Pierre Kirch Avocat – Vital Laws & Mediations in Paris

LAWYER WITHOUT BORDERS| GLOBAL VISION LAW

Welcome to my presentation of what is Vital to me

in the Practice of the Law and of Mediation

This is where I present my offer of legal services, as a Lawyer without Borders. What I call the practice of Global Vision Law. The “Big Picture”, as seen through the prism of a highly-seasoned lawyer. With more than 35 years of BigLaw experience behind me, in 2023 I left my position as Brussels/Paris-based partner in one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious multinational law firms, Paul Hastings LLP, in order to practice the law in a new way. In my new practice, as an independent practitioner, I concentrate on what I call “Vital Laws & Mediations”.

0+ years

International BigLaw Experience & Expertise in Europe

Multicultural & Multilingual

New Independent Practice of Vital Laws & Mediations

“Deep Dive” where Business Innovation confronts Regulatory Reality

A LAWYER WITHOUT BORDERS

I believe that I am uniquely qualified to consider myself as a Lawyer without Borders. Being of both American and French nationalities, by my early 30s I had lived in eight countries on three continents. I had studied and assimilated various languages and cultures. My formal education had ranged from the Silicon Valley (Bellarmine College Preparatory to the Ivy League (Dartmouth, Hanover New Hampshire) to law studies at the Universities of Paris I & II, as well as a year-long propedeutic program at the University of Athens and a year-long program at the Università per Stranieri, Perugia Italy. Since then, my multidisciplinary and multicultural curiosity has remained unabated.

Vital laws & mediations | Global vision law

I believe that I am also uniquely qualified to practice what I call Global Vision Law, the “Big Picture”. And thus, to focus, in my new independent practice, on Vital Laws & Mediations.

In the 1980s, I began my legal career as a generalist international lawyer. An international businessgeneralist who over the course of my career, did it all (except tax law): Basic and complex corporate structures and operations, M&A transactions, all kinds of contracts (employment, software, franchise), competition/antitrust law, distribution, court litigation and ICC international arbitration—you name it. In 1988-89, I trained with the European Commission’s Legal Service in Brussels and learned from the best of the best the intricacies of EU law (competition/antitrust law, in particular). In 2004, my legacy French firm was absorbed into Paul Hastings LLP, and I evolved with my new firm into the practice ofcompetition/antitrust law on a “BigLaw” basis. Over the next 20 years, I was the firm’s lead competition/antitrust partner in Europe, practicing as an EU lawyer but often on transactions having a worldwide dimension, and this on a multilingual basis out of myformer firm’s European offices in Brussels, Paris, London, Milano & Frankfurt. Today, independent, I practice the law and mediate fluently in English, French, Spanish and Italian (for many years now, I have been an active member of l’Associazione Internazionale Giuristi di Lingua Italiana (AIGLI, based in Milano), and have an effective working knowledge of several other European languages.

GOING TO THE ESSENCE OF BUSINESS & INNOVATION & REGULATORY REALITY

During those 20 years, I was engaged in the type of high-stakes competition/antitrust practice where you dissect companies and markets (supply & demand), products and services. A practice where you go to the heart of a company’s operations. Where you go to the point where Business Innovation must concord with Regulatory Reality. Systemic Analysis is a key in this discipline of the law. It is a Deep Dive into the business and the law. In some cases, you get the impression that you know the company’s business better than the company does itself. You develop a Global Vision of the company and its business operations. Its functionings are analyzed through systemic methods. You get to know what is Vital for it. From such experience is born the desire to go to the essence of companies and the law, in today’s ecosystem of exponential technological change. And the means to resolve conflict as it arises, in an efficient way: Mediation. To practice Vital Laws & Mediations.

