ECONOMIC WARFARE.

At a time of instability at every level, the Economic Warfare department serves French businesses in addressing the challenges of economic warfare, characterised by the use of legal and illegal means to protect or conquer markets. We take into account the various dimensions of economic warfare, including the war of ideas, cognitive warfare and legal warfare, also known as “lawfare”.

Our approach is that of a legal general staff: we design and implement bespoke defence strategies, exploiting every weakness of the opponent and drawing on multidisciplinary expertise to safeguard our clients' interests with formidable effectiveness in the face of national or international threats.

The department draws on expertise acquired in economic and legal intelligence.

Areas of expertise.

Group actions

In the new global economic order, some disputes reach such a scale that they directly affect the economy and raise crucial questions of sovereignty, both national and European. This is precisely what we call economic warfare.

Our firm has developed a comprehensive litigation approach, inspired by Anglo-Saxon class actions but adapted to our legal culture. Over the years, our lawyers have built a reputation for excellence in handling complex, collective and strategic disputes.

Winning these large-scale legal battles requires rigorous cross-professional collaboration. With this in mind, in spring 2021 our firm helped found the Institut de Guerre Économique et Juridique (IGEJ). This initiative makes it possible to offer victims comprehensive support combining legal expertise, strategic vision and financial strength

Anticipating destabilisation risks

Our department stands as a legal sentinel against the turbulence of economic warfare.

We place our expertise and our teams at our clients' disposal to attempt to artificially destabilise the instructing company through legal and judicial means. Like red teams in cybersecurity, our approach consists in harnessing our vision of the law as a means capable of endangering a company.

We assess the potential actions open to any economic operator (customer, competitor, supplier, etc.) to challenge a business model or an institution.

In particular, we work with boards of directors to help them better assess the legal risks facing their organisation and present a true and fair picture of them in their communications.

Countering influence strategies

Faced with the instrumentalisation of law as a vector of economic influence, our department positions itself as a leading legal strategist. We do not merely apply the law: we wield it as an offensive and defensive weapon in the service of our clients' interests.

Developing offensive legal strategies involves proactively identifying the opportunities offered by the law to consolidate market positions, challenge unfair competitive practices or bring targeted legal actions.

On the defensive side, we offer to build legal and technical fortifications to protect our clients' information assets and trade secrets.

Economic security & digital hygiene

Economic security is a strategic lever for businesses seeking to ensure the long-term continuity of their activities. It aims to anticipate, identify and prevent threats likely to affect tangible and intangible assets, such as industrial espionage, the capture of sensitive data or economic destabilisation.

Digital hygiene encompasses the good practices designed to protect information systems and data, but also exposed individuals (executives, managers or sensitive profiles). As the boundary between private and professional life blurs, this approach aims to secure both infrastructure and individuals, who are targeted for criminal purposes, destabilisation or social engineering.

The firm's approach is personalised and systemic: diagnosis of digital practices; assessment of the risks associated with sensitive positions; implementation of monitoring and alert systems; ongoing training for executives and those around them.

Find out more about digital hygiene.

References.

ORPEA investors >

Taxi companies v. Uber >

France Digitale v. Apple >

Directory enquiry services v. Microsoft and Google >

Representation of 550 retail and institutional investors against the former board of directors of ORPEA, for breach of their duty of oversight.

Representation of 2,500 taxis in a collective action against Uber for unfair competitive practices, marking a significant fight for fairness in the transport sector. Proceedings pending before the Paris Court of Appeal.

Initiation of the first litigation in France and securing of the first penalty against Apple before the CNIL, to defend transparency and the protection of personal data.

Defence of telephone directory enquiry services in a dispute against Microsoft and Google, challenging restrictive competition practices.