The former co-head of Allen & Overy's global antitrust group has launched a Paris-based competition and regulatory boutique.

Olivier Freget, who co-led the magic circle firm's practice until stepping down at the end of last year, has partnered with former LexCase partner Charlotte Tasso de Panafieu for the firm opening.

The new firm, known as Freget – Tasso de Panafieu (FTDP), will focus on the founding partners' specialties in the energy, life sciences and pharmaceuticals sectors.

Two associates will join Freget and Tasso de Panafieu for the opening, with the firm planning to grow its total lawyer headcount to six "over the coming months". The founding partners told Legal Week they also planned to "partner" with other law firms, including A&O, on matters in which clients required specialised competition or regulatory counsel.

"The number of proposals we have had for partnership with us already has been astounding," said Freget. "It means that people and clients are happy to see another way of working with their law firms."

Freget added that regulatory issues were becoming increasingly important to clients, particularly in the sectors in which he works, meaning that competition advice was no longer an 'add-on' to corporate functions.

He also said he made the decision to leave A&O as he had been increasingly running into conflicts when undertaking work for his clients.

"It would have been possible to stay but I was not ready to give up my own clientele," he said.

Freget joined A&O from Bird & Bird, where he was head of the Paris European and competition practice, in 2006. Tasso de Panafieu worked alongside Freget at Bird & Bird, having previously been an associate as Stibbe in Paris and Brussels.

The move is part of a trend that has seen a number of high-profile partners in continental Europe break away to set up boutiques.

Last month, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's former arbitration co-head Jan Paulsson launched the Three Crowns boutique alongside his former London and Paris arbitration chiefs Constantine Partasides and Georgios Petrochilos.