Public Law

Your needs and our ambitions

As a result of the increasing intervention and interaction of the State, local authorities and public and semi-public bodies in and with the various economic sectors, public business law plays an essential role in the business lives of both public and private players.

The implementation of major projects, regulation, public financing, the creation of public or semi-public structures or the setting up of ad hoc partnerships are all nowadays modes of intervention covered by public business law. These include structuring public procurement contracts, economic regulation, administrative authorizations, the diversity of public services and other public-private arrangements. This context certainly entails constraints, but also opportunities for operators, enabling them to identify new outlets and develop their activities.

To enable them to carry out their projects, support their strategic development choices and limit the associated legal risks, public and private players are well advised to call on advisers with in-depth expertise in public business law and proven experience of the issues they face.

Our added value

Our long-standing and recognized expertise in public business law guarantees the high quality of our interventions at all stages of our clients’ projects and activities, whether they are companies or public bodies.

We have a team of lawyers skilled in public business law and, more specifically, in public procurement and contracts, public economic law and general public law, capable of assisting you with all the issues you face. Our department is also able to advise companies whose activities are regulated by public authorities, notably in the telecommunications, public transport, energy, infrastructure and cultural sectors.

Backed by this expertise and their in-depth knowledge of the players in the public-private sphere, our lawyers can provide you with tailor-made, operational support throughout your projects, whether they involve:

• preparation and design ;
• implementation ;
• assistance during the execution phase and after completion ;
• representation before administrative or judicial courts, as well as before regulators (ARCOM, CRE, AMF, ART, etc.).
• preparation and design ;
• implementation ;
• assistance during the execution phase and after completion;
• representation before administrative or judicial courts, as well as before regulators (ARCOM, CRE, AMF, ART, etc.).

The legal engineering we put at your service enables us to handle the most complex and innovative contractual arrangements (concessions; public-private partnerships; public procurement contracts; calls for tender; creation of public and public-private structures; innovation contracts, endowment funds, sustainability funds, etc.), under both private and public law. Our multi-disciplinary, cross-functional and international approach enables us to support you on large-scale projects through a single, multi-service point of contact, involving all the departments of the firm required for their implementation.

Our team is thus able to advise both public and semi-public bodies (local authorities, public establishments, centralized or decentralized government, local public enterprises, state-owned companies, etc.) and economic operators of all sizes (CAC 40, international firms, VSE/SME, regulated companies, etc.), particularly those providing public services, operating networks or occupying the public domain.

Notre méthodologie

Our areas of expertise

Public contracts and public procurement

The team supports operators, public institutions and investors in structuring and managing public-private projects.

It has extensive experience in structuring and negotiating public-private contracts in a wide range of sectors (infrastructure, telecommunications, energy, construction) and using complex, long-term procedures (negotiated procedures and/or competitive dialogues), and assists its clients in drafting their contracts as securely as possible and managing their risks.

We have developed particular expertise in complex contractual arrangements for large-scale real-estate projects, as well as for infrastructure projects, particularly networks, and is committed to ensuring that its customers’ operational expectations and constraints are in line with the legal framework governing public procurement and project ownership, as well as with the financial aspects of the projects.

We also advises clients on the types of structures to be set up to support public-private projects.

Our lawyers specializing in public procurement law advise on and litigate in the following areas:

• Public procurement contracts, from formalization of the requirement, through structuring, monitoring of award and performance, to enforcement of contractual guarantees
• Public procurement contracts
• Partnership contracts
• Concessions and public service delegations
• All other types of public-private contracts
• Project management assistance (AMO)
• Advice and support for economic operators wishing to bid for, negotiate and sign contracts with public bodies
• Project feasibility studies
• Complex contractual arrangements
• Performance monitoring (amendments, settlement protocols, etc.)

