Interview with Romain Picard, young partner of the firm Arst Avocats specialized in Corporate / M&A

Romain Picard, can you tell us about your background?

I was lucky – for some it might be bad luck – to start my career in major French and international structures. For me it was a chance because I was able to practice there the activity that I wanted to have, that of Corporate / M&A, at the highest level there is. While this obviously has its drawbacks, it makes it possible to deal with cases which it would be difficult to deal with in one's career otherwise, the main characteristic of which is not the number of zeros in the financial stakes of the case but in particular a hold of the dossier in an international environment within tight operating schedules. I appropriated the professionalism of these structures, the responsiveness and the extreme quality of services that we must provide to a client. After a few years, with the development of a personal clientele which intensified, I wanted to be able to evolve myself towards the status of associate. And it is with this status that I joined the firm Arst Avocats.

Isn't that a curious choice? Arst Avocats is nothing like a big law firm, let alone Anglo-Saxon?

Damn, would I have been wrong? (laughs). I know it and it is by choice that I wanted to integrate such a structure. I had a choice (three possibilities to be precise) as to the type of structures with which I could become a partner. If I ruled out the two other choices, of significantly larger firms, it is because it is in a young firm, where precisely everything can still be done, which lets its partners dare, without excessive constraints, the practice that 'they want to have that I wished to bet on my own development. I was looking for benevolence, freedom and flexibility. At Arst Avocats, I can develop matters and clients that I would have had much more difficulty developing in a large structure. The hourly rates that I can offer my clients, for very technical and qualitative services, are also a good asset for my development. It was also essential for me that the firm be full-service in business law (Corporate / M&A, commercial law - leases, litigation , restructuring - insolvency proceedings , social law , tax law ) in order to deepen the bond of trust with my clients: to remain their trusted contact on a daily basis while giving them the possibility of relying on my associates on a broader spectrum of expertise. Finally, very attached to the team spirit in a law firm, I wanted the firm in which I join for my development to have values ​​that are also mine. Having had the opportunity to work alongside Morgan Jamet and the Arst Avocats teams on several occasions in recent years has allowed me to quickly project myself. It's a bet, for me and for Arst Avocats who also trusted me.

What are your specific areas of expertise?

I have the ability to handle mergers and acquisitions, capital investment or restructuring operations of all sizes and in environments, in particular multi-national or rather complex regulatory ones, by coordinating internal and external teams where necessary. And since who can do more can do less, that gives me a wide range of intervention possibilities. I have of course kept some specific strings to my bow, such as the control of foreign investments in France. This already gives a broad field of activity, knowing that the customers of an operation often wish that we continue to deal with other problems by coordinating the stakeholders.

What do you want to develop, concretely, as an activity, within this structure?

Develop seems to me the exact term. Arst Avocats already has a Corporate / M&A activity. It is for me, relying on the teams in place, with whom I already enjoy working, to open up a wider spectrum, in terms of types of operations, size of operations and also of international openness. Arst Avocats had taken the first steps in the internationalization of its activity . I hope to bring, alongside Jefferson Larue , another partner of the firm, an additional stone to this beginning of building. We started to have first small successes. I hope to help demonstrate that medium-sized structures such as Arst Avocats can seriously be able to provide clients who would have tended to turn more naturally to the most important firms in the market, services that are just as qualitative but with a touch of proximity in addition and competitive financial conditions of intervention.

What were the reactions of your professional entourage following this association?

They were obviously very positive. I received many congratulations. But that is not the most important. I felt that some of my clients were waiting for such an evolution. They also showed me this by immediately entrusting me with new subjects that they perhaps thought they could not entrust to me before. Becoming a partner in a firm shows clients that other lawyers have recognized your ability to be part not of a caste, but of a level of professional skill, not just technical. Being a partner means above all being responsible, for your customers, for your collaborators, for what you do. It's up to me to show myself worthy of it in the eyes of my associates and my clients.

The year 2023, how do you see it?

It got off to a good start and there's no reason it shouldn't continue that way. The operations in progress allow me to create a dynamic with the teams of the firm Arst Avocats and we have great projects in sight.