Bird & Bird appoints Romain de Ménonville as a partner to boost its Restructuring & Insolvency practice in Paris

Romain is an insolvency and restructuring specialist in the financial, retail and automotive sectors. He advises several large organisations, particularly financial institutions. He was nominated as a 'Next Generation Lawyer' in both 2018 and 2019 by Legal 500 and was also ranked as a 'Rising Star' in 2019 by IFLR 1000. Romain joins from Hogan Lovells where he was Counsel in its Business Restructuring & Insolvency group advising on corporate and leverage finance deals.

Romain is one of the few lawyers in France to act as a regular counsel for banks on restructuring. His addition to the Restructuring & Insolvency team in France, led by Nicolas Morelli, will allow the firm's Paris office to offer its domestic and international clients a leading service in financial restructuring.

The Restructuring & Insolvency practice at Bird & Bird comprises teams throughout the firm's offices in Europe and Asia-Pacific. The team's expertise includes assistance on both transactional and contentious matters, regularly advising companies, or their principal creditors and investors, by providing value-added legal solutions in out of court restructurings and also judicial restructurings. Romain's arrival is an important part of Bird & Bird's strategy in France and will help strengthen the Restructuring & Insolvency practice.

Alongside Romain, Jessica Derocque has also joined the firm's Banking and Finance team as Counsel. Prior to joining Bird & Bird, Jessica was Counsel at Jones Day. Her practice focuses on banking and finance matters with a particular emphasis on leveraged acquisition finance and corporate finance. She advises all types of lenders (banks, debt funds and mezzanine funds), corporate borrowers, and sponsors on bank and bond financing in connection with LBO transaction. Jessica also has extensive experience in debt restructuring financing or refinancing and has advised creditors (banks and debt funds) on several lenders’ led transactions.

Alexandre Vuchot and Benjamine Fiedler, co-heads of Bird & Bird France comment: "The recruitment of Romain and Jessica is fully in line with the current strategy of the Bird & Bird offices in France: to strengthen the Restructuring & Insolvency practice and bolster our transactional capabilities. We look forward to welcoming them both to the team in France. "

Nicolas Morelli and Joss Hargrave, co-heads of the international Restructuring & Insolvency practice at Bird & Bird say: "Romain has a unique blend of expertise in the banking sector and experience working with a wide array of insolvency restructuring stakeholders. His arrival at Bird & Bird, combined with the arrival of Jessica Derocque, a recognised expert in financing, will help boost our restructuring offering to banks and help develop our profile within financial services around insolvency matters in France."

Romain adds: "The French restructuring ecosystem has undergone a revolution which has resulted in a large number of industrial and financial restructuring cases. Restructuring law is becoming more complex and international, which generates new challenges for all those involved in restructuring, particularly financial institutions. I share the same vision with the team at Bird & Bird and I look forward to developing a leading practice together."