Who we are > Our people > Lawyers >

[version française]

In September 1989, Chantal Bonnard joined a double act - that of Daniel Soulez Larivière, of course, and Simon Foreman, who brought the two together. At the time, Chantal Bonnard was a lawyer at SCP Lyon-Caen Fabiani-Liard/Thiriez, avocats aux conseils (lawyers before France’s supreme court). For six years she had been preparing, on a near daily basis, written memoranda of around twenty pages, that were essential preparations for defending cases before the Cour de Cassation (France’s highest court in civil and criminal matters). Before he had even joined the Bar, Simon Foreman had started doing freelance work for that firm, and in this way had first met the person who would later become his partner in January 1998...

"When I was at Lyon-Caen, Simon used to call me from time to time to discuss legal issues, she recalled. Then he asked me to join his firm. I agreed, as I felt that I had experienced everything that my present job had to offer, and I wanted more practical, hands-on work. It was a difficult time. Someone had died at SCP Lyon-Caen Fabiani-Liard/Thiriez and so I couldn’t just stand up and leave. Between September 1989 and January 1990, I continued to work there part-time, when I had more than enough work to do on a full-time basis at both firms."

"At Soulez Larivière, I found myself in the thick of things from the very first day. The associate that I was replacing had been working on the Carrefour du Développement file. She had left everything in perfect order, organising the file by person and by subject, and I handled this case, with Daniel, from September onwards. It was a spectacular jury trial before the Assize Court, also referred to in the newspapers as the ’Chalier’ case. We were defending the State in a case that involved the misappropriation of public funds through a charitable organisation called Carrefour du Développement."