Katia Boneva-Desmicht

Katia is experienced in litigation on a national and international level, focusing mainly on commercial and civil litigation. Her practice covers contract and tort law in general (contractual disputes, corporate and post-acquisition disputes, general tort liability, product liability, fraud, unfair competition, etc.).

Katia is also experienced in distribution and commercial law (exclusive and selective distribution, commercial agents, franchising, advertising, consumer protection) and in particular in problems related to the termination of established commercial relations. For instance, Katia advised and represented several companies with relation to the consequences of the reorganization of their distributorship networks in France and abroad.

Her practice also covers legal advice in pre-litigation procedure and risk management (asset tracing, debt recovery strategy, review of contractual documents, enforcement of awards). She has developed a particular expertise in pre-trial discovery, injunctive reliefs and freezing orders as well as insolvency issues.

Katia regularly represents players from various industries (banking, retail, luxury, pharmaceuticals, leisure, hospitality, automotive industry) in disputes with their customers, members, suppliers or distributors. She is closely involved in the management of the firm's Consumer Goods and Retail industry group in Paris and the EMEA region.

Katia has been involved in cross-border investigations and enforcement matters, including incident response and crisis management. She has experience of conducting information-related litigation, such as breaches of confidentiality and theft of trade secrets and data.

Katia has been involved in several notable cases:

• Decision of the French Supreme Court related to the first exequatur in France of US contempt of court order
• Decision of the French Supreme Court on the importance of alternative arguments for the application of statutes of limitations based on admitted liability (link)
• Representing luxury brand in proceedings against non-authorized distributors having purchased the products of the brand in an auction sale authorized by a judge (link)
• Representing a professional association in an unfair competition case covering also some denigration (link)

And also:

• Representing a foreign authority in the exequatur proceedings in France of a judicial decision resulting from foreign administrative proceedings (the decision was enforced on the basis of a provisional lien on a property located in France and at the same time fraud proceedings were initiated against the debtor)
• Representing UK company in the exequatur and enforcement proceedings against a debtor located in France (analysis of the application of French public policy provisions related to gambling debts and the impact of those during the enforcement)
• Advising and representing several companies (cosmetics/ life sciences) with relation to the consequences of the reorganization of their distributorship networks in France and abroad (termination of contracts and follow up litigation)
• Representing clients in post-acquisition disputes related in particular to the application of contractual representations and warranties as well as cases of fraud
• Representing clients in product liabilities cases (follow up of expertise proceedings, recalls and proceedings on the merits) in various sectors (pharmaceuticals, mining, automotive)
• Representing telecom company in a corporate litigation related to the enforcement of a right of first refusal clause and the specific performance of a share deal 
• Acting for a company specialized in the manufacturing and distribution of motion subsystems in a product liability case involving issues of contractual and tort liability as well as insurance law
• Acting for insurance company in product liability case related to an incident in a waste processing plant

• Ranked in Decideurs and Option Droit des Affaires for distribution law, corporate litigation and product liability

• Paris Bar Association - Member
• International Bar Association - Member