Goodwin poaches corporate finance team from Shearman

The team will work in the firm’s Paris office, alongside the team of private equity and M&A lawyers Goodwin nabbed from KWM earlier this year.

US-based law firm Goodwin has further expanded its private equity team in France by appointing a corporate finance team from rival firm Shearman & Sterling.

Arnaud Fromion and Frédéric Guilloux, both corporate finance lawyers, will join the firm’s Paris office as partners, alongside counsel Adrien Paturaud and several associates. The team will join the firm in mid-October, according to a statement from Goodwin.

The team specializes in acquisition finance and corporate finance, acting for both lenders and borrowers, and private equity sponsors, according to the statement. They have represented numerous financial institutions, banks, private debt funds and borrowers on a range of leveraged finance transactions. The team also acts for lenders and borrowers on large corporate, crossover and telecom financings.

The news comes just 11 months after the firm said it was opening its first office in Frankfurt, having recruited four private equity and real estate lawyers from rival firm Ashurst, as reported by pfm.

Goodwin opened its Paris office in July 2016 with the appointment of four former King & Wood Mallesons partners Maxence Bloch, Christophe Digoy, Jérôme Jouhanneaud and Thomas Maitrejean. They were later joined by teammates William Robert and Pierre-Louis Sévegrand, and a group of counsel and associates, also from KWM. The team specializes in M&A, leveraged buyouts, private equity and public-to-private transactions for French and foreign private equity funds.

In addition to offices in Paris, London and Frankfurt, the firm has operations in Boston, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Washington DC.