David Méheut

Full Profile

His experience in insurance law covers in particular coverage, monitoring and defence in matters of directors and officers liability, political risks, reinsurance, professional liability (lawyers, accountants, brokers, experts, ...), art and species, engineering disputes, new technologies, data security and fraud. As such, he has acted for or advised on some of the major losses affecting the French market, including the Erika oil spillage, the Libyan revolution, reinsurance of 9/11, the Kerviel fraud, the LIBOR/EURIBOR/FOREX manipulations, the Madoff fraud. He has particular experience in handling cases in African countries operating under OHADA and CIMA rules, principally in relation to onshore and offshore oil and gas projects.

David has also developed an in-depth experience in international arbitration, more particularly ICC arbitration, in which he handles procedures both in French and in English. His commercial arbitration practice goes beyond his main sphere of activity and encompasses commercial litigation such as joint venture and distribution disputes. He generally advises insurers/reinsurers, professionals, financial institutions, industrial groups and energy companies.

David was admitted to the Paris Bar (CAPA) in 2004 after obtaining an LLB in French and English law from King’s College London and La Sorbonne, and a Master of Laws in EU law from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas. His command of English and the legal concepts of civil and common law allows him to be particularly efficient in handling cases where both systems are involved.

Experience

• Advising legal professionals in relation to a professional liability lawsuit in the context of a large restructuring operation
• Ad hoc arbitration on an aggregation issue in an excess of loss reinsurance
• Adapting of a data security/new technology insurance policy to French law
• Advising on the application of political risk insurance policies following the Arab Spring events
• Several ICC Arbitrations involving ship construction or repair disputes
• ICC Arbitration involving a joint-venture dispute in the United Arab Emirates
• ICC Arbitration involving a dispute regarding the chartering of a mobile oil rig in the Gulf
• ICC Arbitration involving an agreement for the financing of a building project in Dubai
• Dispute relating to the interpretation of a D&O policy covering a listed company
• Advising on the drafting of insurance policies (political risks, D&O, Data Security, Contingency etc.)
• Advising on the drafting of commercial agreements under French and English law
• Advising on the defence of law firms the liability of which is triggered in the context of financial transactions
• Analysing of credit risk agreements relating to syndicated loans
• Advising on the carrying out of insurance and brokerage activities in France

Publications

• Co-author of a chapter on French law in Boilerplate Clauses, International Commercial Contracts and the Applicable law, Cambridge University Press 2011
• Contribution to Time Bar in Insurance and Insurance edited by Clyde & Co, 2011
• Contribution to Underwriter Handbook edited by Clyde & Co, 2011
• Réassurance “Back to back”, retour à l’orthodoxie? (“Back to back” Reinsurance, Back to Orthodoxy?”), Décideurs Juridiques, 2008
• La notion d’évènement en réassurance excess of loss (“The Notion of Event in Excess-of-Loss Reinsurance”), Magazine Décideurs, 2012