US firm Brown Rudnick has launced a litigation-focused Paris office fronted by a former Gide Loyrette Nouel partner.

The office will be co-led by Sebastien Bonnard, the former Gide partner who joins from Lacourte Raquin Tatar, alongside international arbitration group head Nicholas Tse, who is currently based in London.

Brown Rudnick said opening in the French capital would boost its arbitration practice, and link its English and French civil and common law offerings with its broader focus on US litigation.

Tse, who previously worked alongside Bonnard at Gide, has transactional experience in project finance and international commercial contracts, and has acted for a number of major French corporates and banks, as well as sovereign states on contentious and pre-contentious matters.

A qualified barrister, Tse helped to launch Gide's English common law dispute resolution practice in 2008 when he moved to London. He joined Brown Rudnick in February 2012.

Bonnard joins the firm alongside Lacourte senior associate and former Gide lawyer Herve Le Lay, as well as a team of junior associates and trainees.

Tse called his Paris co-head "a top international disputes lawyer" with "a great track record of handling international cases involving African countries, often with a French element".

"Paris is an important destination for legal advice for clients in emerging markets, especially from Francophone civil law jurisdictions such as the Middle East and North Africa where we currently are representing several significant clients and have many other client opportunities," commented Brown Rudnick chairman and chief executive officer Joseph Ryan.

Other firms to have launched in Paris this year include Pinsent Masons, Osborne Clarke and Speechly Bircham.