Claire Ardenis-Lamarre

With over 30 years’ experience, she specialises in private wealth advice for international high net worth individuals and their families, advising in relation to their European based  assets, the organisation and winding-up of their international estates, as well as the associated tax issues.

Claire also advises British and international companies with business interests in France on the legal aspects of contracts/distribution, banking and employment.

She also acts on behalf of buyers and sellers of properties in France, including unusual legal  structures (such as “viager”).

Having graduated from Montpellier Law and Economics University with an Advanced  Diploma in Business Law (DESS) and with a specialised Business Consulting Diploma (DJCE), Claire was admitted to the Paris Bar in 1981.

She worked for four years in-house in the legal department of the Rothschild Bank in Paris, where she gained comprehensive knowledge of retail banking in the areas of risk assessment, securities and debt recovery in the French banking system.

She then worked in private practice for mid-sized law firms in Paris, advising in relation to commercial and banking law. In 1994, Claire set up her own firm in Paris, providing advice to  the Anglo-French business community there. She moved to London in 2003 to develop her international practice.

Claire has been a long-standing member of the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Paris) and has given conferences and talks, as well as written information booklets  and articles, about setting up and trading in France for British entrepreneurs.

She is also a member of the Paris Bar and the Association Nationale des Diplômés Juristes  d’Entreprise (ANDJCE).

Experience
● Led matters end-to-end, independently and in conjunction with other lawyers, clients and / or local counsel, with a specialism in English and French laws and their jurisdictional overlap.
● Prevented client regulatory breaches, strengthened negotiation positions and ensured  compliant contracting, via provision of updates on all necessary English, French and EU  law developments.
● Facilitated client contracting: negotiated and drafted a diversity of agreements under French and English law, from investments to indemnities, including negotiation of the  termination of a commercial lease for a French toy manufacturer and amendment of a highly technical agreement for the supply of electronic components; protected client  interests via a range of commercial securities, including the saving of EUR4M for a British retail bank by preventing a fraud to be set up through the establishment of charges over  French property.
● Minimised client litigation exposure through robust dispute resolution strategies.

Key successes included:
o Debt recovery for a French company defrauded by an English distributor, and the leading of a claim to recover monies owed by a well-known English chef following the set-up of his Parisian restaurant.
o Asset Tracing, defending a global shipping name subject to a foreign freezing  order against an English claim seeking transfer of the monies to an alleged creditor.
o Cross-Border litigation for a high-profile French individual before the French  Tribunal de Commerce and the UK High Court.