In Rememberance Of Valentin Ribet, Lawyer Struck Down By Terrorists in Paris

We can envision few acts more cowardly than ambushing and murdering unarmed civilians engaged in leisure. That is precisely what occurred on Friday, November 13, 2015.

By now, we all know that several groups of terrorists affiliated with ISIS launched a coordinated attack against unarmed Parisians with explosives and assault rifles. One minute, the victims were enjoying a care-free Friday night, the next minute, they were under attack with no chance of defending themselves.

We here at Abnormal Use cannot even pretend to understand what the families of those slain now endure, nor can we comprehend the pain experienced by the wounded who are still struggling to survive. We do want those who were directly affected by these senseless attacks to know that they are in our thoughts and prayers.

Additionally, because we are a legal blog, we would like to take this time to honor a member of the legal community whose life was taken too early. The “first confirmed fatality” in the Parisian attack was an associate attorney at Hogan Lovells named Valentin Ribet.

Ribet was a graduate of the London School of Economics where he earned a degree in political science. Prior to Hogan Lovells, Ribet worked for the law firm of what is now called Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer. Ribet was 26 years years old at the time of his passing, and according to a statement by Hogan Lovells, Ribet “worked in the litigation team, specializing in white-collar crime.” Ribet was also reportedly a “a talented lawyer” who was “extremely well liked, and a wonderful personality in the office.” According to comments by friends of Ribet on Twitter, in addition to being a talented lawyer with a promising future, he was a good person.

Our thoughts and prayers are also with the hundreds of others killed, wounded, and otherwise affected by the violence last week. Our hope is that the victims can find peace, and that the impuissant invertebrates who inflicted this harm will find themselves on the receiving end of swift and proportionate justice.