Biography: Commercial Litigation

Bernard Vatier is the managing partner of Vatier & Partners in Paris. His practice focuses on litigation and arbitration, as well as in insolvency, insurance, banking and criminal law. He frequently acts as counsel in national or international arbitration cases and is regularly appointed as chairman and co-arbitrator. Bernard Vatier's litigation practice covers a broad range of issues, including pre-litigation strategic advice and representation of parties in court proceedings in cases relating to, among others, insolvency matters, insurance, corporate matters and banking. His expertise in insolvency law has led him to handle significant cases of corporate restructuring, in which he offers his clients a true mastery of business law.

Bernard Vatier was born in 1947 and is a French citizen. He was admitted to the Paris Bar in 1971.

He is the founder of the French law firm Vatier & Partners and taught at the business school Essec from 1974 to 1988. He has published in the areas of insolvency law, insurance, litigation and arbitration.

Mr Vatier was elected as a member of the of the Paris Bar's board in 1988, and as Bâtonnier of the Paris Bar from 1996 to 1997. He was actively engaged in defending of the core values of the legal profession in his capacity as head of the French delegation to the Counsel of the European Bar (CCBE) from 1998 to 2002, subsequently becoming CCBE's president until 31 December 2005.

Bernard Vatier is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary member of Gray's Inn and honorary member of the Australian Bar. He was also president of the Union Nationale des Caisses d'Avocats until 2010.