Biography
After 26 years practicing in both major international law firms and top tier French law firms, Emmanuèle is one of the founding partners of the Paris office of Signature Litigation. She heads its French Insurance/Reinsurance practice.
Emmanuèle is recognised as a “thought leader” in Who’s Who Thought Leaders 2020. She is also ranked in Who’s Who Legal France: Product Liability Defence 2021, which notes that she “draws recommendations from peers across the EU, the USA and Asia.” Who’s Who Legal also notes Emmanuèle “excels in handling disputes at the intersection of product liability and insurance matters, representing clients from the life sciences sector in litigation and product risk management.” The Product Liability France 2020 Guide highlights Emmanuèle for her “international connections in the market” and her diligent work for insurers in major life-science product liability cases. The Legal 500 EMEA Guide ranks Emmanuèle as a ‘Recommended Lawyer’ for insurance and notes she is “very renowned in the insurance sector“. The Legal 500 also ranks the insurance and reinsurance litigation practice very highly in Paris, and also notes the department “unites an impressive bench of stellar litigators“.
Emmanuèle’s practice focuses on insurance and reinsurance litigation and claims management. She advises leading insurance companies both regarding policy wording and coverage issues. She is also regularly involved in reinsurance litigation. She has been involved in some of the most important product liability cases on behalf of insurers and reinsurers, for instance in the life sciences (medical devices) industry. In this respect, she has developed a specific experience in complex expert-appraisal proceedings and industrial risks investigations.
Emmanuèle also acts in sensitive construction and real estate litigation. In particular, she advises national and international construction companies on post-contract advice for operational legal risk management, claims and disputes.
She assists her clients with pre-litigation and litigation procedures, court-ordered expert proceedings and enforcement actions. She is also involved in ADR.
Emmanuèle has served as International Vice President on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) for three years (2014 – 2017). Previously, and within the same organisation, she had served as Chair of the International Committee and of the Continuing Education Committee for several years.
Emmanuèle is a member of AJAR (Association des Juristes d’Assurance et de Réassurance). She is the author and co-author of numerous domestic and international publications.
Experience
- Advising a leading French insurer, covering a French breast implants manufacturer and involving worldwide (Argentina, UK, Spain, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Italy) personal injury cases as well as class actions. Steering the international team of local lawyers and setting up of the global strategy to deny coverage.
- Advising a leading German insurer, covering a leading French engineering company in a dispute arising from a machinery damage resulting from the explosion of a gas turbine in a waste treatment facility in Spain. Managing arbitration proceedings for a claim of over $50m, in a dispute between the Spanish owner and the French engineering company.
- Advising a leading German insurer, covering the biggest European discount chain distributor following the partial collapse and evacuation of a hospital and an orphanage in Turkey, arising out of the construction of a shopping mall.
- Advising the premier leading French oil company and one of its subsidiaries following the failure of a solder on an electrolytic silver-plating chain for producing printed circuit module boards according to the specific silver finish process supplied and installed at the Los Angeles plant of a leading US company.
- Advising a leading French engineering company, sub-contractor in charge of the geotechnical studies for the French main contractor following land subsidence in China in a shopping mall with escalators.
- Advising a leading French luxury bags manufacturer, following the latent defect of leather skins delivered by the German and Dutch sub-contractors, themselves involving Latvian manufacturers.
Press Coverage
Class actions et assurances : encore un choc de l’année 2020 ou une réforme inaboutie ? – La Gazette du Palais – 19 January 2021
Perte d’exploitation : le grand flou – La Tribune de l’assurance – 8 December 2020
Nouvelle directive sur les « class actions » : une réforme inachevée ? – La Tribune de l’assurance – 15 September 2020
Pertes d’exploitation : quelles leçons tirer de la crise sanitaire ? – L’Argus de l’assurance – 9 July 2020
Covid-19 : une opportunité pour refonder l’assurance cyber – La Tribune de l’assurance – 7 july 2020
A la croisée des chemins – La Tribune de l’assurance – 30 June 2020
L’assurance cyber devra tirer des leçons du Covid-19 – L’Agefi – 11 June 2020
L’assurance annulation à l’épreuve du Covid-19 – La Tribune de l’assurance – 9 June 2020
Collective Redress Directive to change European liability landscape – Commercial Risk Online – May 2020
How should insurers address cyber risks, a French perspective – Actuarial Post – May 2020
La pandémie du Covid-19 : une opportunité de repenser l’assurance cyber ? – Le Monde du Droit – 15 May 2020
GEMP : une réponse ambiguë à un risque chronique – La Tribune de l’assurance – 5 May 2020
How Proposed EU Class Action Directive Could Affect Insurers – Liability, Risk and Insurance – 15 April 2020
GDPR and cyber risk insurance: how can insurers improve their cyber risk products – Actuarial Post – 14 April 2020
Les apports de la nouvelle directive sur les actions transfrontalières seraient-ils une menace pour les assureurs? – La Lettre des Juristes d’Affaires – 13 April 2020
Le projet de la nouvelle directive sur les « class actions », une menace pour les assureurs ? – L’Agefi – 2 April 2020
GDPR and cyber risk insurance: how can insurers improve their cyber risk products – Private Security Report – 27 March 2020
Coronavirus : comment assurer et indemniser la perte d’exploitation des entreprises ? – Le Parisien – 26 March 2020
Article in relation to GDPR and cyber-risk insurance – IT Pro Portal – 26 March 2020
How Proposed EU Class Action Directive Could Affect Insurers – Law360 – 25 March 2020
Strikes and popular movements: An unclear yet chronic risk for insurers – La Lettre des Juristes d’Affaires – 31 January 2020
Grèves, émeutes et mouvements populaires : une réponse ambiguë à un risque chronique – Face au Risque – 18 December 2019
Carriers need a better understanding of the insurability of cyber risk – Insurance Day – 5 December 2019
Areas of Expertise
Emmanuèle Lutfalla's Latest Published Articles

@SignatureLitLLP
Partner @florepoloni and Associate Thibaud Roujou de Boubée discuss the recent update of the #IBA rules on the taking of evidence, in @lemondedudroit bit.ly/32kvwPG pic.twitter.com/Hpl3LaZ00i