The business world is a competitive, globalized market. In this environment, many companies - whether small, national, or international in scope—frequently face cutting-edge legal issues and, at times, find themselves involved in litigation.
The role of business lawyers is to provide customized, highly technical legal advice and assistance to their professional clients, enabling them to optimize the management of legal risks and ensure an effective defence in case of litigation.
With over 10 years of experience in business litigation, Maître Julie MANISSIER, founder of MANISSIER AVOCAT located in Paris 17, counsels and assists entrepreneurs, companies, and groups established in France or abroad, as well as their directors, to mitigate legal risks, manage disputes and legal proceedings that arise in the course of their development.
MANISSIER AVOCAT offers services in both French and English and represents its clients in all French courts.
For complex cases, MANISSIER AVOCAT teams up with a network of skilled professionals who are experts in their fields (commissioners of justice formerly called bailiffs, technical advisers, translators, etc.), so as to provide its clients with a highly technical defence.
Business litigation in a nutshell:
Business litigation encompasses all disputes in which companies may be involved in the course of their business activities.
It is a broad and multifaceted field, embracing a wide range of dispute categories. These include disagreements between companies of various sizes and structures, such as independent contractors, companies, SMEs, and large corporations. Additionally, it covers disputes among groups of companies, their competitors, partners, customers, and third parties.
Notably, it primarily concerns commercial litigation (disputes brought before the Commercial Court and the Commercial Division of the Courts of Appeals, or disputes that fall within the jurisdiction of these courts). Such disputes may include those between traders, craftsmen, industrialists, credit institutions, or between commercial companies and their directors.
Additionally, it covers collective proceedings and disputes relating to commercial acts.
It also covers disputes pertaining to commercial leases, for which the Judicial Court (“Tribunal judiciaire”, formally called “Tribunal de Grande Instance”) has exclusive jurisdiction.
Lastly, business litigation concerns disputes between non-commercial entrepreneurs (self-employed professionals, individual entrepreneurs, non-trading companies) and industrial or commercial companies and their non-commercial customers, brought before the Court of First Instance and the Local Court (formerly the Court of First Instance).
In business litigation, alternative dispute resolution (known in French as "Modes Alternatifs de Règlement des Différends" or MARD), which enables disputes to be settled out of court (settlement, conciliation, mediation, participative procedure) and often to be resolved, within a short timeframe and at a lower cost, are favoured but not systematically used.
DEBT RECOVERY
I provide counsel and support to help collect outstanding debts in civil and commercial matters, offering guidance throughout the entire process, whether it be out-of-court settlements or legal proceedings.
I assist clients at all stages of the legal process :
- at the pre-litigation stage, which includes drafting formal notices, monitoring negotiations, assisting with conciliation or mediation, and more.
- in the initiation and follow-up of any necessary legal proceedings (payment injunction proceedings, summary proceedings or proceedings on the merits), as well as in taking any useful provisional measures to guarantee payment of your claims (protective seizure, mortgage, etc.),
I can also help you select and implement the most effective enforcement measures.
I further defend you if you are sued as a debtor before all civil and commercial courts.
INSOLVENCY PROCEEDINGS
I assist companies in financial difficulty with the monitoring of insolvency proceedings to which they may be subject, as well as those carried out against their debtors (safeguard proceeding, judicial redress, judicial liquidation).
I also advise and assist decision-makers in the implementation of preventive procedures, which constitute alternative methods of negotiation with your partners and creditors when your company is experiencing difficulties (mandat ad hoc, conciliation).
BREACH OF COMMERCIAL RELATIONS
Breach of commercial relations, whether established or not, is always a decision entailing consequences, whether it involves a breach of contract for the future (termination) or ab initio (rescission). Implementation of this decision requires caution: observance of a reasonable period of notice, sending of a prior formal notice motivating the notification of breach, and even, in certain cases, referral to the competent jurisdiction.
In the event of wrongful abrupt termination, particularly in the event of abrupt termination of an established relationship governed by Article L.442-6-I of the French Commercial Code, the party responsible for the termination is liable and obliged to compensate its co-contractor for any damage caused as a result.
I can assist you in managing disputes arising from the disputation of breaches of commercial relations, whether through contentious proceedings or alternative dispute resolution methods.
I also defend the interests of companies that have suffered harm from a breach of commercial relations, whether established or not, during litigation before the Commercial Court or any other competent jurisdiction.
CIVIL AND COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
In general, I will defend you in any dispute that you may encounter in the course of your business, whether with your customers, your suppliers, a vendor or your competitors, in all areas of business law.
In particular, I intervene in the following areas of expertise: commercial law, consumer law, civil liability law (defective products, professional liability, unfair competition actions, liability of those involved in tourism and transport, etc.), construction law and insurance law.
Based in Paris, I appear before all French courts.
I also review and draft your contracts (leases, sales, etc.) and general terms and conditions.
FAQ
Lawyers can engage in two primary types of activity: consulting and litigation.
A lawyer's consulting activity covers all legal services and assistance a company can request from a legal professional, excluding litigation. These services may include auditing contracts, drafting commercial contracts, assisting with mergers and acquisitions, handling corporate restructurings, negotiating shareholders' agreements, and drafting articles of incorporation, among other things.
In contrast, the second type of activity, litigation, involves the active representation of clients in legal disputes. This includes assisting in the management of claims made by customers, facilitating settlement negotiations, overseeing conciliation procedures, mediating disputes, and representing clients in court.
In both of these specialties, lawyers provide their clients with tailor-made solutions to the legal problems they encounter. These solutions may involve drafting contracts that are as close to the clients' needs as possible or achieving a prompt resolution of their disputes in a way that best suits their interests.
Litigation lawyers possess expertise in managing disputes, whether through amicable methods or, when necessary, in court.
The aim of litigation is to have a complex situation between two or more parties solved by an impartial judge who will provide legal solutions to the situation within a pre-established legal framework.
This usually involves entrusting a court with the task of deciding on a legal issue and/or ordering a person either to fulfil an obligation or commitment, or to pay a debt, under the terms of an enforceable decision, thereby putting an end to a dispute within a pre-established framework.
There are also alternative methods of settling disputes (settlement negotiations, conciliation, mediation, participatory procedures) in which litigation lawyers can assist their clients.
