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LPA-CGR lawyers strengthens its Africa Desk with the arrival of Samir Sayah and Marc Veuillot as partners

LPA-CGR avocats confirms its willingness to strengthen its expertise dedicated to the African continent by welcoming Samir Sayah and Marc Veuillot as partners.

LPA-CGR avocats has been present on the African continent for some fifteen years, first in Algeria and Morocco, then in Cameroon, thus enabling the firm to offer expertise in African law.

With its multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, the firm’s Africa platform, which includes professionals based in Africa and Paris-based teams dedicated to Africa, has nearly forty lawyers and legal advisors, including a dozen partners. They assist European, African and international clients in setting up and developing their activities on the African continent, in their investment, partnership or financing operations.

Samir Sayah is based in Paris. He reinforces the activities of the Algiers office, composed of a dozen professionals, and intervenes more generally on projects in North Africa and in all WAEMU* countries. He mainly assists international and African clients in mergers and acquisitions, corporate law, investment, exchange control regulations and business law, particularly in the health, telecom and agribusiness sectors.

Marc Veuillot has been based in Casablanca for the past 17 years where he has been a legal and tax advisor. He strengthens the Casablanca office which has a dozen professionals. He advises multinationals on investment or restructuring projects in Morocco, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa and assists private clients in wealth management and transactional matters.

Samir Sayah and Marc Veuillot will work closely with the teams in Paris, Casablanca (a hub for projects in Africa), Algiers, Douala, Yaoundé and Dubai, and will be responsible for strengthening the Middle East-North Africa strategic axis.

Samir Sayah and Marc Veuillot comment: “LPA-CGR’s historical roots in Africa and the firm’s ambitions on the continent have convinced us. The structural transformation of African economies that we are witnessing requires lawyers with both international expertise and a thorough knowledge of the continent’s societal and economic issues. We are delighted to join a team that combines these qualities with a real African ambition.

Sidonie Fraiche-Dupeyrat, Partner and President of the firm, adds: “The arrival of Samir Sayah and Marc Veuillot confirms our ambitions on the African continent. Together, we offer our clients a highly recognized legal expertise and a perfect understanding of the OHADA business environment and local legal systems. We represent a leading intervention force in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, for local, French and international groups and institutions. We are looking forward to these developments and perspectives“.

*WAEMU: West African Economic and Monetary Union

The Paris office of LPA-CGR avocats now has 42 partners.

Biographical information

Samir Sayah

Samir Sayah holds a Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in law and administrative sciences from the Faculty of Law in Algiers. He is a member of the Algiers bar and the Hauts-de-Seine bar. He began his career almost 20 years ago in Algeria with international law firms. He then joined CMS in 2006 to set up d the Algiers office in 2007, became a partner in 2009 and led multidisciplinary teams as Partner Africa Practice.

He regularly publishes articles in French and English, relating to Algerian law, notably for LexisNexis (he is a member of the scientific committee) and the magazine Jeune Afrique.

Samir Sayah has been ranked for more than a decade as a leading corporate/M&A lawyer in many renowned professional publications such as Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and IFLR 1000.

He is fluent in Arabic, French and English.

Marc Veuillot

Marc Veuillot has been residing and advising companies and individuals on the African continent for the past twenty years. He was head of the legal and tax department of PwC Morocco (2006-2011) before joining CMS Morocco where he was Managing Partner of the Casablanca office (2011-2021).

Marc Veuillot holds a master’s degree in Business Law, Lille 2 (1995) and a “DESS Audit Juridique, Comptable et Fiscal” (2000) and has been a lawyer at the Hauts-de-Seine bar since 2004. He is ranked as a leading tax lawyer in many renowned professional publications such as Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and IFLR 1000.

He regularly publishes studies dedicated to business and tax law.