The birth of LAZULI Law Firm

Some decisions are neither a break nor a leap into the unknown, but rather the result of a slower, almost imperceptible movement, one whose outcome was neither inevitable nor even foreseeable, yet which eventually asserts itself with a kind of quiet clarity. The founding of LAZULI was one such decision.

Before the law, I moved in a different world: the world of culture, music, and artists. An environment in which creation is not a legal concept but something lived, embodied, and constantly up against material constraints. Working closely with these people — opera singers, actors, instrumentalists — between the ages of 25 and 31, I was already confronting the stakes of intellectual property, often without fully realising it: questions of ownership, of authorship, and, more diffusely, of how to protect a form of value that is, by its very nature, intangible and unstable.

The law came afterwards, not as a break, but as an extension. A way of giving structure, method, and tools to problems I had already encountered from a different angle, during my time as communications officer at Les Arts Florissants or as general manager of the Deschiens theatre company. Training and then practising in law firms brought rigour, technical depth, and the demanding discipline of engaging with files that were sometimes complex, often pivotal, and always consequential for those involved.

Over the years, I worked on complex intellectual property disputes, developed trademark filing strategies, and contributed to the defence of economic interests that were, more often than not, built on intangible assets. This necessarily technical practice gradually led me to shift my perspective on the subject. Because at every stage — filing, enforcement, negotiation, exploitation — what emerges is a series of choices that belong less to the mechanical application of law than to a genuinely strategic logic.

Intellectual property is not merely a body of rules to be mastered with precision; it is a tool — sometimes a decisive one — in how a company structures itself, grows, protects its interests, or asserts its position. It can be a lever in negotiations, an instrument of security, or, in certain situations, a form of power in its own right.

For a long time, however, I had no intention of founding my own firm. Not out of reluctance, nor lack of interest, but because practising within an established firm suited me well — both for the quality of the work and for the relationships I built with my colleagues at TAoMA Partners and Joffe & Associés, and for the intellectual demands the work placed on me. That period shaped and structured me, and allowed me to develop a legal practice that was both precise and operational.

And then, gradually, a different logic took hold. Not that of “entrepreneurship” in the conventional sense, but of practising the profession within a framework entirely aligned with my own conception of its purpose. It was no longer simply a matter of addressing identified problems, but of taking ownership of the broader picture — ensuring coherence from start to finish, and ultimately making strategic decisions in genuine partnership with clients.

The founding of LAZULI follows from that movement. It is the natural continuation of the seven-plus years that preceded it, within a framework I have now made entirely my own.

The choice of the name LAZULI is part of the same logic. In its raw state, lapis lazuli only partially reveals its value. It is the work applied to it that gives it form, purpose, and worth. In intellectual property, intangible assets follow a comparable logic: an idea, a creation, or an innovation only realises its full potential when it has been structured, protected, and integrated into a coherent strategy.

This is precisely what LAZULI sets out to offer: a practice of intellectual property law that goes beyond technical expertise, and engages with the broader economic stakes facing each client. Intervening early to prevent vulnerabilities, accompanying growth with discernment, and defending — when the situation demands it — with precision and determination.

LAZULI was born of that logic.

The rest, as always, remains to be built.

Jérémie Leroy-Ringuet, April 2026