K&L Gates Furthers Growth of Litigation Practice with Paris Partner Addition

Paris - Global law firm K&L Gates LLP has added Barthélemy Cousin as a partner in the complex commercial litigation and disputes practice. He joins K&L Gates’ Paris office from Stephenson Harwood LLP, where he founded and led the dispute resolution practice.

Cousin focuses his litigation practice on international commercial disputes, particularly in the insurance, banking, transportation, and energy sectors. He has extensive experience advising international banks, engineering and construction groups, and other clients on matters including breach of contract, insurance disputes, fraud, and loan recovery, among others. Cousin also represents clients in major disputes before commercial, employment, and civil courts in Africa, including on matters such as enforcement measures and securities and commercial rules.

“Barthélemy’s skills and client base will dovetail with our flourishing global disputes offering across all his areas of practice, and – in particular – he is a great addition to our market leading insurance recoveries team,” said John Magnin, a leader of K&L Gates’ commercial litigation practice area. 

Cousin’s arrival follows the recent addition of Charleston partner Paul Eckles to the litigation practice in late 2020, as well as the additions of litigation partners Mitchell Kim in Los Angeles and J. David Bournazian in Orange County earlier last year. K&L Gates welcomed more than 30 new partners and of counsel in 2020, including in the firm’s corporate; health care; tax; commercial litigation; environment, land and natural resources; asset management and investment funds; IP procurement and portfolio management; IP litigation; real estate; government contracts; and investigations, enforcement and white collar practices.

“We are very happy to welcome Barthélemy and his team to K&L Gates’ Paris office,” said Louis Degos, managing partner of K&L Gates’ Paris office. “His arrival adds a particularly notable practice of insurance law disputes, which is a major and growing area in our firm. Barthélemy’s addition also makes the firm the first international law firm in Paris with a dedicated insurance law team acting exclusively for policy holders against insurance companies.”  

K&L Gates’ complex commercial litigation and disputes practice has the breadth, experience, and sophistication to successfully resolve matters ranging from simple commercial claims to complex multi-party, cross-border litigations and arbitrations. K&L Gates was recently recognized by Forbes as one of America’s most recommended corporate law firms in the area of litigation and dispute resolution as part of the publication’s first-ever legal industry review. The practice was also named a “Litigation Standout” in BTI Consulting Group’s 2020 Litigation Outlook report.