Curtis Announces new Banking and Finance attorneys for Paris office

Curtis is pleased to announce the appointment of highly regarded banking and finance partner Jean-Norbert Pontier and associate Mathilde Scholz to its Paris team, effective September 1, 2019. With these additions, Curtis is deepening its corporate focus in Paris and strengthening its Banking and Finance practice across Europe. Mr. Pontier will divide his time between the firm’s offices in Paris and Geneva, both of which are key cities for his client base.

Jean-Norbert Pontier is a highly experienced banking and finance lawyer whose practice encompasses structured asset and project finance, private debt, and investment and alternative fund financing solutions. He is widely recognised for his structured finance expertise, in particular his work in international structured asset finance, structured trade and project finance. He joins Curtis from the Paris office of law firm Norton Rose Fulbright LLP. He is joined by banking and finance associate Mathilde Scholz, from the same firm.

His focus on international asset finance has included working with trade receivables securitisation and supply chain finance, whole business securitisation, CMBS, CLO, and CDO using alternative investment funds structure in Europe. Extending his focus to structured trade finance, he has also worked in structured commodity finance, export and agency finance, trade credit, pre-export finance, and Islamic finance.

Matias Vega, Curtis’ Executive Partner said: “Jean-Norbert brings to Curtis a depth of understanding of French banking and corporate finance law, and we look forward to working with him and Mathilde in strengthening our European banking and finance practice.”

Mr. Pontier has been highly ranked in international and French legal publications such as Décideurs, which in 2018 named him as one of France’s most highly regarded lawyers in the banking and finance sector. He is also recognized for his pro bono work on impact financing (social impact bonds/DIBs). He represents arrangers for social financing solutions and is a member of the French Trésor commission on SIBs.