Public property, heritage enhancement and development projects

Whether in the public or private domain of a public entity, property belonging to the public heritage, which is subject to a specific legal regime, is an essential element in the economy of public entities, but also in the intervention of private entities in the context of their activities, in the implementation of public-private projects, or in the realization of development and construction projects. Our lawyers can advise you on the following issues in particular:

• Delimitation of public property
• Management and development of public property
• Conditions for interventions on the public domain
• Authorizations and agreements for occupying public property
• Eviction from the public domain
• Assignment, disassignment
• Decommissioning, disposal
• State transfers without transfer of ownership (mutations domaniales, voluntary transfer of management, superposition d’affectations) and division into volumes
• Development and construction projects (ZAC, PUP, competition bids, etc.)
• Development of real estate projects on public land

Functioning, organization and intervention of public bodies (local authorities, inter-communal bodies, public establishments, régies) and semi-public bodies (public companies, EPLs, subsidiaries, shareholdings)

Our team of lawyers advises a wide range of entities operating in the public or semi-public sector, including communes, départements, groups of local authorities, public establishments, semi-public companies, local public companies and public limited companies. We have developed expertise in the operation, organization, development and operating methods of these entities, particularly in the following areas:

• Operation, structural organization and governance (local authorities, EPCIs, mixed syndicates, public establishments, Régies, SEMs, SEMOPs, SPLs, associations)
• Creation or transformation of the structures required to carry out public projects and private projects requiring public financial participation (intermunicipal structures, mixed syndicates, SEMs, SEMOPs, SPLs, associations, project-dedicated SASs, EPF subsidiaries, temporary groupings of concession-holding companies, economic interest groupings, public interest groupings, public companies, etc.).
• Transformation of public structures into private ones
• Intervention by local authorities in the economic market (public services, equity investments, loan guarantees, subsidies, grants, financing of public facilities, etc.).
• Local authority reforms (redistribution, mergers, metropolises, etc.)
• Intercommunality (support in setting up community projects, drafting bylaws, transforming an EPCI, allocating and transferring competencies and assets, or abolishing EPCIs and mixed syndicates).

Regulated sectors

Our department is accustomed to advising companies operating in regulated sectors, in particular:

• Agriculture, quality labels and appellations (assistance to management bodies in drafting specifications, national and/or EU recognition of products [PGI, PDO, AOC, Label Rouge, Organic Farming and TSG], changes to the appellation and content of specifications [geographical area, production methods, etc.]).
• Audiovisual, culture, sports, leisure and tourism
• Telecommunications
• Defense
• Energy
• Water and sanitation
• Health
• Transportation: railways, ports, roads and highways
• Gaming

General public law

The department’s lawyers will be able to deal with the full range of general public law issues, whether they concern public bodies or private individuals with hybrid status or who operate on the public domain or in the public sphere, particularly in the following areas:

• Damage caused by public works and rail accidents, administrative and financial liability of public bodies, elected representatives and agents, compensation litigation, etc.
• Administrative sanctions
• Product marketing authorization refusal or withdrawal
• General and special administrative policing (methods of intervention by the authorities, legality of policing measures, failure to act, police assistance, policing of public safety, public health, roads and worship, peril procedures)
• Electoral law (communication during election periods, election financing, electoral litigation)
• Civil service Rights and obligations of civil servants (recruitment and tenure, remuneration, non-renewal of fixed-term contracts, disciplinary procedures and dismissal, moral harassment, secondment, secondment on secondment, availability, multiple employment)
• Communication of administrative documents
• Legality and life of administrative acts

Culture, philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The world of philanthropy and culture is at the crossroads of public law, with the defense of the general interest, and private law, with the structures that generally house them. Drawing on their previous experience in national and international government agencies, public institutions and cultural organizations, our lawyers can assist you in the following areas:

• Structuring and developing philanthropic project partnerships (creation of endowment funds, foundations, FRUPs, associations, perennial funds, etc.).
• Philanthropy strategy
• Cultural law
• Social and solidarity economy
• CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy

Our clients

The firm advises and litigates on behalf of a wide range of clients, including public and semi-public bodies, investors and operators.

n Public Law

A must in public business law – Land management
A must in Public Business Law – Public property rights
A must-have in public business law – Local authorities and the semi-public sector
A must in Public Business Law – PPP contracts: structuring – mid cap
Excellent in Public Business Law – Administrative contracts and related litigation
Strong reputation in public business law – Commercial urban planning – Public business law – Land management

Recognition

The department’s expertise has been recognized on numerous occasions by the legal and business press:

Le Point, les meilleurs cabinets d’avocats 2023:

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ public law

Leaders League :

• A must in public business law – Land management
• A must in Public Business Law – Public property rights
• A must-have in public business law – Local authorities and the semi-public sector
• A must in Public Business Law – PPP contracts: structuring – mid cap
• Excellent in Public Business Law – Administrative contracts and related litigation
• Strong reputation in public business law – Commercial urban planning – Public business law – Land management

Legal 500:

• Tier 3 en Administrative and public law