Allen & Overy, partner of the Paris Peace Forum, to participate in the creation of enhanced international cooperation

Since the founding of the Paris Peace Forum, Allen & Overy has brought its expertise, in the context of its pro bono activities, to help the Forum team in its structuring and operation. To this end, Allen & Overy mobilises a team of fifteen lawyers who are specialists in public law, employment law, intellectual property, data protection and IT, tax law and litigation.

Allen & Overy also registered its partnership as an active support for the purpose of the Forum, in the service of enhanced international cooperation, by supporting the Forum's initiatives. This year, Allen & Overy’s lawyers will especially be involved during the conference on the topic of bridging the climate divide. The firm will take part in two round tables on sustainable finance and hydrogen energy development.

Allen & Overy will be present at the opening ceremony, which will include the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina; the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris; the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari. 

During this ceremony, a video will also be broadcast bringing together speeches from the Forum’s partners, including Allen & Overy. Gareth Price, the Global Managing Partner of Allen & Overy, contributed by insisting on the need for all public and private stakeholders to mobilise themselves to meet the climate challenge.

In addition, Allen & Overy participates in the following round tables to enrich the debates in favour of the climate:

Ken Rivlin, an Allen & Overy partner based in New York and Global head of the Allen & Overy environmental group, will participate on Friday, 12 November at the round table entitled “Walking in lockstep: A multi-actor approach to the green transition”, which will address the framework to be put in place to contribute to the development of international sustainable finance. Philippe Varin (CEO of Suez and Founder of the World Materials Forum), Werner Hoyer (President, European Investment Bank) and Amy Harder (Executive Editor, Cipher) will also be present.

The firm has also set up its own session, as a partner. It will cover clean hydrogen and will be held on Saturday, 13 November. It was organised by Matthias Voss, Global Head of the Hydrogène group, and Romaric Lazerges, Global head of the Public Law group. Entitled “Supporting decarbonization: Clean hydrogen governance”, it will address the international coordination of hydrogen strategies to meet the climate challenge. It will be led by Arthur Sauzay, Counsel at the Paris office and by Hitomi Komachi, Senior Associate at the Tokyo office. Uwe Remme (Senior Lead on Global Hydrogen and Energy Technology, at IEA), Matthieu Giard (Vice President of Air Liquide) and Masaru Yamazaki (Project Manager, Hydrogen Working Group, at Sumitomo Corporation) will also be present.

Romaric Lazerges, Global Head of the Public Law Group of Allen & Overy and in charge of our partnership with the Forum, stresses that “our commitment to support the birth and emergence of the Forum, a veritable diplomatic start-up bringing together all the public and private stakeholders, to face global challenges, is a source of pride for the firm and for the entire Allen & Overy team attending the Forum. We are pleased to see that the Paris Peace Forum is cementing itself, year after year, as a major player and a key event, and that this 4th edition continues to be firmly committed to supporting enhanced cooperation on all major subjects, such as global governance, particularly in the context of a health crisis, or climate”.

Hervé Ekué, Managing Partner of the Paris office and a member of the executive committee at the global level, adds “our pro bono activity is a key element of our identity and each of the firm's lawyers is invited to devote a significant portion of their time to supporting causes that are important to us such as justice, education, employment, diversity, climate or protection of refugees. We also want our actions to be long-lived. This is the guiding principle of our partnership with the Paris Peace Forum since 2018, the year of its creation. I am also very pleased that our legal assistance is accompanied by a commitment on the merits by an active participation in the Forum’s work”.

For more information please visit the Paris Peace Forum website.

Support the Paris Peace Forum from the outset

The first edition of the Paris Peace Forum was held in November 2018. The Allen & Overy law firm began its work with the founders in the autumn of 2017 to find the best structure capable of establishing the organisation over the long term, reconciling the meeting of founders from different countries and cultures with an anchorage in French law.

Since then, Allen & Overy have been advising the Forum on all institutional aspects in respect of its pro bono activities: bylaws, advice on governance, relationships with partners, etc. The firm’s support has expanded to other important topics for the establishment and life of the association. The firm also assists the Forum on topics such as employment law - to enable the association to consolidate its operation - or on intellectual property issues, and certain litigation aspects.

Allen & Overy Paris is committed through its pro bono committee

Allen & Overy’s commitment to the Paris Peace Forum is more generally part of the firm’s pro bono initiatives. Allen & Overy’s pro bono committee is made up of partners, counsel, and self-employed and employed staff. This committee aims to develop pro bono actions and consolidate the firm’s commitment to the causes it wishes to promote: diversity, the protection of refugees, access to justice, education and employment, as well as environmental protection.