The office will be led by a three partner team, comprising ex Hogan Lovells pair Thomas Rouhette and Sylvie Gallage-Alwis, and Emmanuèle Lutfalla joining from Soulié & Coste-Floret, a boutique French insurance disputes firm.

No Brexit factor

Mr Rouhette has nearly 30 years’ experience, and an expert in international, cross-border litigation. Ms  Lutfalla has over 20 years’ experience and specialises in insurance and reinsurance litigation. Ms Gallage-Alwis is one of the youngest French practitioners recognised for her skills as a litigator by the directories. Commenting on the launch, Mr Rouhette said ‘as a conflict-free litigation specialist, Signature Litigation operates in a special space in the industry. Such dedicated firms have proven their success in the US and the UK. We are sure that they are the future of the Paris market as well. I am relishing the opportunity to add to Signature’s leading litigation offering.’ Founding Partner, Graham Huntley, commented the launch of a Paris office is ‘a reflection of a desire to complement our existing practices in London and Gibraltar with people who we know will fit in and prosper as part of our unique all-member profit sharing and open management style. Paris of course is special in many ways, and it will help us to develop a broader litigation and arbitration practice unaffected by Brexit which itself we believe will not affect the dispute resolution activity in London.’

Consistent strategy

In 2017/18, Signature Litigation’s turnover increased by 35% to £16.3 million. Revenues were spread across a wide range of cases across industries including banking, pensions, private equity, trusts and insurance. Signature also announced an annual profit share of 13.6%, paid to all members of the Firm. Kevin Munslow, ceo of Signature Litigation, commented ‘we continue to pursue our strategy of consistent and managed year on year growth, and we take pride in having a system which returns the value of our success to every employee in the firm without the intervention of any discretionary element.’