Leading French firm Jeantet & Associes has hired a senior finance partner from Paris rival Bignon Lebray Delsol & Associes.

Jean-Francois Adelle, who has been a partner at the 100-lawyer Bignon Lebray for 13 years, is due to start with Jeantet on 1 July, where he will focus on project finance, restructuring and securitisation work. The appointment takes Jeantet's finance team to seven partners.

The hire comes just weeks after Jeantet secured the long-serving former vice president of the Assemblee Nationale, Nicole Catala, as a consultant in the firm's five-lawyer media law department.

Jeantet has lost a number of partners to international firms in recent years, notably losing top-rated tax partner Gauthier Blanluet to Sullivan & Cromwell last November – the third Jeantet partner to move to the top New York firm in three years.

However, the firm began its fight-back the following month by securing two veteran corporate partners from rival Bureau Francis Lefebvre (BFL), Fabrice Maraux and Bruno Solle.

Despite the loss of a number of senior partners, Jeantet has remained committed to its independence strategy since breaking off merger talks with White & Case in 2000.