Legal Counsel, M&a

Mistral AI Mistral AI · AI Frontier · Paris, France · Legal

Mistral AI is seeking an M&A Legal Counsel to join their team in Paris. This role will focus on structuring, drafting, and negotiating external growth transactions, including acquisitions and acqui-hires. The ideal candidate will have at least 7 years of legal experience, with a strong background in M&A, cross-border transactions, and familiarity with VC-PE deals. While an understanding of AI technologies and ethical considerations is important, the core function of the role is legal M&A, not AI development.

What you'd actually do

  1. Draft, negotiate, and provide strategic advice on a wide range of M&A transactions, including acquisitions, acqui-hires, and other internal or external growth projects worldwide.
  2. Take an active part in every stage of M&A transactions: deal structuring, due diligence, strategic negotiations, signing and closing
  3. Lead or coordinate legal due diligence processes, identifying and managing key legal risks across corporate, IP, employment, and regulatory workstreams.
  4. Draft, negotiate, and advise on transaction documentation including LOIs, NDAs, SPAs, shareholders' agreements, earn-out mechanisms, and post-closing arrangements.
  5. Build our internal templates, practices and guidelines for M&A documentation.

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor degree or above (LLB, LLM, Juris Doctor preferred) from an accredited law school in France or another EU country.
  • Admission to practice law in at least another jurisdiction, in particular in the USA would be a plus.
  • A minimum of 7 years of relevant legal experience, including a minimum of 4 in an international law firm.
  • Strong experience in structuring and negotiating M&A transactions, including hands-on experience leading large to mid-cap acquisitions from due diligence through signing and closing.
  • Familiarity with VC-PE type transactions is highly valued: you understand sophisticated shareholders' agreements, liquidation preferences, anti-dilution provisions, management and employees' incentive packages, as well as the governance dynamics of venture-backed and PE-backed companies.
  • Demonstrated ability to navigate cross-border M&A structuring questions and multi-jurisdictional transactions, including coordinating with local external counsel.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication in both English and French.
  • Strong ability to present complex legal concepts in a clear and understandable manner to non-legal stakeholders.
  • Sharp business acumen, honed through direct experience working within businesses — ideally across multiple industries — where you have delivered measurable impact and demonstrated a deep understanding of operational and strategic priorities.
  • Great negotiation skills, with a history of successfully leading critical discussions with founders, boards, investors, and their advisors, balancing assertiveness with collaboration, and maintaining positive, long-term relationships with all stakeholders.
  • An understanding of the tax implications of M&A structuring, allowing you to optimise outcomes and mitigate risks.
  • Knowledge and usage of Artificial Intelligence: an understanding of AI technologies, including machine learning, natural language processing and their applications, is important.
  • Adaptability: proactive, flexible, and able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
  • Ethical Awareness: a strong understanding of ethical considerations related to AI, such as fairness, transparency, accountability, and bias mitigation, is important.
  • International mindset: international experience is a plus.

Nice to have

  • Admission to practice law in at least another jurisdiction, in particular in the USA would be a plus.
  • International mindset: international experience is a plus.

What the JD emphasized

  • minimum of 7 years of relevant legal experience
  • minimum of 4 in an international law firm
  • Strong experience in structuring and negotiating M&A transactions
  • hands-on experience leading large to mid-cap acquisitions from due diligence through signing and closing
  • Demonstrated ability to navigate cross-border M&A structuring questions and multi-jurisdictional transactions
  • Excellent written and verbal communication in both English and French
  • Sharp business acumen
  • Great negotiation skills
  • An understanding of the tax implications of M&A structuring
  • Knowledge and usage of Artificial Intelligence
  • Ethical Awareness