Emilie Civatte
Emilie.Civatte@kennedyslaw.com
+44 20 7667 9777
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Profile
Emilie is a London-based partner who joined Kennedys office in 2012. She is dual-qualified in England & Wales and France.
Emilie studied in both France and England, and holds an LLM from the University of Kent in Canterbury.
Emilie acts for insurers and manufacturers in relation to product liability litigation, with a focus on mass tort and group litigation (including NOx emissions, gynaecological products and statutory public inquiries). She has considerable experience in handling court expert investigations and expert evidence on complex technical issues, in England and worldwide.
Her work also covers cross-border cases and litigation in foreign jurisdictions which she runs for British and American insurers and insureds from London. Her caseload spans several jurisdictions including England, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Canada and the US.
Emilie regularly acts as monitoring counsel in medical devices claims in EMEA jurisdictions, assisting and briefing local counsel, pro-actively working towards an early resolution of claims etc.
Emilie has considerable experience in managing motor and personal injury claims (including fatalities) on behalf of British and foreign insurers in Europe and the UK also advising on liability and compensation awards, as well as in relation to claims going back to over 10 years.
Increasingly she acts before the English courts on behalf of foreign insurers where foreign law is applied, where issues of jurisdiction arise. She defended a dependency claim pleaded at the highest level for any single “injury” case in English legal history (ES & Others v Groupama Méditerranée v Goodyear [2018] EWHC 2594 (QB)).
Emilie regularly delivers training to clients and presents at seminars and webinars on issues regarding product liability, life sciences and personal injury as well as handling claims in foreign jurisdictions and/or claims with a cross-border issue.
She contributed in particular to the Class and Group Actions Laws and Regulations 2025 guide and the Product Liability Laws and Regulations 2024-2025 guide of the International Comparative Legal Guides. Over the past few years, she has also regularly written articles for Lexology and Chambers & Partners about product liability matters.
Emilie is a member of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL), the Product Liability Forum of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and the Paris Bar Association.
She contributed to editions of the Kennedys Global Legal Handbook, a guide on the main legal and procedural issues now covering over 50 jurisdictions around the world.
Qualifications and admissions
- Qualified in France in 2012
- Qualified in England and Wales in 2017
Qualifications and admissions
- Qualified in England and Wales in 2012
- Qualified in France in 2012
Work highlights
Collective redress / class actions:
- Represented foreign car manufacturers in the NOx emissions litigation;
- Representing manufacturers of gynaecological products in litigation in the UK and Europe;
- Advised clients regarding several threatened actions in the UK and an international portfolio of product liability claims.
Product liability work:
- Acting for interested entities in relation to the Infected Blood Inquiry;
- Acting as monitoring counsel on behalf of a worldwide medical device manufacturer in relation to claims in the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and France regarding a wide range of products;
- Advised insurers on complex issues of applicable law and jurisdiction in product liability litigation involving several countries (England, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands);
- Assisted a market of British and foreign reinsurers in a multimillion recovery action in France following an explosion at a petrochemical plant in the EU after allegation of product defect;
- Successfully represented a British insurer for a product liability claim arising from a hurricane before France’s Civil Supreme Court resulting in an adverse appeal decision being quashed;
- Instructed by a worldwide manufacturer for a claim made following a large fire at a storage facility with associated issues about jurisdiction and applicable law;
- Assisted two British insurers in relation to expert investigation and appeal proceedings in France following the construction of a warehouse;
- Assisted British insurers and a US manufacturer in a complex expert investigation and subsequent court proceedings in France relating to the construction of an automated carpark.
Personal injury/motor work:
- Representing several foreign insurers before the Courts of England & Wales in relation to accidents which happened abroad, often with complex issues relating to applicable law, foreign law, jurisdiction and expert evidence;
- Acted on behalf of European insurers and a market of reinsurers in relation to a fatality claim litigated in England. This included a dependency claim pleaded at the highest level for any single “injury” case in English legal history and a connected product liability claim (ES & Others v Groupama Méditerranée v Goodyear [2018] EWHC 2594 (QB));
- Assisting with the run off of an old Lloyd’s syndicates for claims in Metropolitan France, Tahiti and Canada;
- Currently handling claims subject to French law on behalf of British insurers in which claimants are seeking additional compensation sometimes over 20 years after the index accidents;
- Acted on behalf of a foreign insurer in a personal injury claim brought in England following an accident in France with issues of applicable law (Gary Owen v William Galgey & Others [2020]);
- Managed a £13 million claim involving a minor who was severely brain damaged after a car accident in France;
- Managed a £12 million claim subject to French law involving a severely injured child, which was eventually settled with a substantial discount for our clients.
Insurance and reinsurance
Life sciences
Transport and logistics
Travel and tourism