Camerons network expands into France

CMS - the European law firm network begun by City firm Cameron McKenna - has added French law firm Bureau Francis Lefebvre (BFL) to its membership.

With effect from 1 March, BFL will become CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre.

Ranked among the top five law firms in France, BFL has 72 partners, 320 avocats and a total staff of 500.

BFL also has an affiliated office in Lyon with 28 avocats and a total staff of 60.

In addition to Paris and Lyon, BFL has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Dusseldorf, Madrid, Moscow and New York.

Where CMS offices are already established, member firms plan to pool resources.BFL's reputation is especially strong in tax work; in addition it has an expanding practice in transactional legal work.

Richard Taylor, chairman of CMS, said: 'We are delighted that BFL has decided to join CMS.

The addition of BFL completes CMS's strategic plan to have at its core a top-tier law firm in each of the three major European jurisdictions - Germany, France and the UK.

BFL will put CMS at the fore of tax and legal advice in Europe.

Its transactional tax practice will be the pivot of CMS's services in this important cross-border practice area.'

Robert Baconnier, chairman of BFL, added: 'We were attracted by the CMS model.

Joining CMS gives us the opportunity to maintain our premier position in France whilst widening our cross-border and international capabilities within a strong pan-European organisation.'

The other CMS firms are: CMS Derks Star Busmann Hanotiau (The Netherlands and Belgium), CMS Hasche Sigle Eschenlohr Peltzer Schfer (Germany), CMS Strommer Reich-Rohrwig Karasek Hainz (Austria) and CMS von Erlach Klainguti Stettler Wille (Switzerland).

Neil Rose