PIERRE KIRCH'S METHOD FOR RESPONDING TO CURRENT CLIENT & MEDIATION NEEDS

Acutely aware of issues that arise in cases where there are contact points between Business Innovation and Regulatory Reality, Pierre Kirch proposes services under a multi-pronged approach to client needs for legal advice concerning the EU’s emerging Digital Regulatory Eco-system as well as needs for modern conflict resolution through mediation, notably:

Advice and assistance on the ways and means of the EU ecosystem in general, or with regard to specific regulatory areas.
Legal advice and assistance specifically on the workings and requirements of the EU’s new Digital Regulatory Ecosystem, in all of its complexity, and on a global, “Deep Dive” basis.
Analysis and legal advice and assistance on specific cases where a company’s Business Innovation may be in conflict with requirements under the EU’s Digital Regulatory Ecosystem.
Generalist corporate advice and assistance, based on 35+ years of international legal experience, with regard to basic and complex corporate structures and operations, M & A transactions, joint venture agreements and structures, and all kinds of contracts (in particular, contracts having an international dimension).
Strategic competition/antitrust advice and assistance, in all disciplines of EU and French competition law (merger control, market behavior, EU State aid, foreign investment, distribution).
Customized strategic dispute resolution advice and assistance, on a worldwide scale, for multinational businesses who seek to adapt their approach to take into account mediation.

Appointment as mediator (mediations organized through mediation institutions such as Equanim International).
Assistance to a party involved in a mediation process.
Advice and assistance to multinational companies on identification of potential mediators and of international mediation centers throughout the world of the highest level (as a longtime, active member of the UIA’s Forum of Worldwide Mediation Centers, Pierre has developed profound knowledge of worldwide mediation practices and a corresponding network of practitioners, in such way that he can provide considerable benefit to businesses seeking to implement a transnational mediation strategy).
Audits of Court and arbitral litigation dockets of multinational companies, and advisory on means to pursue a strategy of reduction of court and arbitral cases through judicious use of mediation processes.
Advice and assistance to companies interested in bring mediation techniques to new areas of conflict where mediation is very rarely practiced in Europe, such as conflicts resulting from the application of competition/antitrust rules.

PIERRE KIRCH’S JOURNEY TO THE PRACTICE OF VITAL LAWS & MEDIATIONS

Graduate of Dartmouth (A.B., Class of 1978); University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (Maîtrise en droit, 1987); University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (Advanced degree, DEA en droit international privé et du commerce international, 1988); Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) | Free University of Brussels (Postgraduate diploma in International Economic Law, 2006), Institut catholique de Paris | Catholic University of Paris (IFOMENE) (Advanced Master’s (M2)), Médiation & Management d’Entreprise, 2021 - 2022)

Associate then Partner, Moquet Borde & Associés|BBLP Moquet Borde(1987-2004); Partner, Paul Hastings LLP (2004-2023) ; since 2023,member as independent avocat, cooperative Avocap 2.2, Paris (appointed to Board of Directors, 2024)

Adjunct Professor, Hautes études commerciales (HEC Paris) (general European law, European competition law, 1990-2006) ; Institut catholique de Paris | Catholic University of Paris (Artificial Intelligence Law, 2017/2018- present)

Trained and certified mediator by Center of Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR London) (2019), Centre de Médiation et d’Arbitrage de Paris (CMAP Paris) (2019), Institut de Formation et de Négociation(IFOMENE), Catholic University of Paris (Master 2, Médiation & Management d’Entreprise, 2021-2022), MIKK Berlin (training & certification in the mediation of transborder family disputes (child abduction) cases, 2023) ; Ecole internationale des modes amiables (EIMA) (Paris Bar, 2023)

Appointed Affiliated Mediator, Equanim International, Paris (2025)
Member of the International Bar Association (IBA); Union international des Avocats | UIA World Forum of Mediation Centers;American Bar Association (ABA) (associate member); International Technology Law Association (ITech Law); Dartmouth Lawyers Association (DLA); Associazione Internazionale Giuristi di Lingua Italiana (AIGLI) (Milano)
Executive Committee member, American Club of Paris; member, Cercle de l’Union interalliée (Paris)

Member of the Paris & Brussels Bars

PIERRE KIRCH AVOCAT (PARIS & BRUSSELS BARS)

International French lawyer | avocat international français

International business lawyer

EU competition lawyer | EU antitrust lawyer

EU technology lawyer | EU digital lawyer

EU AI law expert

International commercial mediator

Antitrust mediator

Technology conflicts mediator

AI disputes mediator

Multicultural mediator