More delicate is the merger with business lawyers

It is free access to the right of everyone who is involved. Why impose on citizens to address, sometimes for the same matter, various professionals lawyers, notaries, presented to the Court, lawyers for advice..., multiplying costs, intermediaries and deadlines

The creation of a great profession of law today should be commenced as soon as it will allow the meeting of professionals under the common name of lawyer in the strictest respect for the fundamental principles of this profession.

In this regard, the establishment by the President of the Republic, June 30, 2008, a Commission chaired by Jean-Michel Darrois on the constitution of a large profession of the law is for lawyers an unprecedented opportunity. Our profession has little changed since the third Republic, except the fusion with the sanction to the high courts in 1971, and with legal advice in 1990.

There is also the place of French law in the world. The Attali report and now the commission Darrois, the France becomes aware of the need to adapt the legal profession to the needs of the market, in a highly competitive globalized world. French, dependent on a system of the past, lawyers are in a situation of competition weakened to international firms. How many great French names among leading firms in France Some of course, but too little. We must act now to fill this delay.

The evolution is already running. Rapprochement with the sanction to the Court will be effective January 1, 2010. Need to go further, despite fears natural and each other. All the elements came together for a perfect integration of notaries, as they are willing and would be compensated for their expenses: Jurists like us, they can accede to our ethics. Tomorrow, the drafting of the authentic acts may be attributed to lawyers specializing in this area. For the rest, the lawyers are already able to give consultations in estate, heritage or tax matters.

More delicate is the merger with business lawyers. Economic and hierarchical subordination inherent in the contract of employment can be reconciled to the non-negotiable principle of independence of counsel The France should emulate foreign countries where a special status for counsel in business. This reconciliation would provide professional opportunities to young graduates. And lawyers have the opportunity to return to the economic and social fabric companies partly lost in favour of public accounting since 1990. This reform, which is essential for our future, may not, however, lead that subject to compliance with the essential principles that should animate us more than ever: humanity, independence, respect for professional secrecy... In particular the prohibition of conflict of interest will have to be strictly applied when even the arrival of professionals from different backgrounds will multiply the risks.

The defence of the weakest must not suffer from this development. Impossible to imagine the profession of lawyer, enlarged or not, without the mission critical to the foundation of democracy! Legal aid should be reformed and the budget of the justice assistance access to the right, one of the lowest in Europe, be increased. Contentious justice must not become a luxury reserved for the rich. It is an issue of society: the Outreau case has shown that it cannot require a defence of every moment a lawyer if he does not receive adequate consideration for the human and material resources that are necessary. We must not betray our mission, public interest, especially in the current context. Let us create a profession ensuring the defence of all the circumstances of our mission: the passion and reason.