Leila Esnard

Expertise

Leila is an Avocat at the Paris bar. She specializes in shipping, international trade and commodities, and insurance. Her experience includes the handling of cargo claims, charterparty disputes, pollution litigation, shipyards’ liability cases, arrests and auctioning of vessels, road carriage, CMR, freight forwarding and the defence of personal injury claims. She is also actively involved in arbitration and has expertise in advising, negotiating and/or drafting contractual documents such as oil supply public tenders, general conditions of sale for cruise companies, contracts of carriage, or pilotage and towage terms. In the 2017 Edition of Legal 500 (Top tier of shipping law firms), Leila is recommended for her experience and as having “a very professional and proactive approach”.

Leila teaches the handling of cargo claims and recourses, as well as French procedural law to insurers and insurance brokers at the Institut de Formation de la Profession de l’Assurance (IFPASS). She is also a lecturer on Anglo-French translations in insurance, maritime and road carriage law at the University of Paris VII.

Leila is a member of the Association Française de Droit Maritime (AFDM).

Leila is also a member of WISTA (Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association). She was appointed member of the board and treasurer of WISTA France in May 2019 and reelected for a 3 year term in March 2021. https://www.meretmarine.com/.

She is bilingual in French and English and also masters the Spanish language.

According to WHO’S WHO LEGAL (Shipping, France) – 2021 edition: Leila Esnard is praised by clients for being “fully conversant on the full range of shipping matters” and “able to provide top level assistance through her carefull and skilled approach.” Who’s Who Legal Shipping France 2021

According to WHO’S WHO LEGAL (Shipping, France) – 2020 edition: Leila Esnard is well known for her “thoroughness” and “eye for detail”. She is enthusiastically credited with the “ability to weigh up the strengths and weaknesses” of a case, and “enable a balanced decision to be made”. https://whoswholegal.com/

According to LEGAL 500 EMEA (Shipping, France) – 2021 edition: “Cross-border litigation specialist Leila Esnard is another name to note.” She is a “key lawyer” of the firm. Shipping in France | Law firm and lawyer rankings from The Legal 500 Europe, Middle East & Africa guide.

According to LEGAL 500 (Shipping, France) – 2020 edition: Leila Esnard is noted for ‘delivering excellent service urgently at very short notice’ and for her ‘excellent attention to detail’. Clients have indicated Leila provides: “thorough, quick, clear advice.” https://www.legal500.com/c/france/shipping/

Career

2014 Lewis & Co, partner
2010 Lewis & Co
2007-2010 Thomas Cooper, Paris
1999-2007 Richards Butler (now Reed Smith), Paris
University of King’s College London
University of Panthéon-Sorbonne Paris I