THE TEAM

A founder, a network of trusted partners

Valora Lawyers is built on the experience and vision of its founder, Christine Auzimour, a tight circle of trusted partners, a proven international network, and silent teammates.

"An executive needs a crewmate who reads the charts and feels the wind, holds the course, and knows when to change tack."

Christine Auzimour

Founder — Member of the Paris Bar

Nearly 30 years navigating between numbers and letters — HEC then law, consulting then corporate, optimization then risk management. Christine Auzimour brings together three dimensions the market usually keeps apart: technical legal and tax expertise, operational experience in international group finance departments, and a proven ability to handle the most sensitive situations with judgment and discretion.

A career built from the inside

Trained at leading firms — Moquet Borde, Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young — Christine Auzimour then built the core of her career within the LVMH group. After starting out at the holding company, she went on to establish and lead Louis Vuitton's Tax and Customs Department, followed by the Tax, Internal Audit and Risk Management department (which notably included personal data management) of Christian Dior Couture. Twenty years defending positions before authorities across four continents, building cross-functional teams, arbitrating under constraint, and weathering crises. It is this experience — in direct contact with flows, teams and strategic decisions — that underpins Valora Lawyers today.

What sets her apart

A connected reading of risk — legal, tax, customs, operational, reputational: she orchestrates a coherent response, in France and internationally.
A recognized presence before the authorities — tax and customs audits, complex litigation, mutual agreement procedures, criminal tax law: she has led or supervised such matters in numerous countries — France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, India, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, Latin America.
A resolutely operational approach. Every recommendation is shaped by the company's concrete constraints: its organization, its markets, its teams, its operations. Because she has learned, from the inside, that the best advice is the advice that can actually be implemented.

Key milestones

Main sectors

Luxury. Fashion. Perfumes. Jewelry. Distribution. International retail. Healthcare.
Private equity
Start-ups and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Education

HEC Paris, Grande École (specialization in law and taxation)
Paris Bar (CAPA)
Master's in International Tax Law, Paris II-Assas
Master's in Business Law, Université Paris XI
Stockholm School of Economics

Professional commitments

International Commission of the Institute of Tax Counsel Lawyers (IACF) · International Fiscal Association (IFA) · DFCG (French Association of CFOs and Management Controllers) · IFACI (French Institute of Internal Audit and Control) · IFA (French Institute of Directors) · Club des Juristes · Femmes Business Angels.

Passions

Sailing, kitesurfing, flamenco — that reveal her approach to her cases as well: read the elements, hold the course, adjust to what cannot be controlled, and find the right tempo.

Helyx & Partners — a tight circle of trusted partners

Christine Auzimour draws on privileged relationships with a tight circle of independent partners, chosen over the years for their rigor, agility and pragmatism. They share the same standards and convictions and can be mobilized quickly depending on the nature and scope of each engagement.

This network is the practical extension of the connected approach set out in our practice areas — particularly for complex investigations, restructurings, crisis management, and specialized legal positions.

Bruno Gouthière

Cabinet Arié Gouthière

International Tax

A partner at CMS Francis Lefebvre Avocats for more than 35 years, he founded Cabinet Arié Gouthière in 2026. Bruno Gouthière is one of the most recognized figures in French international tax. A former head of the international tax bureau at France's Tax Legislation Service (Bercy), a graduate of Sciences Po and a former student at ENA, he is the author of the reference work Les impôts dans les affaires internationales. Chambers highlights his unrivaled reputation in international tax and transfer pricing.

Foulques de Rostolan & Lisa Chézé-Dartencet

Cabinet Holis Avocats

Employment Law

Foulques de Rostolan supports reorganizations, restructurings and corporate transactions with a strong employment-law dimension. A former partner and co-head of the employment department at Gide Loyrette Nouel, where he practiced for 20 years, he co-founded Holis Avocats in 2023. Lisa Chézé-Dartencet advises and represents French and foreign companies on all aspects of employment law: social dialogue, collective bargaining, restructurings, international mobility.

