17 November 2009 – Mayer Brown, a leading global law firm, announced today that Ayela Semerdjian & Associates, a law firm dedicated to litigation and headed by Christophe Ayela and Renaud Semerdjian, has merged with Mayer Brown’s Paris office. 

Messrs. Ayela and Semerdjian established their eponymous firm in 2006.  They join Mayer Brown as partners and bring with them three associates and two of counsels. The additions expand the existing litigation and arbitration team of five lawyers to 12 and broaden the services of the department.  Actively involved in mergers and acquisitions, Mayer Brown Paris now provides comprehensive services to clients in all crisis situations. This development is in line with Mayer Brown’s global positioning policy and the firm’s strong litigation activity on a global level.

According to Jean-Philippe Lambert, Managing Partner Paris, “The synergy, common values and entrepreneurial approach of the new team is a significant asset in achieving the success of this combination.”

Renaud Semerdjian adds, “We were at a strategic crossroads of our expansion process. We have met a complementary team that shares our values and whose technical know-how is highly regarded. That is why we chose to join Mayer Brown, with the double intention of accelerating our expansion process and meeting our clients’ needs effectively.”

Mr. Ayela, 40, began his career at Gide Loyrett Nouel, prior to joining Stasi, where he became a partner in 2000. Since 2005, he has been a mediator authorized by the Centre de Médiation et d’Arbitrage de Paris – CMAP (mediation and arbitration center). In this capacity, he regularly acts on commercial disputes on a national and international level.

With a keen interest on cross examination techniques, Mr. Ayela was the first in France to publish a book on this technique, which he also teaches at the Ecole de Formation du Barreau de Paris (Paris Bar admission school) and which he regularly uses during criminal and arbitral proceedings. He is also a CCI and CMAP mediator.  Mr. Ayela is a graduate of Aix en Provence University (Masters in Private Law, 1992) and Ottawa University, Canada (LLM of International Business Law, 1993).

Mr. Semerdjian began his career at the headquarters of an American media group, where he held successive positions as legal counsel and deputy director of international development in Europe (12 countries and 3,200 employees). After four years spent in Southeast Asia establishing and managing the group’s subsidiaries there, he returned to Europe to spearhead the restructuring of operations of the group’s French subsidiaries and to manage pan-European strategic litigation (arbitration and competition).

Mr. Semerdjian is a graduate of Aix en Provence University, France (1992), Sheffield, England (LLB, 1993), Maastricht, the Netherlands (LLM of European Comparative Law, 1994) and holds an EMBA from HEC business school (2006).

Mayer Brown’s 12-member litigation, arbitration and mediation team in Paris includes:  partners Christophe Ayela and Renaud Semerdjian; counsel Nathalie Morel; senior associates Camille Potier, Dany Khayat and Kévin Grossman; junior associates Céline bondard, Stéphanie Zaks, Marie-Elodie Morice and Aurélian Aucher; and of counsels Sandrine Clavel and Walid Ben Hamida.