Providing legal support for French speaking individuals, their families and businesses, who are based in the UK and overseas.

FRENCH VERSION / VERSION FRANÇAISE

Kingsley Napley is an internationally recognised law firm based in London. As part of our growing international services, we offer  legal support to French speaking clients, both individuals, their families and businesses, living in the UK and overseas.  We also advise British expats living in France and elsewhere.

A number of lawyers at Kingsley Napley frequently travel to France and other French speaking countries and  we have an established network of contacts and professional advisors  there and in other jurisdictions.  We advise in respect of the laws of England and Wales but we can liaise with and refer clients to trusted advisors in other countries as and when relevant.

Our wide range of expertise enables us to provide support for French speaking clients in all areas of their business and private lives. Our lawyers are renowned for integrity and expertise in dealing with complex, often high profile and international cases involving wealth planning, tax, family & divorce, dispute resolution, immigration, real estate, corporate & commercial, medical negligence & personal injury, criminal litigation, extradition, regulatory, employment, professional discipline and public law issues. 

We advise French nationals  (and those from other French speaking countries) and families in all areas of law listed above and offer French speaking services in a number of teams, including those highlighted below. Please click on the headings for further information.

FAMILY LAW SERVICES

We provide a specialist family law expertise to French clients and those who have links with French speaking countries. This is widely recognised as the leading service of its kind in England.

French speakers in the team include partner Rachel Freeman and Colleen Nwaodor, who both represent French clients and advise in Anglo French cases, sometimes involving proceedings in more than one country. Charlotte Bradley also has a substantial French practice and she is a recognised family law expert in the legal directories.  We have strong relationships with lawyers and professional advisors in France , Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Monaco.  

We can help you to resolve divorce or separation disputes, whether there are aspects relating to finances, children or both. We are experts in cross border children cases, in particular cases where one party wishes to return or move to France with a child or children.  We also regularly advise on the preparation of prenuptial agreements involving French clients who live in, or are planning to move to England.

PRIVATE CLIENT SERVICES

Joseph Austin, a Senior Associate in the Private Client Team, has many years of experience of preparing English wills tailored to your specific needs where there are French assets and connections. He works closely with trusted French lawyers and other professionals (e.g. accountants) to make sure your planning is seamless and consistent between the two jurisdictions. 

Whilst we come across many unique cases, typically we prepare an English will in two situations:

• French domiciled nationals (usually resident in England) owning English real estate; and
• English domiciled nationals owning real estate in France.

 Our Private Client team also specialise in deceased estates with an English connection containing French property. As for wills, we co-ordinate closely with French lawyers to give joined up advice the legal successors and beneficiaries / heirs. 

IMMIGRATION LAW SERVICES

Kingsley Napley's Immigration team covers all areas of business and personal immigration as well as British nationality law.

We have long experience of advising start-ups and established companies - including many French-owned businesses - on sponsor licence applications and work visas for non-EU employees.

We are also experts in European free movement law. We help French nationals and other EU citizens with permanent residence and British citizenship applications. Since the EU referendum in June 2016 we have been advising many businesses on how to protect the position of their EU employees in the UK. We can handle anything from a straightforward application for a permanent residence document to an appeal before the European Court of Justice.  Elspeth Guild and Nicolas Rollason, both partners in our Immigration team, are recognised as leaders in this field.

For French nationals and British expats who may wish to transfer to other locations, Benjamin Sookia, our Global Immigration Manager, can assist with securing relevant visas by working in conjunction with our specialist network of KN Global immigration co-counsel. 

Nicolas Rollason, Benjamin Sookia and also Kim Vowden, an Associate in the team, are all fluent French speakers.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION & LITIGATION SERVICES

Our dispute resolution team regularly advises French companies and nationals on litigation and arbitration disputes based upon English law. We also advise on cross-jurisdiction matters, e.g. where assets are held overseas, and in relation enforcement of French judgments and  Arbitration Awards in the UK and elsewhere and we work closely with our network of foreign legal and tax experts. 

Gerard Cukier and Fiona Simpson are French speakers and both travel frequently to France and other French speaking countries, including Switzerland and Monaco.

Our specialist team of litigators advise French nationals and companies on:

• Commercial and  contract disputes
• Shareholder and boardroom disputes
• Professional negligence
• Civil fraud and investigations
• Financial services disputes
• Real estate litigation
• Wills, trust and inheritance disputes
• Insolvency
• International and cross-border disputes and ICC, LCIA , UNCITRAL etc. arbitrations
• Sports law
• Reputation and media
• Intellectual property disputes

REAL ESTATE SERVICES

Our real estate team of solicitors are able to advise on all areas of real estate and construction law.

We are very well placed to be able to assist French and francophone clients with legal matters concerning their property interests in England and Wales.

Our previous experience includes:

• acting on a number of sales and purchases of high value residential properties in England for French and Belgian nationals; and
• advising a developer based in Luxembourg on the documentation for the construction, sale, purchase and letting of various commercial developments in England.

Robert Read, an Associate in the Real Estate team, speaks fluent French. 

MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE AND PERSONAL INJURY SERVICES

Led by partners with over 25 years of experience in this area, our medical negligence solicitors are recognised as specialists in clinical negligence and personal injury.

Within our team, solicitor Eurydice Coté is a French speaker and she specialises in medical liability and personal injury. Their field of expertise includes medical accidents, traffic accidents and accidents at work.

Criminal investigations

In this increasingly inter-connected world, we act for people and companies of all nationalities who find themselves caught up in the English criminal justice system. We understand well how different that system is to the one in France and are adept at helping our clients navigate through it.

We have good contacts with leading French defence firms and, working with those partners, can provide a seamless service in any cross-border investigation involving our two countries.

Alun Milford and Maya Silva in the criminal litigation team both have good working knowledge of French and travel regularly to France to meet with clients and professional contacts.

Further information

To find out  more and for advice on your particular circumstances, please contact Rachel Freeman (Family), Joseph Austin (Private Client), Kim Vowden (Immigration), Gerard Cukier (Dispute Resolution),  Alun Milford (Criminal Litigation), Robert Read (Real Estate), Eurydice Coté (Medical Negligence and Personal Injury) or indeed any member of our team.