What you do matters to us

Our mission

We strive to offer our clients tailor-made legal solutions that correspond to our clients’ specific economic needs.

We have long-standing experience in fundraising, corporate-M&A transactions and private debt structuring and restructuring. We are involved in a wide range of market transactions that raise technical and strategic regulatory issues, on both the equity and debt sides, involving long and short positions.

We combine our technical expertise in business law with an in-depth understanding of the rule of law from an economic point of view, the financial and accounting aspects of our cases and the institutional and political issues at stake. This holistic approach allows us, beyond our legal expertise, to put forth holistic strategies leading to the improvement of existing practices and interpretation of the law, and TO understand the full context and issues at stake in the cases we handle.

We share our clients’ convictions. Working with them both means defending their interests to the best of our ability and giving a sense to our profession.
Our publications
expertise-bg

Our areas of expertise

Investment in listed securities

We are involved in a wide range of market transactions that raise technical and strategic regulatory issues.

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Corporate transactions

We have long-standing experience in fundraising, corporate-M&A transactions and private debt structuring and restructuring.

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The team

sophie-vermeille

Sophie Vermeille

Partner
paul-oudin

Paul Oudin

Associate
lea-desurmont

Léa Desurmont

Associate
Sophie Vermeille has worked for more than ten years for various leading business law firms and is now involved in complex cases with high financial and media implications.

Curriculum vitae and career path

Sophie has worked for over ten years for several international law firms, including DLA Piper, Freshfields, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Clifford Chance.

She has intervened on a wide variety of cases involving corporate, financial, insolvency and governance law.

She has also directed and worked on several research projects in legal economics and is regularly consulted by public authorities on reform projects relating to the areas of the law she practices.

Sophie holds an LL.M. in Business Law from King’s College London and a Magistère Juriste d’Affaires from the University Paris II-Panthéon Assas.

Parallel activities

  • Founder of the Droit & Croissance (Rules for Growth) Institute
  • Speaker at public institutions
  • Teacher

Contact details

Paul is a member of the Paris Bar, a PhD student at the University of Oxford, a member of the Droit & Croissance (Rules for Growth) Institute and a member of the European Corporate Governance Institute.

Curriculum vitae and career path

Paul has been an Attorney at Vermeille & Co since 2020. He works on all sorts of cases handled by the firm, with a main focus on cases involving listed companies. He is writing at the same time a thesis on the European regulation of insider trading at the University. He has been a visiting scholar at Columbia Law School (New York), Sapienza Università (Rome) and the Max-Planck-Institut (Hamburg).

Paul works on several research projects in various fields relevant to his work as a lawyer, at the crossroads of law, microeconomics, quantitative finance, and psychology.

He holds an MSc in Law and Finance from the University of Oxford and a Magistère Juriste d’Affaires from the University of Paris II-Panthéon Assas.

Parallel activities

  • PhD student at Oxford University
  • Member of the Steering Committee of Droit & Croissance
  • Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute
  • Associate Editor of the Oxford Business Law Blog

Contact details

Léa worked in several international business firms and practices corporate and financial law as a lawyer at Vermeille & Co.

Curriculum vitae and career path

Prior to joining Vermeille & Co, Léa worked in the corporate and M&A departments of international law firms such as Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy in Paris, Paul Weiss in London and Clifford Chance in Casablanca. Léa has also worked in the legal department of Lazard in Paris and the compliance department of CACIB in London.

Léa holds a Magistère Juriste d’Affaire from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas, as well as a Diplôme de Juriste Conseil d’Entrepreise (DJCE). She also holds a certificate in banking and financial law from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas.

Contact details

Sophie Vermeille has worked for more than ten years for various leading business law firms and is now involved in complex cases with high financial and media implications.

Curriculum vitae and career path

Sophie has worked for over ten years for several international law firms, including DLA Piper, Freshfields, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Clifford Chance.

She has intervened on a wide variety of cases involving corporate, financial, insolvency and governance law.

She has also directed and worked on several research projects in legal economics and is regularly consulted by public authorities on reform projects relating to the areas of the law she practices.

Sophie holds an LL.M. in Business Law from King’s College London and a Magistère Juriste d’Affaires from the University Paris II-Panthéon Assas.

Parallel activities

  • Founder of the Droit & Croissance (Rules for Growth) Institute
  • Speaker at public institutions
  • Teacher

Contact details

Paul is a member of the Paris Bar, a PhD student at the University of Oxford, a member of the Droit & Croissance (Rules for Growth) Institute and a member of the European Corporate Governance Institute.

Curriculum vitae and career path

Paul has been an Attorney at Vermeille & Co since 2020. He works on all sorts of cases handled by the firm, with a main focus on cases involving listed companies. He is writing at the same time a thesis on the European regulation of insider trading at the University. He has been a visiting scholar at Columbia Law School (New York), Sapienza Università (Rome) and the Max-Planck-Institut (Hamburg).

Paul works on several research projects in various fields relevant to his work as a lawyer, at the crossroads of law, microeconomics, quantitative finance, and psychology.