Georges Lacœuilhe

Cabinet Lacœuilhe & Associés

Health Law, Criminal Defence and Compliance

Lawyer and former Secretary of the Conference of the Paris Bar, Georges Lacœuilhe is one of the recognized figures in health law in France. He founded Cabinet Lacœuilhe & Associés, which he has led for more than 25 years. He practices primarily in criminal defence and litigation, before all civil, criminal, disciplinary and employment courts, for individuals as well as for companies and their executives. His firm has also developed a compliance practice focused on the protection of sensitive data, GDPR compliance and professional secrecy, with recognized sector expertise in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, insurance and provident insurance.

Alice Noizet

Nardello & Co

Complex Investigations

A former lawyer and former investigator at the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF), then a Forensic partner at Forvis Mazars, Alice Noizet has led the Paris office of Nardello & Co since 2026 — an international investigations firm ranked Band 1 by Chambers. She advises companies, lawyers and funds on matters where the decision turns on information that is difficult to obtain or interpret.

Alexis Thura

BM&A

Financial Advisory and Audit

A chartered accountant and statutory auditor, Alexis Thura brings cross-cutting expertise in audit and financial advisory, with a particular focus on transaction services. After starting his career at Moquet Borde et Associés then twelve years at EY, he joined BM&A in 2014 as a partner. Head of the Financial Advisory practice, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the BM&A group in 2022.

Lionel Agossou

Cabinet Kopper

Structuring

Trained at Arthur Andersen and then at Ernst & Young Société d'Avocats, he co-founded Cabinet Kopper in 2022. With his team of business law and tax specialists, he supports founders, shareholders and executives — from start-ups to large groups — in their strategic transactions: financing, external growth, succession.

Yohann Toreau

DDCT Avocats

Competition Law, Distribution Law and Consumer Law

After about twenty years in firms, Yohann Toreau founded DDCT Avocats in Paris in 2018. He advises and assists French and international companies and groups, particularly in the food and specialized retail sectors, on anti-competitive practices, compliance programs, mergers, and the building of distribution networks.

Gaël Marchand & Xavier Chauvin

Add Lumen / Aquila Deep Intel

Security and Safety / Digital Investigations

Gaël Marchand spent nearly ten years heading global security at Louis Vuitton. He runs complex, discreet programs: protection of people, know-how, and the brand's image. Xavier Chauvin develops investigation solutions for financial actors: a secure SaaS environment structured as graphs that aggregates open sources, deep web, dark web and social networks.

A proven international network

Our international network is made of counsel we have worked with side by side. Defending matters, challenging each other's arguments, learning how each of us works: it is this shared practice that builds our mutual trust.

Tax specialists, customs experts, white-collar criminal lawyers, personal data specialists, across many jurisdictions: Italy, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Greece, Benelux, Switzerland, United States, Brazil, Argentina, China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, India …

It allows us to mobilize the right local expertise quickly, on solid technical foundations and on carefully managed terms for our clients.

Counsel mobilized recently or currently engaged

Italy: white-collar criminal law, financial and strategic advice, taxation
China: customs, approvals and certifications, criminal law, taxation
Korea: customs, personal data protection
United States: customs

Our silent teammates

Data analysis software, regulatory monitoring platforms, generative artificial intelligence, secure investigation tools: we select them, configure them, and use them. Where the client has its own tools, we integrate with them. Otherwise, we know which ones are worth the investment.

We gain in speed and precision — and we rely on what no tool can replace: our experience and judgment.

Our convictions

Discretion

Maintaining absolute confidentiality, the foundation of any trusted relationship.

Independence

Owing our judgment to nothing but our client's interest.

Realism

Saying what needs to be said and recommending the least bad option when there is no good one.

Empathy

Understanding personalities, cultures, and dynamics as much as the law.

Curiosity

Looking for the issue no one has raised, the simple solution behind apparent complexity.

Tenacity

Daring to propose strategies and holding our positions with courage.