Through its work with businesses, our Corporate / Contracts team has developed extensive skills in the field of contract law. We organize strong contractual relationships according to the stakes, constraints, and acceptable risks involved. With cross-disciplinary competences in tax and labour law, intellectual property, and insurance, we ensure the consistency and compliance of contracts with both internal compliance programmes and the laws in force, in particular competition law.
When it comes to the definition and implementation of commercial policies, we see the law as an instrument serving companies’ strategic purposes, i.e. a creator of value through improved organisation, productivity, and image.
We are perfectly suited for both small and medium-sized businesses and big French and foreign groups. With a focus on the life sciences, chemical, agribusiness, cosmetics, and ready-to-wear industries, our lawyers are bent on achieving a perfect understanding of the economic stakes and constraints of their clients’ specific branch of industry. Led by the partners, who remain heavily involved at all stages of the case, the team works in French and in English and regularly collaborates with foreign lawyers.
What We Do
Distribution: Exclusive distribution, selective distribution, commercial agency, franchising, commissioning, brokerage, sale or purchase commissions.
Pricing policy and business negotiations: General terms and conditions of sale and purchase, special terms and conditions, business co-operation, new promotional instruments.
Intellectual property: Protection and exploitation (ownership in common, licence, assignment, contribution, etc.) of trademarks, domain names, copyright, know-how, designs, patents, fashion designs.
NICT: Web sites (creation and animation), multimedia works, e-commerce, software (development, licence, assignment), video-surveillance, outsourcing, database exploitation.
Financing and related guarantees: Loans, finance leases, personal and collateral securities, pledge of securities and goodwills and stocks-in-trade.
Leases: Commercial, professional, and residential leases.
Construction: Works, construction management, joint project ownership, development
Partnerships and sponsorships: PR events, endorsement and equipment contracts, sportspeople’s right of publicity.
Promotion: Competitions, premiums and gifts, couponing.
Advertising: Purchase of advertising space, communications consulting.
Highlights
• Drawing-up and negotiation of marketing contracts (distribution, agency, brokerage, exclusive distribution, trademark, know-how, or software licensing) for a great number of big corporations in the life sciences, agribusiness, cosmetics, ready-to-wear, and industrial equipment sector after taking into consideration specific aspects of competition law (cartels, restrictive and anti-competitive practices)
• Auditing of the 300 contracts of a leading European pharmaceutical company in the generic drugs field
• Development of a compliance programme in regard of the French Dutreil, Chatel and LME acts for the sales forces of several corporations, especially in the life sciences sector
• Drawing-up and negotiation of a public geographical database licence for the French subsidiary of a leading publishing group
• Validation of the legal aspects of a group’s marketing policy and adaptation of its standard contracts to that policy: general terms and conditions of sale/purchase/lease, distribution contracts for France/export
• Preparation of the documentation for a new franchising network for France’s leading credit broker and for new selective distribution networks in the hair care and sports equipment sectors
• Drawing-up and negotiation of business co-operation contracts with large-scale retailers and franchising networks including financing terms (advance payments on immediate reductions and business co-operation remuneration) secured by the pledge of goodwills and stocks-in-trade and securities
• Validation of promotional campaigns aimed at professionals and consumers: premium sales, comparative advertising, batch sales, couponing, competitions, etc.
