishing operations or so-called “presidential” scams

CORPORATE - GOVERNANCE

Advising and assisting our clients in structuring, growth or disposal operations is an integral part of the firm's overall approach and its service offer, in synergy with other areas of expertise, particularly in social matters. , contentious and criminal.  

The Firm thus advises its clients on their corporate finance transactions, internal restructuring and spin-offs, acquisitions or disposals of companies or activities, agreements between shareholders or with investors. The Firm also intervenes in litigation or pre-litigation actions, in cases involving the liability of directors, litigation involving minority shareholders, or post-transfer litigation and the bringing into play of liability guarantees, or for represent in collective proceedings.

More generally, the Firm puts its expertise at the service of companies in order to support them in all aspects of social life (creation and structuring, contractual and litigation support for growth and development strategies, transfer of companies).

The Firm also has recognized expertise in advising and litigation of non-commercial groups (associations, foundations, endowment funds, professional unions).

Our expertise :

• Development and implementation of acquisition or disposal operations (audits, negotiations, structuring of operations)
• Issuance transactions of equity or debt securities
• Negotiation and drafting of complex contracts and/or with an international dimension (commercial sales or business contracts, commercial networks, investments, etc.)
• Litigation in corporate law and commercial litigation (responsibility of directors, marketing networks, litigation of minority shareholders, liability warranty litigation, recoveries)

Our rankings:

• Legal Decision Makers 2021: Financial Litigation and Corporate Finance: Strong Notoriety
• Décideurs Juridiques 2021: Litigation AMF, ACPR and listed transactions: Strong Notoriety

Some examples

• Advice and assistance to a mutual guarantee organization with regard to the regulatory requirements related to the Basel III regulation, and assistance in its evolution towards an insurance activity
• Advice and assistance to an investor in the context of a dispute opposing him to the management of his French subsidiary
• Advice and assistance to professional unions in their internal organizations, implementation of a governance system
• Advice and assistance in setting it up, endowing and leading an endowment fund, structuring the endowment fund and its governance
• Defense and assistance of an international hotel group in the context of collective proceedings involving a client under hotel management
• Defense and assistance of a regional group against hostile actions by shareholders (management expertise, appointment of judicial administrators, actions for annulment of general meetings and challenges to management decisions)

LABOR LAW

We support start-ups, SMEs, foundations, family offices, employers' federations, or emblematic listed groups (CAC40), in advice and litigation, in all areas of labor law (individual and collective relations) with particular attention to matters of news and the corporate culture of our clients. 

Our France & International expertise:

• Assistance in the development of the collective statute and the establishment of employee representative institutions, management of trade union rights
• Support for restructuring (job protection plans, collective contractual terminations, transfers of companies or establishments)
• Collective litigation
• Drafting of employment contracts and management of the individual employment relationship
• Simple individual or senior executive negotiation (remuneration, conventional termination, transaction)
• Litigation and sensitive individual disputes 
• Strategic projects related to employment issues in an emergency situation (ex: Covid-19)

Our rankings:

• Legal Decision Makers: High-risk litigation and criminal labor law: Excellent 
• Legal Decision Makers: Restructuring, social plans and associated litigation: Renowned practice

Some examples :

• Support in restructuring operations in the road transport sector
• Collective litigation related to strike movements accompanied by the occupation of work premises in the luxury hotel and restaurant industry, high-profile establishments
• Assistance to industrial groups and local authorities in the organization of the transfer of personnel
• Support for internal investigations related to harassment
• Establishment of representative institutions for a group specializing in digital solutions and desktop publishing
• Support for construction and transport groups on the social aspects of national, cross-border or international subcontracting
• Co-employment litigation 
• Training