Jeantet is delighted to announce the arrival of Karl Hepp de Sevelinges and François d’Ornano as partners, together with their Paris and European teams.

With these new additions, Jeantet, an independent French law firm, reinforces its position as a market leader by attracting attorneys recognized for their expertise in the strategic fields of mergers & acquisitions and real estate transactions.

Karl Hepp de Sevelinges joins Jeantet’s M&A division with Ingrid Fauveliere as counsel and her staff, Ruben Koslar. François d’Ornano joins Jeantet’s real estate division with his two Paris staff, Mathilde Tariel and Caroline Jarry, previously with real estate operations and finance at Gide.

With these recruitments, Jeantet also confirms its continuing development in Europe, one year after opening its Geneva office and shortly after launching its Luxembourg office in 2013.

The arrival of these two partners enables Jeantet to open two new offices, one in Budapest (Hungary), managed by François d’Ornano and one in Kiev (Ukraine), managed by Karl Hepp de Sevelinges, to secure its presence, via these two platforms, across the whole of central and eastern Europe.

Jeantet will also be able to rely on François d’Ornano’s extensive 15 years of experience managing and developing Gide offices in Belgrade and Budapest. With some dozen lawyers, the Budapest team will be led locally by Ioana Knoll-Tudor, who joins Jeantet as a local partner after working successively at Gide’s Warsaw and Budapest offices.

The Kiev office, with some dozen employees, will report to Karl Hepp de Sevelinges. Karl managed Gide’s New York office in 2011 and 2012 after establishing and developing the Kiev office. Jeantet’s Ukraine team will be led locally by Bertrand Barrier, as the local partner.

Jeantet is also counting on the expertise of Karl Hepp de Sevelinges to strengthen its client base and operations in Germany, which Jeantet’s German-fluent teams in Luxembourg have been working hard to develop. Karl is a registered barrister in Frankfurt, regularly representing German clients investing in France and Europe.

Thierry Brun, partner and member of Jeantet’s Management Board, says, “The recruitment of Karl and François, as well as the opening of two new offices in central and oriental Europe are very important steps in the implementation of our strategic plan. They allow us to significantly strengthen our industrial M& A and real estate transactional practices – two key areas of our firm – and to pursue our International deployment.”

Philippe Portier, also a member of the Management Board, says, “The arrival of Karl, François and their teams demonstrates the attractiveness of our firm and its people. Their experience in running foreign and international offices will be invaluable as we look to expand our business beyond our borders”.

For their part, Karl Hepp de Sevelinges and François d’Ornano were unable to resist Jeantet’s prospects in France and internationally, saying, “We share Jeantet’s commitment to independence, professional standards, and their ideas on how the legal profession should be practised. We also see in Jeantet the entrepreneurial approach, energy and ambition that have always driven us in our own business, and we are delighted to be able to contribute to Jeantet’s expansion and reputation in France and Europe”.