The Paris portion of the Spring 2026 Jones Day Data Center Tour is complete as the team visited Jones Day Paris and the historic Marshall Center to take part in this year’s Jones Day Paris construction forum. It was very special to be in the same room where the Marshall Plan was developed after World War II. The Jones Day Paris Office (the former US Embassy) and the adjacent Marshall Center have a certain gravitas and grandeur that causes entrants to snap their head to attention out of respect for the history alone. It was a special milestone for me, after 33 years at Jones Day to be in this venue with my Partners, many of whom I count as personal friends.
The panels focused on New Delivery Models and Managing Construction Risks in Data Center projects. I found the sessions fascinating. In the first session, I learned of the Square Root Law - basically the theory that the effective people in a group are the square root of the sum of total group members. So, the utility of adding group members diminishes as you increase the size of the group since the percentage of effective people shrinks as you add members to the group. In the second session regarding data centers, I took away more practical actionable items including how to manage and reduce construction risks. The panel talked about what they do to see around corners to anticipate and protect clients from risks.
A special thanks to the very gracious Partner-in-Charge of Paris, Sophie Hagège, and our host and fellow-panelist,
Jean Pierre Harb, for organizing the event. Of course, thank you to Jones Day panelists
Marta Lahuerta Escolano ,
Melissa Vandewater,
Elizabeth Dominguez Yaeger and
François-Guilhem Vaissier, and thank you to the other panelists and clients and friends who attended. Many of the Jones Day panelists have been on the road for over two weeks. Although, on a superficial level, it’s hard to find any faults in our tour stops, each of these panelists made great personal sacrifices to stick it out to the end. Overhearing late night calls with children and clients emphasized what an epic juggling act they performed daily. I’m sure they do this every day, but I don’t often get an in-depth view into that world. I am incredibly grateful for their sacrifice, friendship and dedication.
On to Chicago (my home), assuming we dodge weather and manage our cancelled flights.
In case you are wondering, I have the best job in the world.
Jones Day
#digital infrastructure
#data centers