Expertise
Practices
The firm's practice is dedicated to business law (advice, out-of-court settlements and litigation).
Competition law (Compliance and Litigation)
Rive Gauche Avocats helps companies to ensure that their actions comply with competition law. With our in-depth expertise, we assist companies in the development of their commercial policies, the conclusion of contractual or capital-intensive partnerships, or their external growth projects (French and European merger control law, State aid).
In designing and implementing their commercial strategy, large companies and SMEs have to maintain constant vigilance, whatever the sector in which they operate, not only to protect themselves against any risk they run in the event of infringement of French or European competition law (cartels, abuse of dominance), to minimize them when they do occur, but also to know how to use competition law dynamically in order to ensure the respect of their market objectives by competitors, suppliers or customers who would fail to comply with competition law rules.
Our experience in litigation and implementation of competition compliance programs covers a wide range of sectors: physical and Internet distribution, consumer goods, automotive, industry, agri-agro, banking and insurance, energy, gaming, logistics, maintenance, rail transport, etc.
This 360-degree approach to competition law enforcement, from setting up a comprehensive compliance programme to managing contentious proceedings from the outset, characterises Rive Gauche Avocats’ work.
Rive Gauche Avocats defends clients facing government investigations and enforcement actions before French and European Competition Authorities at all stages.
Rive Gauche Avocats has a network of partners with whom the firm’s lawyers have been working for many years: sectoral experts, competition economists, forensic and data analysis specialists, correspondent firms in all EU States and most States of the world, etc.
Rive Gauche Avocats assists clients with a full range of issues, including:
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Investigations by competition authorities (cartels – abuse of dominance – dawnraids / searches)
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Competition law audits (compliance)
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Merger control (France, EU, national competition authorities, in coordination with partner firms in the EU and worldwide ; coordination of multi-filings)
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Foreign investment control / Foreign subsidy control
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State aid analysis and notification / State aid litigation
Distribution networks are undergoing rapid changes in the digital landscape, which have been fully integrated into the firm’s practice. The firm’s lawyers have been involved in the setting up of leading distribution networks in France and other European Union countries, as well as in sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa (optical products, traditional restaurants, fast food, clothing, health products, veterinary products, agri/agro, etc.). Specifically, our lawyers have extensive experience of annual supplier/distributor negotiations, with a focus on the implementation of the Descrozaille Law or « Egalim 3 ».
They have also worked with some of France’s most prominent Internet retailing clients: clothing and footwear, connected objects, buying and selling used vehicles, optical and hearing aids products, etc.
Setting up and managing these distribution networks and channels, some of which are integrated, requires constant adaptation, with the need for our clients to control their commercial policy and ensure that it is respected. In this context, Rive Gauche Avocats’ lawyers offer support to distribution networks, franchises and Internet operators in setting up and/or effectively developing their operations.
Our experience also enables us to provide clients with an integrated support in all aspects of commercial relations. Our expertise covers restrictive practices, in particular significant imbalance between co-contractors, the sudden termination of established commercial relationships, and acts of unfair competiiton (parasitism, mass or targeted poaching, misleading advertising, comparative advertising, denigration, counterfeiting, etc.).
Rive Gauche Avocats assists clients with a wide-range of relevant issues, including:
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Setting up, organisation and monitoring of distribution and franchising networks
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Drafting of supply and distribution contracts
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E-Commerce (including website and platform creation and development) / articulation with selective or exclusive distribution networks
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DGCCRF investigations (payment terms, misleading advertising, marketing compliance, product conformity, defective products, etc)
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Assistance with ethical/regulatory procedures
Contracts andt Litigation for physical and Internet distribution
Consumer Contracts and Litigation / Regulatory Compliance
Rive Gauche Avocats advises clients on the design and implementation of their commercial communications and marketing operations targeted at consumers. Upstream of commercial operations and their securing, our expertise logically extends to the design and drafting of contractual documentation to consumers, in integration with our clients’ marketing and sales functions and in understanding of their needs.
Our global approach and our experience with the supervisory authorities (DGCCRF, DREETS, DDPP, etc.) enable us to provide a solid defense of our clients’ interests, both before the supervisory authorities and the courts.
