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On 1 January 2011, Astrid Mignon Colombet became the fifth partner at Soulez Larivière & Associés. She joined the firm as an associate in 2004, the year in which her doctoral thesis “L’Exécution Forcée en Droit des Sociétés” (“Specific performance under Company Law”), written under the supervision of Dr Yves Guyon, was published by Editions Economica. The thesis, for which she earned a distinction, took five years of ‘very thorough study’.

A quick review of her career reveals that she possesses the sharpest legal skills and the flexibility needed to work on a wide variety of cases. Astrid taught the torts and contract law at Paris I, and then lectured in company law at Paris II. She spent her three-month internship at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton working in the areas of legal due diligence and debt refinancing before working on preparing the meetings of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe at SCP Thomas & Associés. She then spent eighteen months with Bernard Hémery and Patrice Spinosi, appeal lawyers before France’s highest court (avocats aux conseils).

“Appeal lawyers get involved in cases at the final stage, when the facts have already been established. It is technically fascinating, but can sometimes be a bit frustrating. That is why I decided to join Soulez Larivière & Associés more than six years ago. Here, I have been able to handle cases from the beginning, and to have direct contact with clients”. She feels that her work with the appeal lawyers provided her with excellent training: “The work requires a scholarly approach, and intellectually it’s very stimulating”, she explained. “You are introduced to legal creativity and learn to handle concepts from every area of the law, to carve out a ground of appeal and to weigh the importance of each word. I was happy but I saw this period more as a transition from theory-based university life to the actual life of a lawyer, where one is faced with the practical challenge of working out a defence with people and companies that have to deal with real problems.”