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PARIS AND ROME BARS
Languages : French - English - Italian
Lionel Lesur
Lionel mainly advises international companies, as well as investment funds across a broad range of industries, including Life Sciences, Fashion & Luxury and Technologies. He has substantial experience negotiating corporate / private M&A transactions (mergers and acquisitions, LBOs, joint-ventures, minority investments, strategic alliances, etc.) and complex commercial contracts, as well as advising foreign companies seeking to establish and strategically expand their presence in France.
Lionel also has significant experience in French and EU antitrust and competition law, and routinely advises on multi-jurisdictional merger control filings, as well as cartel and abuse of dominance investigations. Lionel’s breadth of experience also includes private enforcement, distribution, compliance and FDI screening issues as well as foreign subsidies.
He regularly lectures on M&A and competition law at leading French universities and business schools, such as Aix-Marseille University and Paris II Panthéon-Assas University, as well as ESCP Business School, and is an active member of the IBA and AIJA.
- Legal 500 EMEA 2025 – Lionel Lesur is quoted in the categories Mergers & Acquisitions et Private Equity: LBO
‘They are very experienced and have a commercial and proactive attitude.’
‘Lionel Lesur is extremely helpful and a trustworthy person. Excellent lawyer and professional.’
‘Rigour and engagement.’ - Chambers France 2025 – Corporate/M&A: Mid-Market
What the Team is Known For
Franklin houses a strong team able to advise clients on mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. The team possesses expertise in handling domestic and cross-border LBO transactions. Its clients hail from the healthcare, technology, financial services and real estate sectors.
Strengths
‘Franklin has a broad set of skills.’
‘The team showed good technical knowledge across a wide range of fields, a sound commercial approach and a strong ability to create and build relationships.’ - Option Droit & Affaires 2025 – Lionel Lesur is quoted in the category Equity development and LBOs, the majority of which involve companies with less than €50 million in assets (3 stars)
- Leaders League 2025 – Franklin is ranked in the categories Antitrust (Excellent), Merger Control (Excellent), State Aids (Highly recommended), Distribution Law (Reputed Practice), European merger control (Mapping), Investment and foreign subsidies control (Mapping) and Interest representation (Mapping) of the Competition & Antritrust Guide
- Lexology Index 2025 – Competition (Recommended)
- Leaders League 2024 – Lionel Lesur is ranked in the “Transactions between €75m and €500m” (Leading) categorie of the M&A Guide
- Leaders League 2024 – Lionel Lesur is ranked in the “Mid-cap LBO transactions ” (Excellent) categorie of the Private Equity Guide
- Leaders League – Gold award « Mergers & acquisitions – Mid to large » – 2025
- Option Droit & Affaires 2024 – Lionel Lesur is quoted among the leading firms for M&A deals under 200 million euros ranking (4 stars)
- Cité dans Best Lawyers in France 2025
- IFLR 1000 2024 – Private Equity (Tier Five)
- Leaders League 2024 – Lionel Lesur is ranked in the categories “E-Health” (Highly recommended), “Capital, joint venture, and corporate transactions” (Highly recommended) and “Regulatory law” (Highly recommended) of the Healthcare, pharmaceuticals & biotech Guide
- Leaders League 2024 – Silver award « Mergers & acquisitions – Mid to large »
- Leaders League 2024 – Special mention « Health – Pharma Regulatory law »
- HEC Paris : School of Management
- CEMS (Community of European Management School) : Master in International Management
- University of Paris-Nanterre : Postgraduate degree (DEA) in European and International Business Law
- University of Paris XI – Sceaux : Postgraduate degree (DESS) in Business Law
- University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas : B.A (Maîtrise) in Tax and Business law
