Stéphane de Navacelle practices corporate litigation, predominantly in criminal law, regulatory, internal investigations, compliance, complex commercial litigation, international arbitration and mediation in New York, London and Paris.

With 20 years’ experience in investigations in France and abroad led in part in connection with French, Foreign or international organizations (at Engel & McCarney, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Navacelle), he advises entities in rolling out and auditing ethics and compliance programs; as such he was appointed Independent Compliance Monitor Expert (2017-2019, 2019-2021, 2022-2024, 2022-2024) pursuant to negotiated resolution agreements between European conglomerates with a global reach and the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Former member of the Paris Bar Council (2017-2019), he was secretary of the ethics commission, member of disciplinary reviews board of the Paris Bar and the Bar President délégué for influence through law. He currently serves the Bar as referent for influence through law. Moreover, Stéphane was appointed Observer by the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR, 2009), member of the board of directors of the Fondation de Coubertin (a French public interest Foundation, 2010-2016), Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (2016), member of the French Independent Committee on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE, 2019-2021), member of the Commission Reconnaissance et Réparation (CRR – Recognition and Reparation Commission) and the Commission for the fight against mistreatment and abuse and the promotion of well-treatment.

• Independent Expert Monitor (2017-2019, 2019-2021, 2022-2024) in compliance by European groups operating globally, based on negotiated settlement agreements of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
• Advising a pan-African agricultural and industrial inputs distribution company by conducting an internal investigation in connection with allegations of public agent corruption relating to a call for tenders issues by a State owned company.
• Representing a former employee of a bank under investigation for alleged tax fraud and illicit banking solicitation (PNF).
• Representing a Chief Compliance Officer of the European leader in the Aerospace & Defence industry relating to criminal investigations regarding corruption allegations (SFO, PNF, DOJ).
• Representing a former VP Subsea in criminal investigations related to allegations of corruption implicating a business partner (PNF, SFO and DOJ).
• Advising a French Swiss based company specialized in global building products and solutions company serving masons, builders, architects & engineers by conducting internal investigations in connection with allegations of inappropriate behavior by employees in Cameroon and in Algeria.

• Paris Bar (2008)
• New York Bar (2005)
• University of Chicago (LL.M., 2004)
• Paris X Nanterre University (MIEJA II, 2003)

• Ordre des Avocats de Paris – member of the Paris Bar Council (2017-2019).
• American Bar Association, Section of International Law – Former co-Chair of the International Criminal Law Committee, vice-Chair of the Europe Committee and vice-President of the International Anti-Corruption Committee.
• American Bar Foundation – Elected Fellow in 2016.
• International Bar Association – Member of the Anti-Corruption Committee, Business Crime Committee and Criminal Law Committee.
• International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) – Executive committee member, Member of the Commercial Fraud, International Arbitration and Litigation Commissions.
• Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (Association des Avocats Pénalistes – ADAP).
• French Directors’ Institute (Institut Français des Administrateurs – IFA).
• Transparency International France – Member of the working group “Capacity of the Judiciary”.
• Roxin Alliance – International network of independent legal professionals in white collar criminal defense and compliance.

Recognized by Chambers & Partners ranking in the categories :

• Corporate Compliance & Investigations (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
• White Collar Crime (2017, 2018)

Recognized as a leading lawyer by Who’s Who Legal and Global Investigations Review in :

• Business Crime Defence – Corporate & Individuals (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
• Investigations program (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
• Asset Recovery (2021)

Identified among Leading individuals by The Legal 500 in :

• Compliance and White Collar Crime (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
• White Collar Crime and stock market litigation (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)

Identified by Les Echos as :

• Leading individuals in Criminal Defense, Litigation, Corporate Governance and Compliance Practice (Best Lawyers 2020, 2021, 2022)
• one of the 10 lawyers ensuring continuity in White collar crime in France (2018)
• as a practitioner expert in the field of Compliance (2018)

Winner of the International Advisory Experts Award in category Criminal Law within France (2019)

Identified as one of the 10 rising stars of the corporate Paris Bar by Décideurs Magazine (2018)

Identified as being among the world’s leading Business Crime Defense by Expert Guides (2016, 2018)

Recognized as one of the 40 under 40 World leading young investigations specialists by Global Investigations Review (2017-2020)