At their General Meeting of 27 June 2024, the partners of CMS Francis Lefebvre elected three new members to their firm’s Advisory Board: Alexandre Delhaye, Laurent Hepp and Claire Vannini.
All three were elected for a three-year term. They will join Christophe Frionnet, whose mandate was renewed for a further three years, as well as Stéphane Gelin, serving on the Board until 2025, and Cathy Goarant-Moraglia and Aline Divo, both serving until 2026.
At its first meeting with its new members, held on 27 June 2024, the Advisory Board elected Cathy Goarant-Moraglia as Chair and Aline Divo as Vice-Chair for the remainder of their terms, i.e. until June 2026.
Alexandre Delhaye joined CMS Francis Lefebvre in 2001 and was co-opted partner in 2015. His practice within the Corporate department spans all aspects of domestic and cross-border transactions (mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, venture capital, etc.), complex reorganizations and restructuring operations for major groups, governance matters and shareholder relations.
A graduate of the ESCEM Business School (1995), Alexandre also holds a post-graduate diploma in English Law from Warwick Law School (1997) and a post-graduate degree (DJCE-DESS) in Business Law and Taxation from the University of Poitiers (1999).
Aline Divo joined CMS Francis Lefebvre in 1997 and has been co-opted partner in 2012. She has served on the Advisory Board since 2020. She specializes in real estate law (commercial leases, property sales) and construction law, advising her clients, drafting their legal documents and representing them in disputes. From 2005 to 2010, she gave lectures on commercial leases to students studying for their Master’s in Property Law at the University of Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne. She served on the Hauts-de-Seine Bar Council from 2013 to 2015 and is part of the editorial team for Lefebvre Dalloz’s Commercial Leases Handbook.
Aline holds a post-graduate degree (DJCE-DESS) in Business Law and Taxation from the University of Paris II - Panthéon-Assas/Leiden University (Netherlands) (1996).
Christophe Frionnet joined CMS Francis Lefebvre in 1997 and was co-opted partner in 2009. He has served on the Advisory Board since 2021. He advises corporate groups and non-profit organizations on all tax matters and specializes in wealth and property tax issues. He assists companies in their reorganizations and tax disputes, and also advises on LBOs and LMBOs, as well as on all tax aspects involved in various HR operations, such as when a French or foreign group sets up an employee savings or share ownership scheme. Since 2000, he has given lectures to Master’s students at the University of Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne.
A graduate of the Business Law Institute at the University of Paris II - Panthéon-Assas with a Master’s in Business Law (1994), Christophe also holds a post-graduate degree (DESS) in Business Management and Taxation from the University of Paris-Dauphine - PSL (1995) and passed the Paris bar exam (CAPA) in 1997.
Stéphane Gelin joined CMS Francis Lefebvre as partner in 2003. He has served on the Advisory Board since 2016 and, from 2014 to 2021, also headed up the CMS tax practice. He advises French and foreign multinational corporations on international taxation and transfer pricing. He has been involved in a number of major matters involving global transfer pricing structuring, operational restructuring and French and foreign transfer pricing documentation. He represents his clients in French and international tax litigation (specifically in competent authority proceedings, arbitration and advance pricing agreements). He also advises on international financing matters, cross-border reorganizations, joint ventures and acquisitions.
A graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (1986), Stéphane also holds a post-graduate degree (DESS) in Applied Taxation from the University of Paris René-Descartes (1985).
Cathy Goarant-Moraglia joined CMS Francis Lefebvre in 1995 and became partner in 2006. She has served on the Advisory Board since 2020. Specializing in local taxation, she advises businesses and local authorities on all matters involving their local business taxes (CFE and CVAE), property and land tax, billboard tax, tax on commercial premises and the specific tax on business premises in the Ile-de-France region. She also advises both corporate and individual taxpayers on their residential tax. She regularly leads seminars and gives corporate training on the complexities of local taxation or how it is affected by French finance acts. She has written many key articles on local taxation for journals and other legal publications.
Cathy holds a Master’s in Business Law and Taxation from the University of Paris II - Panthéon-Assas (1992) and a post-graduate degree (DJCE-DESS) from the University of Poitiers (1993).
Laurent Hepp joined CMS Francis Lefebvre in 1992 and was made partner in 2004. He served on the Advisory Board from 2012 to 2016 and then on the Management Board and Executive Committee from 2016 to 2020. He specialises in corporate and group taxation, advising on transactions and private equity matters, with a particular focus on domestic and international tax structuring. He also advises private individuals, whether corporate executives or major shareholders, on their personal tax matters.
A graduate of the EM Lyon business school (1990), Laurent also holds a Master’s in Business Law from the University of Paris II - Panthéon-Assas (1991) and an LLM from the London School of Economics (1992).
Claire Vannini joined CMS Francis Lefebvre in 2002 and was made partner in 2015. She specializes in competition law (antitrust, merger control, foreign investment control, State aid) and European law and regulation (particularly for the energy and transport sectors). She gives lectures on European law as part of the Master’s in European Market Law and Regulation at the University of Paris II - Panthéon-Assas.
A graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (1999), Claire also holds a Master’s in Business Law from the University of Paris X - Nanterre (1997) and a post-graduate degree (DESS) in Public Law from the University of Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne (2000).
CMS Francis Lefebvre is one of France’s top multidisciplinary international business law firms.
The firm currently employs over 600 people, with 450 lawyers, including more than 110 partners.
