Fieldfisher has launched a French public law practice with the hire of four lawyers, including Gowling partner Emmanuel Paillard.

Paillard, who becomes the office’s head of public law, is a construction specialist whose record includes advising on legal aspects of the design, financing, construction and operation of projects such as the Marseille Vélodrome stadium, France’s new Ministry of Defence, Paris’s new Palais de Justice, and a high-speed train network in the Alsace region.