Biography
Nicolas is a partner in the Paris office of Signature Litigation. He has deep experience in the management of complex and international high stakes litigations.
Nicolas specialises in internal investigations and compliance, and advises the Firm’s clients on white-collar crime issues, the implementation of compliance and remedial programmes, crisis management and civil fraud matters.
After qualifying as a French avocat, Nicolas worked for several years in the international arbitration and litigation team of a major international law firm. In 2010, he joined the Société Générale Group. As General Counsel for Litigation and Investigations, Nicolas handled the Firm’s internal investigations and was personally involved in the most sensitive disputes involving Société Générale that arose in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. He played a key role in the settlement of its LIBOR case with the French, US and Japanese authorities and the European Commission. He also managed a case relating to the corruption of Libyan public officials, which led to settlements concluded simultaneously with the US Department of Justice and the French Parquet National Financier. These ground-breaking agreements were seen by many at the time as the most significant developments in the fields of white-collar crime, internal investigations, and compliance of the year. Nicolas also played a key role in a case relating to the OFAC sanctions programmes, settled by Société Générale in November 2018 with a number of US government enforcement authorities.
The Legal 500 EMEA Guide recognises Nicolas as a ‘Leading Individual’ for compliance, and notes he has “outstanding professional skills and shows a good sense of strategy. His previous experience as general counsel led him to play a key role in the negotiations of multi-jurisdictional settlements with prosecution authorities; he thus perfectly knows the international investigations environment.” Who’s Who Legal France 2020 recognises Nicolas for his investigations expertise and notes his “impressive hands-on experience of negotiating multi-jurisdictional settlements”.
Nicolas receives high praise within the industry; his team at Société Générale was awarded the “Trophée d’or Direction Juridique Contentieux” by Décideurs/Leaders League and most recently he won the “Outstanding In-house Counsel” award at the Global Investigations Review Awards in 2018.
Nicolas was educated at King’s College London, and the Sorbonne.
Experience
Cross-border investigations / Compliance / White-collar crime
- Global investigation into LIBOR and EURIBOR rates manipulation.
- Global investigation into suspected FX rates manipulation.
- Global investigation into suspected US sanctions violations.
- Global investigation into suspected FCPA violations.
- Criminal proceedings relating to a major rogue trading case. The suspect was charged and ultimately convicted for forgery, fraudulently accessing IT systems, and breach of trust.
- Civil and criminal proceedings relating to a significant fraud and embezzlement scheme relating to gold consignment agreements.
Civil fraud
- Proceedings relating to the recovery and remedial aspects of a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme.
Commercial disputes
- Acting for a British oil company in a multi-billion dollar UNCITRAL arbitration, relating to a dispute that arose from the performance of an oil and gas production sharing agreement.
- Acting for a major Saudi construction and engineering company before the Paris commercial court, in relation to a dispute that arose from design and building defects affecting a large scale construction project.
Press Coverage
The impact of Sapin 2 and GDPR on internal investigations – Legal Week – 30 July 2020
Sapin II Law and GDPR, two regulatory frameworks with a delicate implementation – ODA – 15 July 2020
Lutte contre la corruption internationale : interview de Nicolas Brooke – Le Monde du Droit – 12 June 2020
Negotiated criminal resolution in France – Today’s General Counsel – 27 March 2020
Negotiated criminal resolution in France – Lawyer Monthly – 23 March 2020
New EU Directive Sets Out Minimum Standards of Protection for Whistleblowers – The American Lawyer – 21 February 2020
Choosing the Right Defense Strategy – LexisNexis – 14 February 2020
Airbus contractors feeling ripple effect from record fine – Compliance Week – 12 February 2020
New EU Directive Sets Out Minimum Standards of Protection for Whistleblowers – ODA – 7 February 2020
Negotiated criminal resolution in France – Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence – 6 February 2020
New EU directive provides further protection for whistle-blowers – ODA – 5 February 2020
French DPA guidelines – still a work in progress – GIR – 7 July 2019
Signature Litigation announces appointment of new Partner – Les Echos – 8 May 2019
Signature Litigation announces appointment of new Partner – The Lawyer – 8 May 2019
Areas of Expertise
Nicolas Brooke's Latest Published Articles

@SignatureLitLLP
For our 18th key #arbitration development from 2020, Senior Associate Ela Barda explores how a breach of international sanctions can justify the annulment of arbitral awards by French courts: bit.ly/3ppEIfB pic.twitter.com/vBXd1XeUZp