He holds an MSc in Law and Finance from the University of Oxford and a Magistère Juriste d’Affaires from the University of Paris II-Panthéon Assas.

Parallel activities

  • PhD student at Oxford University
  • Member of the Steering Committee of Droit & Croissance
  • Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute
  • Associate Editor of the Oxford Business Law Blog

Contact details

Léa worked in several international business firms and practices corporate and financial law as a lawyer at Vermeille & Co.

Curriculum vitae and career path

Prior to joining Vermeille & Co, Léa worked in the corporate and M&A departments of international law firms such as Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy in Paris, Paul Weiss in London and Clifford Chance in Casablanca. Léa has also worked in the legal department of Lazard in Paris and the compliance department of CACIB in London.

Léa holds a Magistère Juriste d’Affaire from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas, as well as a Diplôme de Juriste Conseil d’Entrepreise (DJCE). She also holds a certificate in banking and financial law from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas.

Contact details

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The firm

In 2017, Sophie created Vermeille & Co with the belief that investors’ rights were insufficiently protected, and that the Paris financial center lacked a law firm dedicated to the protection of these rights.
We intervene on legal and financial issues that often involve complex strategic aspects.
Our clients are companies and investors investing in and/or structuring equity, debt, hybrid and structured financings.
From financial regulation to litigation and governance, we have a wide range of legal skills which we complement with our economic and financial understanding of the rule of law.
We regularly cooperate with colleagues from other law firms to provide our clients with comprehensive legal advice, including in areas of the law outside of our main fields of expertise, such as competition law and tax law.
We frequently interact with journalists from reputable French newspapers, which allows us to keep up to date of the latest news and market rumors and to intervene in the press on mediatic cases.
Our values align with our client's interests, enabling us to cast a consistent and credible voice to private and public institutions.

Vermeille & co in the press

December 2023
Challenges
Casino: in Saint-Etienne, the takeover of the main employer raises fears of the worst
December 2023
Le Monde
Casino: in the name of founder Geoffroy Guichard, his descendants demand accountability
December 2023
L'Express
Atos: between Daniel Kretinsky and David Layani, time for major maneuvers
October 2023
Morningstar
Atos: activist fund Ciam files a complaint with the French Financial Prosecution Service
October 2023
L'AGEFI
Atos reshuffles its management team again
October 2023
L’AGEFI
Atos: activist fund Ciam files a complaint with the French Financial Prosecution Service
October 2023
Financial Times
IT services group Atos appoints Jean Pierre Mustier as chair
September 2023
La Lettre
Sophie Vermeille supplies the AMF with grey matter on Casino
September 2023
Le Monde
The French Financial Market Authority imposes massive fine on Casino parent company
July 2023
Les Echos
Jean-Charles Naouri, the fall of a gifted man
July 2023
Le Monde
Carson Block: “Jean-Charles Naouri had time to turn Casino around”
July 2023
Les Echos
Casino, the case that is lighting up the Paris stock exchange
July 2023
L'AGEFI
Casino chooses reason
June 2023
Le Monde
Casino CEO Jean-Charles Naouri under pressure from the French courts
June 2023
Le Monde
Casino sues “La Lettre A”, the media denounces an “attempt at intimidation”
June 2023
Le Monde
Hedge fund attacks SBF 120 company
June 2023
L'Express
Casino: “For years, the company ignored the seriousness of its difficulties”
May 2023
Capital Finance - Les Echos
Flexam Invest targets €1 bn in assets under management by 2027 by joining forces with Kartesia
May 2023
Le Figaro
Jean-Charles Naouri, behind the scenes of the end of his reign as head of Casino
March 2023
Dalloz Actualité
Publication by the Climate and Sustainable Finance Commission on climate resolutions
January 2023
Les Echos
A coalition of investors is mobilizing to relax the rules for submitting resolutions at AGMs
January 2023
L'Agefi
Asset managers join forces to ease the filing of shareholders
November 2022
Le Figaro
EDF: minority shareholders ask the State to raise its offer
November 2022
L’Agefi
EDF minority shareholders step up pressure on AMF
November 2022
L'Agefi
The AMF’s independence is being tested in the EDF case
November 2022
Les Echos
Employee shareholders file for summary judgment
November 2022
Les Echos
EDF : hedge funds and employees seek to delay the State’s takeover bid
November 2022
Financial Times
US funds press France to increase €10bn EDF buyout price
October 2022
Les Echos
Excessive duration of price suspension begins to annoy investors
October 2022
Les Echos
EDF : some minority shareholders feel cheated
September 2022
Board Agenda
Board veto of shareholder AGM resolution under scrutiny
June 2022
Novethic
Rejection of shareholder resolution at Total’s AGM: “it is legitimate for shareholders to be the ultimate decision-making body”, says Sophie Vermeille
May 2022
OBLD
Small Mistakes, Big Consequences: Elliott’s Sanction by the Paris Court of Appeal for Declaring CFDs Instead of Equity Swaps
May 2022
Les Echos
Climate: TotalEnergies shareholders request AMF intervention