Biography
After 30 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 ranked in Band 4 for Insurance – France in the Chambers Europe 2023 Guide, highlighting her as “capable of drafting complex submissions for the courts and is sharp” and that she “develops very good relationships with clients.”
The Legal 500 EMEA 2023 Guide ranks Emmanuèle as a ‘Recommended Lawyer’ for her insurance expertise and highlights her as “an expert in insurance and reinsurance litigation and claims management”. In this Guide, Signature has risen in its ranking to Tier 2, noting that “the team offers a comprehensive service which extends to policy wording, coverage issues, industrial risk investigations, and high-value, cross-border claims related to environmental pollution and operating losses.”
The Legal 500 ranks the insurance and reinsurance litigation practice very highly in Paris, and also notes the department “unites an impressive bench of stellar litigators“.
Emmanuèle is a ‘Recommended’ lawyer in Who’s Who Legal 2022 – Insurance & Reinsurance, which notes she “ranks highly among peers thanks to her expertise in litigation and claims management, and regularly advises insurance companies on coverage issues and policy wording.” She is also recognised as a ‘Thought Leader’ in both Who’s Who Legal France: Product Liability Defence 2022 and Who’s Who Legal: Product Liability Defence 2022. The Guides note that she “draws recommendations from peers across the EU, the USA and Asia” and praise her “stellar practice in product liability disputes“. Who’s Who Legal has also noted that 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 2022 Guide highlights her exceptional handling of complex product liability and insurance cases.
Emmanuèle’s practice focuses on insurance and reinsurance litigation and claims management. She advises her clients 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, APREF, AIDA, FDA, IRLA and ARIAS US. She is the author and co-author of numerous domestic and international publications.
Experience
- Advising a major French oil company following the failure of a weld on a production line in an American plant.
- 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 centre with escalators.
- Counsel to an insurer in US court proceedings relating to the clean-up of soil and water at a site in New Jersey.
- 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.
- Advising an Emirati investment company that owns a palace in London on the mobilisation of a Terrorism Police following the London Bridge attacks.
- Assisting hospitality groups, ready-to-wear brands and a Parisian cabaret in connection with their operation losses relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Assisting a French semi-public company operating the heating network of a city located in the East of France: determining the damage linked to the interruption of the distribution of fluids and assistance in the expertise.
- Advising a manufacturer of onshore wind turbines in New Caledonia and England: drafting of a transaction to allow the completion of the work, management of relations with the local labour inspectorate, setting up the modalities for the replacement of the damaged wind turbine with preservation of the existing one and impact on the initial contract.
- Advising a company based in New Caledonia in the implementation of a “Terrorism” and “Vandalism” policy, following the occurrence of destructive popular riots.
- 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 centre.
- Assisting a French insurer in reviewing its coverage and assessing its exposure following defects affecting photovoltaic panels installed by its insured, a leader in the French energy sector in Israel.
- Advising a German machinery insurer following the explosion of a gas turbine in a waste treatment plant in Spain and the occurrence of a nuclear accident in a French power plant.
- Advising a French insurer in a product dispute between the French leader in the pharmaceutical industry and its insured manufacturer of stoppers for vaccine vials.
- Assisting a French Insurer in US court proceedings relating to the coverage of clean-up of soil and water at a site in New Jersey.
- Advising reinsurers on the analysis of the aggregation of claims clause relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Publications
2023
LOPMI : une perspective prometteuse pour le marché de l’assurance cyber – L’assurance en mouvement – 24 April 2023
2022
La nécessaire mutation des polices d’assurance face aux nouveaux risques – La Tribune de l’assurance – 2 November 2022
Les risques émergents : nouveaux défis pour l’assurance ? – L’assurance en mouvement – 11 July 2022
L’assurance face aux risques émergents : un besoin de renouveau ! – Le Monde du Droit – 21 June 2022
The Changing Insurability of Environmental Risks – Law.com – 18 March 2022
Insurtech Lawyer Emmanuele Lutfalla on the Big Data Debate – InsurTech – 17 March 2022
L’assurabilité des risques climatiques – L’AGEFI – 10 March 2022
L’action de groupe débarque en santé – La Tribune de L’assurance – 1 February 2022
2021
An Update on the Nuclear Liability Regime – Revue Lamy Droit Civil – October 2021
Loyers commerciaux et Covid-19 : quand la bonne foi l’emporte sur la force majeure – La Tribune de l’assurance – 11 May 2021
Class actions et assurances : encore un choc de l’année 2020 ou une réforme inaboutie ? – La Gazette du Palais – 19 January 2021
2020
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
2019
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

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Emmanuèle Lutfalla, Mathilde Gérot and Myriam Benazza discuss France’s new LOPMI in L’assurance en mouvement
24 April 2023
Emmanuèle Lutfalla, Mathilde Gérot and Myriam Benazza discuss France’s new LOPMI in L’assurance en mouvement
24 April 2023