Luc Bigel

Partner
Luc Bigel and Hamza Akli regularly advise us on numerous French and cross-border operations and issues. They form a remarkably efficient and available duo.
— Legal 500 EMEA France 2025
Paris
About

Luc Bigel is a specialist in insurance and reinsurance laws, acting as advisor or litigator and in transactional matters.

Luc regularly advises insurance undertakings, reinsurers, banks, mutuals, intermediaries and large groups, French or foreign, on all their insurance (life and non-life), reinsurance and insurance distribution issues, both in terms of advice and litigation.

Luc has extensive expertise in regulatory law, assisting market players in all their issues arising from Solvency 2 regulations, compliance, cross-border insurance activities, AML-FT and relations and procedures with supervisory authorities in France (ACPR, ORIAS) or abroad.

As a litigator, he regularly assists his clients in court, notably in the fields of financial lines (W&I, Cyber, D&O) and heavy industrial litigation (business interruption, liability). On the administrative front, Luc has assisted clients in over 30 ACPR proceedings (supervisory and disciplinary), as well as before the DGCCRF. Finally, on the arbitration front, Luc has been involved in reinsurance arbitration proceedings (UK).

On a transactional level, he regularly participates in restructuring operations of insurers or intermediaries (in particular mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs) and in issues related to portfolio transfers or run-off / legacy in France and abroad. Luc also has extensive experience in delegations, outsourcing, distribution protocols, policy writing (life and non-life), W&I insurance deals, coinsurance and reinsurance.

Luc has been teaching insurance and regulatory law for many years at Paris I Sorbonne and has been appointed to serve on the Editorial Board of LexisNexis UK, in particular for insurance and ESG issues. More recently, Luc Bigel - with Hamza Akli - has been appointed to lead and oversee the editorial content of the (re)insurance undertaking section of Editions Lextenso legal editions.

Areas of FocusInsuranceFinanceLitigation, Arbitration and InvestigationsRegulatory and Government Affairs

EXPERIENCE

  • Advising foreign insurers and reinsurers through licensing and portfolio transfer procedures with ACPR in France.
  • Assistance to mutual insurance companies in the context of a restructuring project leading to a merger.
  • Advising insurers in the context of setting up an EEIG.
  • Advising insurers in the drafting and review of insurance policies, in particular with regard to exclusion clauses in the event of pandemics and epidemics.
  • Advising insurers and intermediaries in setting-up national and cross-border insurance distribution schemes.
  • Assistance to intermediaries and insurers in the context of disciplinary and control procedures initiated by ACPR.
  • Assistance to insurers and pension funds in reorganizing their governance system and meeting their obligations with respect to outsourcing schemes.
  • Assistance to insurers and intermediaries in the review of the product surveillance and governance system (POG).
  • Assistance to insurers in insurtech-related issues and in particular in the implementation of policies dedicated to blockchain operations.
  • Assistance to an insurer in the context of strategic litigation that may give rise to a risk of serial litigation in the field of pecuniary loss insurance.

Awards

Insurance team recognitions

  • Chambers France – Insurance - Band 3 - 2025
  • Legal 500 – Insurance – Tier 1 – 2024

Individual recognitions

  • Chambers France – Insurance – Up and Coming – 2025
  • Best Lawyers – Insurance Law – 2024-2025
  • Gold medal awarded by the Legal & Business Forum for the article "Brexit in insurance: no wait and see for the French government" (published on Les Echos Executives).
  • Silver medal awarded by the Legal & Business Forum for the article "What insurance for tomorrow’s world?" (published on the Echos Executives).
  • Rising Star for “Insurance & Reinsurance” at the IFLR.
  • Silver Medal - Palmarès du Droit - Insurance Sector (Monde du droit and Association Française des Juristes en Entreprise).
  • ‘Luc Bigel has a very good understanding of the issues involved in his cases. He knows how to identify the difficulties that could be encountered and always seeks to provide a perspective that enables decision making.’ Legal 500 EMEA 2024
Education

Publications

  • La prescription biennale, à l'épreuve du temps : un enjeu entre protection des assurés et résilience sectorielle, January 2025
  • Vers une nouvelle architecture du risque, Tribune de l'Assurance, June 2025
  • Paquets Omnibus : vers l'allègement des obligations environnementales, sociales et de gouvernance (ESG), Argus de l'assurance, June 2025
  • Book(s): Managing and outsourcing (re)insurance activities, Argus Edition (2018, New ed. 2023).
  • Book: Climatic Risks, ESG and Insurance, Argus Edition (2022).
  • Book: Understanding and embracing the insurtech revolution, Argus Edition (2019).
  • Book: Parametric insurance: comparing worldwide legislations.
  • More than 80 articles on insurance, distribution, ESG, claims, regulatory, etc. in professional legal gazettes.

Seminars

  • Cocktails: « L'impact réglementaire des assurtech sur le marché de l'assurance », October 2019

Prior Experience

Prior to joining DLA Piper, Luc worked in an international law firm.

Additional Information

  • Lecturer – since 2016 – in insurance & regulatory laws at Sorbonne (Paris I) University.
  • Lecturer at the Professional Training School of the Paris Court of Appeal (EFB)
  • Luc was selected to serve on LexisNexis UK Consulting Editorial Board particularly for insurance & ESG matters.
  • Luc has been appointed to lead and oversee the editorial content of (re)insurance undertakings of the Collection Insurance Essentials at Lextenso editions.

Memberships And Affiliations

  • International Association of Insurance Law (AIDA)
  • French Association of Risk Management and Insurance Professionals (AMRAE)
  • Union of Young Insurers and Reinsurers of France (UJARF)

My latest insights

Publication

The CSDDD

15 May 2024 .8 minute read

Publication

Global Parametric Insurance Law Guide

24 October 2023 .2 minute read

Publication

Digital Guide: industry-specific analyses of artificial intelligence

27 January 2023 .1 minute read

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Connect

Phone

+33 (0) 1 40 15 25 52
(Work)