“Having spent most of my career working in the public sector, I am extremely pleased to join CMS Prism,” says Gaelle. “I welcome this exciting opportunity and look forward to consolidating the firm’s dispute resolution group and assisting our clients to resolve their disputes efficiently and effectively.”
Prior to joining CMS Prism, a boutique business law firm that in November announced a partnership with global legal organisation CMS, Gaelle worked for many years as a senior state counsel at the Attorney General’s office in Mauritius.
Johanne Hague, the Managing Director and founder of CMS Prism, noted that Gaelle brings abundant experience to the Head of Dispute Resolution role, having worked in commercial and tax litigation, and appeared before various courts and tribunals, including the Assessment Review Committee and the Supreme Court of Mauritius.
A University of Nottingham graduate, Gaelle has advised and appeared for the Mauritius Revenue Authority in many tax controversy cases across a range of key issues from transfer pricing to 80% exemption, and anti-avoidance matters, and advised government institutions on tax reforms based on OECD Model Conventions.
“As we strengthen our dispute resolution capabilities following our association with global legal organisation CMS, we are delighted that Gaelle has joined CMS Prism”, says Johanne, a former magic circle lawyer who founded Prism Chambers in 2019. “Her contribution will be invaluable for this next chapter in our growth strategy.”
After returning to her native Mauritius, “the intersection between East and West” after a decade working in London, Johanne established the firm to address “a huge need in the market for legal specialism in tax”, but as demand grew for their high-level, client and solutions-focused expertise across other areas of business law, Prism naturally evolved to become a leading boutique business law firm.
That growth and evolution has continued with November’s announcement of a partnership with CMS, and now Gaelle’s appointment as Head of Dispute Resolution.
CMS Prism is consistently sought for high-profile tax litigation cases on complex cross-border matters, and conducts bespoke tax training for clients locally and across Africa on a variety of international tax topics.
Such cross-border expertise will be strengthened even further with Gaelle’s appointment, as she also holds considerable experience in negotiation of double taxation and international trade agreements, including the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, and most recently, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the Republic of Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates.