PLG Firm in Focus: Lamy Lexel, France
Could you briefly summarise the history of the firm?
LAMY LEXEL Avocats Associés was created following the merger, in 1998, of two different entities, the legal department of Editions LAMY, based in Paris, and LEXEL Conseils, a consulting company made up of different professionals based in Lyon. This means that 25 years ago a group of lawyers with differing business law related skills chose to partner using one unique brand, LAMY LEXEL. The firm is run by a group of ambitious and innovative associates with multiple levels of legal expertise aiming to answer as one to the various challenges faced by businesses.
Wanting to expand their client offering even further, the founders of LAMY LEXEL made contact with peers internationally with whom they had built up a solid foundation based on trust. With these contacts and the ambition to help businesses globally an European Economic Interest Grouping was born: PLG International Lawyers!
As an independent business law firm, LAMY LEXEL has developed in 5 areas of expertise:
- Corporate, M&A, Stock Exchange et Finance
- Tax et Estates
- Employment Law and Social Security
- Contract, Competition, IP
- Corporate litigation and Restructuring
Our teams work, based in our Lyon and Paris offices, with clients from all types of business: start ups, local businesses to French and foreign international groups. Our range of expertise allows us to answer all the legal issues a client may have, covering growth, HR, budgeting and risk management. Business law needs to be used as a tool to allow our clients to succeed strategically.
For years, LAMY LEXEL continued in its growth and reached €16 million turnover in 2022, with 105 people working for them.
Now, LAMY LEXEL has 16 partners (equal women and men!), 60 lawyers, 20 paralegal and assistants and 10 further support staff (marketing, communication, HR, data management, accounting, knowledge management…), working with ever more clients on ever more interesting projects.
What makes your firm different to others?
LAMY LEXEL sees itself as a strategic ally to directors and their teams. We work on legal innovation to help our clients’ business strategy, focusing on the technical ability of our teams, how closely we work with our clients, a fine tuned understanding of their needs and a 360° vision in our approach.
We are able to put our clients in contact with trusted complementary services such as notaries, cyber-security experts, foreign lawyers, retirement specialists, PI specialists..) which means we can offer a global solution.
We also place a lot of importance on knowledge sharing and upskilling. We encourage meetings, training sessions and presentations both among ourselves and with our clients : we share a community with our clients.
Internally our partners are willing to allow all employees to get involved.
This collaborative approach to our projects with both our teams and our clients forms an important part of our business culture.
And finally we place a lot of importance on the values of LAMY LEXEL: consideration, trust, engagement, entrepreneurialism, pleasure and solidarity. We are very proud of winning the inaugural Lyon Bar’s Generosity trophy!
How do you define a successful result?
Satisfaction : that of our teams when they have successfully worked together to create the best possible solution for the business they are working for, and of course that of our client when they see the mission successfully, safely and serenely come to a close.
Skills development : we are passionate about our teams’ training and sharing our knowledge with our clients. This is how we measure successful collaboration, allowing each to work more efficiently, autonomously on some subjects, together on more technical issues. This skills development, both internally and with our clients, allows us to work calmly on day to day operations and to bring our added value to the things at stake for the business.
Enjoying working together: this is the backbone of all our projects! Because nothing is more important than the closeness between our clients and our teams.
Are there any specific regulations or laws in your country/region that would surprise readers from other countries?
The sheer size of the French employment law books, and our right to strike, but everyone seems to know about that! On a wider scale, most of our regulations are similar to those of other European countries with, of course, technical specifications in each field.
What do employees value about your firm?
At LAMY LEXEL we want, above all, to involve the teams in our organisation, our strategic ambitions, our transformation, so that each team member feels at home and can participate in projects and work on initiatives that are meaningful for themselves and the firm.
Our move to new offices in Lyon is a good example. Our team members were involved in the whole decision making process from choosing furniture to the layout of the offices, from the decoration to the meeting spaces. The goal was to reinvent offices as an enjoyable place to be, to encourage co-operation and take well-being of the team members into consideration, along with the need for meetings, for space to concentrate… It is a semi-open plan working environment, mixing teams and roles, identical working spaces for everyone, as well as spaces to socialise. It perfectly reflects the work and social balance we all hoped for.
The partners like to involve Lamylexiens in the business’s projects: the Llab for legal tech based projects, the SoLLidarity project which involves work for good causes and environmental issues, our EvoLLution group on career development, the PassereLLe, named after our building works on work place well-being, the EnsembLLe group which works on client relations.. These are all small working groups that people can choose to work within and there are also related seminars available to everyone.
All together our firm’s culture is strengthened and shared with everyone who works at LAMY LEXEL. We are stronger together!
If you organise a team building / motivation event, what sort of things do you do?
We have team events all year round at LAMY LEXEL. It’s part of our DNA!
Meeting outside work, getting to know each other, enjoying fun times together, meeting up with colleagues from the other office is so important to us.
New joiner evenings, after work drinks, trip within France and abroad, team outings, breakfasts at work, a glass of rosé on the terrace to celebrate the arrival of summer… there’s always an opportunity to do things together. They are important events which improve workplace atmosphere: there are lots of us but we know each other well and are happy to see each other in the mornings!
Here are some examples : going to Barcelona to party, rowing on Dragon Boats for team-building, holding challenges on the beach, driving 2CVs for the experience.. and very soon we will be going to Marrakech to celebrate our 25 year anniversary.
And let’s not forget welcoming YPLG lawyers to LAMY LEXEL: another opportunity to meet up with a very full programme.
What does it take to go from being a good lawyer to an excellent lawyer?
7 years of studies, 300 Ally McBeal episodes, 200 episodes of Suits… and let’s not forget the whole boxset of Better Call Saul.
Could you pick three words which summarise your firm’s values?
Engagement : getting involved, always striving to be better, giving our best both with our colleagues and for our clients.
Entrepreneurship : in our strategic vision for the development of LAMY LEXEL, in the way we work with our teams, in the way we understand our clients’ needs.
Fun, always fun!
What do international clients find the most challenging when they approach doing business in France?
Seeing past the stereotypes of French arrogance, the slow civil service and the complexity of our labour laws!
In reality France is a very attractive place for many types of businesses, investors can count on lots of incentive measures.
Clients also need to get used to a different negotiation culture: both direct and procedural it can come across as heavy-going at the beginning. That said don’t underestimate the importance of lengthy negotiations. They provide security, the opportunity to get a clear vision of the desired outcome right from the beginning, and for things to progress fluidly.
Come and see us, you’ll see !