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London

Founded in 2012, Signature Litigation has grown into one of London’s pre-eminent specialist dispute resolution practices. From the outset, we set out to do things differently: a conflict-free, disputes-only platform designed to give clients the undivided focus and strategic agility that complex, high-stakes matters demand.

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Gibraltar

Established in 2017, Signature Litigation's Gibraltar office was founded to address growing demand for specialist expertise in commercial litigation and private wealth disputes on the Rock.

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Paris

Signature Litigation AARPI houses one of France’s most enviable product liability practices, with the team also handling commercial and corporate litigation, insurance and reinsurance, toxic tort and ESG, civil fraud and asset tracing, international arbitration, administrative and public law.

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Frankfurt

Frankfurt has emerged as one of Europe's foremost financial and commercial centres and, increasingly, as a bridge between European and Asian markets. With that growth comes an increasing demand for sophisticated dispute resolution. Signature Litigation established its Frankfurt office to meet this need, bringing our conflict-free, disputes-only platform to the German market.

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Partner Thomas Rouhette comments in Global Investigations Review in relation to the French Blocking Statute

19 April 2019

French newspaper Les Échos published an article on 25 March containing leaked excerpts of a report written by French MP Raphaël Gauvain that has not yet been made public. The report, which was seen by the paper, outlines proposals to enhance France’s Blocking Statute, which prohibits individuals and corporations from disclosing information of a economic, commercial, industrial, financial or technical nature and information of “national interest” to foreign authorities.

However, Thomas Rouhette at Signature Litigation in Paris said hiking up penalties is not the right solution as it does not address the difficult choice companies have to either fail to comply with a US request for information or violate the statute, which can lead to adverse consequences either way. As an example, Rouhette said that failure to comply with a US request can lead to French companies being held in contempt of court.

“It’s not the right solution as it will take French companies hostage and will leave them stuck between two evils,” Rouhette said.

As an alternative to the reforms, Rouhette said that countries should work to improve cooperation under the Hague Evidence Convention by making it easier for information to be shared as the current process is too complicated and often takes too long."