International firm Hogan Lovells has paid tribute to Valentin Ribet, an associate at the firm, who was killed in Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.  

The 26-year-old lawyer was among those attending a rock concert at the Bataclan theatre, one of the venues targeted in coordinated gun and bomb attacks that have so far claimed 129 lives. He was one of the first confirmed victims. 

Ribet worked as an associate in the litigation team at Hogan Lovells’ Paris office, specialising in criminal law and white-collar crime.

Before joining the firm he completed his training at Simmons & Simmons and Freshfields. He completed a postgraduate LLM at the London School of Economics last year and also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris.

In a statement, Hogan Lovells said: ‘This is an awful tragedy and hard for any of us to truly comprehend. We are shocked by both our loss and the wider events in [Paris].

‘[Valentin] was a talented lawyer and extremely well-liked, and a wonderful personality in the office. Our thoughts at this time are with Valentin and his family as well as his colleagues in the office and across the firm.’

The Paris Bar Association also reported that another young lawyer, Eva Naudon, was one of those seriously injured at the Bataclan but that her life was not in danger. 

It said that at the opening of the French legal year next month it would pay tribute to the memory of Valentin Ribet, denounce all forms of terrorism 'and remind ourselves of our commitment to all things that the barbarians abhor: life, liberty and the rule of law'.