Rive Gauche Avocats assists clients with:
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Preparation, drafting and adaptation of all contractual documentation (commercial contracts, distribution contracts, pre-contractual information obligations and franchise agreements, etc.)
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Regulatory compliance of marketing operations and advertising documentation
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Consumer litigation
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Representation before the DGCCRF and its decentralised authorities (DREETS, DDPP, etc.).
Rive Gauche Avocats offers clients personalised assistance in the drafting of commercial contracts in all sectors of activity and types of business relationships.
Our meticulous approach integrates the reconciliation of each client's specific interests with regulatory constraints, ensuring legally sound agreements aligned with their business objectives and compliant with regulations. We are committed to providing advice that is both commercially pragmatic and comprehensible in its implementation by our clients’ teams.
Rive Gauche Avocats assists clients with:
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Drafting and negotiation of commercial contracts (General Terms and Conditions of Sale (GTCS), General Terms and Conditions of Purchase (GTCP), Unique agreements, Commercial cooperation agreements, Egalim, Sales and distribution agreements, Service provision agreements, Business introducer agreements, Commercial agency contracts, Business purchase or sale agreements, Commercial leases, etc.)
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Commercial litigation (Litigation risk management, Pre-litigation negotiations, Non-performance or improper performance of a contract, Pre-litigation procedures, Tort, Abusive breach of negotiations and talks, Unfair competition, Commercial relations litigation, Brutal termination of commercial contracts or relationships, Commercial lease litigation, etc.)
Commercial Contracts and Litigation
Corporate Contracts and Litigation
Rive Gauche Avocats assists both corporate entities and individuals in connection with their corporate law disputes. Our knowledge of corporate culture and its environment enables us to provide solutions that best reconcile the human and financial aspects specific to this type of litigation. Our dynamism and discretion are essential qualities in bringing such disputes to a successful conclusion in the best possible conditions, giving priority whenever possible to an amicable or transactional approach.
Rive Gauche Avocats assists clients with:
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Conflict between partners / shareholders
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Abuse of majority shareholder power / minority shareholder power
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Directors’ liability
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Litigation relating to company acquisitions / investments
Rive Gauche Avocats has extensive experience in banking and financial litigation. Our in-depth knowledge of the legal issues specific to litigation in the banking and financial sector enables us to provide the most advantageous solutions for our clients.
Rive Gauche Avocats assists clients with:
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Loan repayment litigation
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Questions of all kinds relating to bank guarantee
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Liability of banks and credit institutions
Banking and Financial Contracts and Litigation
Financial Recovery Litigation
Rive Gauche Avocats is fully aware of the impact of unpaid debts on the cash-flow and, more generally, on the competitiveness of creditor companies, and is committed to deploying its full reactivity in the handling of unpaid debt collection disputes. Always rigorous, we implement every possible solution to defend our clients’ interests.
Rive Gauche Avocats assists clients with:
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Legal notice
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Implementation of precautionary measures
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Order of payment / Summary proceedings / Proceedings on the merits
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Drafting and negotiation of settlement agreements
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Enforcement of judgments
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Collections proceedings against debtors in insolvency proceedings (declaration of claim, action for recovery, etc.)
Sectors
Health
Rail transport
Mass Market Product
Luxury
Industry
Automotive
Energy
Agri-food
Insurance and Reinsurance
Bank and Finance
Technology and Communication
International
Rive Gauche Avocats stands out for its international culture, providing tailor-made support for French and foreign companies in their projects.
Rive Gauche Avocats’ expertise and proven experience enable it to assist clients before the European authorities (European Commission, General Court of the European union and Court of Justice of the European union, European Chemicals Agency, etc.).
The implementation of national regulations in West and Central Africa, the Middle East and the Maghreb, in close collaboration with its local partners, is also at the heart of Rive Gauche Avocats’ practice (merger control by local competition authorities, creation of distribution networks, commercial contracts, OHADA, etc.).
Rive Gauche Avocats’ ability to anticipate and manage risks at every stage of the contractual process makes it an invaluable ally in securing its clients’ international business, its expertise including negotiations, amicable settlements and, when absolutely necessary, pugnacious but pragmatic litigation assistance, under the terms of tried and tested methods.
