Veil Jourde announces the arrival of Carol Santoni and Louise Duvernois as partners to develop the Real Estate Investment practice
With a focus on property investment, they will add to the range of services offered by the firm, which is already active in advising and litigating on behalf of private-sector clients and local authorities.
Carol and Louise advise French and international investors, real estate companies, institutional investors and developers on all types of assets (offices, warehouses, retail and residential) across the full range of their transactions, and more specifically in relation to investments (asset deals, share deals, joint ventures), construction and development (property development contracts, works contracts, sales before completion and partnerships between investors and developers).
They assist them with their asset management projects and have developed significant experience in commercial leases, particularly leases in a future state of completion. They are also involved in projects to restructure and enhance the value of their property assets. Their expertise will complement that of Véronique Prévôt-Légonie, who works on this type of case, as well as on matters relating to public property, town planning and environmental law, and Emmanuel Rosenfeld, whose work is cross-disciplinary and contentious.
The arrival of Carol and Louise marks our desire to continue developing our transactional business. There are many synergies with the existing team and the other departments.
In early 2024, Carol and Louise acted for a German real estate investment fund, KanAm, on the sale and leaseback of the head office of Agapes in Lille, the catering arm of the Association Familiale Mulliez (AFM).
“We are delighted to be returning to a multi-disciplinary firm, so that we can cover all aspects of a property investment transaction, both in terms of advice and litigation, and provide our clients with a high level of expertise in all areas of business law.
Our enthusiasm for joining the firm is reinforced by our previous collaborations with several of the partners at Veil Jourde”,
About the team
A member of the Paris Bar since 2001, Carol Santoni holds a postgraduate diploma (DEA) in business law (1999 – Université de Paris Ouest La Défense), a master’s degree in business law (1998 – Université de Paris Ouest La Défense) and an LLM in German law (1998 – University of Potsdam). She joined Gide Loyrette Nouel in 2001 and remained with the firm until 2014. She headed Gide’s Serbia office in 2009 and 2010. She then joined Racine as a partner in 2014 before joining sbkg & associés in 2021. Carol has taught corporate law at the University of Paris Ouest La Défense and has been listed as an individual in the Chambers and Best Lawyers rankings for several years.
Louise Duvernois holds a Master’s degree in Real Estate and Construction Law (2007 – Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas) and a Master’s degree in Business Law, specialising in German law (2005 – Université Paris Ouest La Défense and 2004 – University of Potsdam). She was admitted to the Paris Bar in 2008. She joined Gide Loyrette Nouel in 2008 and White & Case LLP in 2012. In January 2020, she joined Racine as Counsel before joining sbkg & associés in October 2021 as a partner. Louise is individually ranked in Best Lawyers.
